They are the gods in the new machine. The glitches in the FRC-designed matrix.
Everyone you talk to says the kick-out is a crap-shoot in football now, with no more science to it than closing your eyes on Grand National morning and throwing a dart at the newspaper. By all accounts, you may as well do the lotto as waste time war-gaming how your goalkeepers go about their restarts.
If that’s true, nobody has told Shaun Patton or Ethan Rafferty. The Ulster final will see the two best kick-out merchants in the game facing off in Clones, with neither of them willing to accept that the earth is flat.
Against Tyrone in the semi-final, Rafferty only lost one kick-out all day in a one-point Armagh victory. Against Monaghan in the quarter-final, Patton’s second-half display into the teeth of the Clones wind was just as crucial for Donegal. Neither team would be in the final without their number ones.
Though it only seems five minutes ago since sad laments were being written for the demise of the poor goalie, in reality they have never been more relevant. Donegal have scored two goals in the Ulster championship – one direct from a Patton kick-out against Down, one direct from hunting down Neil McNicholl’s kick-out against Derry.
On the other side, Rafferty has the added layer of being a key part of the Armagh attack. When Jarly Óg Burns went down injured late on against Tyrone, the Armagh physio dragged him back five metres over the halfway line so that Rafferty could get up and join the play without breaching the 4v3. Twenty seconds later, Rafferty gave the penultimate pass before Conor Turbitt was fouled for the winning free.
He’s going to try to get Donegal away with a short one when it’s really needed
— Oisín McConville
So their influence on Saturday’s final will be enormous, mostly because neither Armagh nor Donegal have accepted the notion that the goalkeeper is a diminished factor under the new rules. Donegal’s toughest game so far was against Monaghan, where they came out for the second half with a six-point lead to defend against the wind. Patton had 13 kick-outs in that second half and found his man with nine of them.
Seven set up attacks that ended with shots at the post. Four led to points at the other end. After Micheál Bannigan’s two-pointer brought Monaghan back to within a point in the 44th minute, Patton found his man with six of the next seven kick-outs. His accuracy off the tee killed the home side’s momentum at exactly the time when the crowd were looking for Monaghan to pen Donegal in. Instead, Jim McGuinness’s side didn’t give up possession from a kick-out for a full 25 minutes.
What was really noticeable was the fact that all but one of his second-half kick-outs were won under no pressure. It wasn’t a case of Donegal scavenging for the breaks out in the midfield jungle and coming away with possession through pure hunger. Instead, they routinely and methodically got a man free – short-range, mid-range and long-range, left, right and straight down the centre. Patton was fantastic that day but he wasn’t working alone.
“Obviously Shaun is the most important part of that puzzle,” said Jim McGuinness afterwards. “But it’s the opportunities and the options that present themselves as well. That’s on the team.
“It’s important that the team understands that, that they put themselves in positions where they can present for the ball. And then it’s up to him to be able to scan the pitch and understand that and make a really good decision. We’re delighted with that part.”
Rafferty’s performance against Tyrone was pretty much a one-man rebuke to the idea that every kick-out has to be a lottery now. He had 24 kicks off the tee a fortnight ago and found his man with 23 of them. It seems inconceivable that we’ll see those numbers repeated over the rest of the championship.
The Armagh goalkeeper’s dispersion didn’t have the same variation as his Donegal counterpart. His go-to kick-out is either short- or mid-range to the right sideline with his left instep and it’s probably damning of Tyrone’s press that he got so many of them away untroubled. But it was still an extraordinary afternoon’s work – by his outfielders as much as by him.
“Both of them leave you with a decision to make,” says Oisín McConville, the former Armagh player and current Wicklow manager. “Do you really want to press up incredibly aggressively against Patton when he can just hit you over the top?
“You saw Down do it in the semi-final – they were really brave and positive but then all it took was one high press and Patton cleared them all. Next thing you know the ball was in the net at the other end.
“That’s the thing with both of them. They’re both so confident over the ball. If you’re a young goalkeeper in the championship, there’s no way you’re chancing anything short. Even Connor Gleeson last week against Mayo, he was basically going long with everything. He wasn’t taking any chances.
“But Patton is established, confident, can hit any type of kick-out. He’s going to try to get Donegal away with a short one when it’s really needed. Especially if they’ve lost a couple in a row and really need possession – he’s willing to back himself to take a chance. Same with Rafferty, who has that precision and direction and can hit it pinpoint into somebody’s chest at speed. Not many teams have that.”
The two who do are going face to face in Clones, where every kick-out will be an event in itself. Buckle up.
