Goalies

Prop Joe

Just reading about Brendan Cummins,What an outstanding Keeper,Davy Fitz was magic also,Donal Og & James McGarry although never really tested..Who of recent memory were your Favorite hurling keepers....P.S never rated Fitzhenry

ShamoBuc

Ger Cunningham - total legend!! I'll never forget the all Ireland we won when he saved with his nose!!!!!

ft9

Completely biased, but I thought Mcgarry was under-rated so much. Such great control over the ball, thus he was never seen diving around the goal pulling off triple saves, because the first shot was taken with 1 touch into his hand.
The man deserved at least 2 if not 3 All Stars imo.

David Herity I think is going to prove very reliable and consistent.

bruschi

Prop Joe wrote: »

Just reading about Brendan Cummins,What an outstanding Keeper,Davy Fitz was magic also,Donal Og & James McGarry although never really tested..Who of recent memory were your Favorite hurling keepers....P.S never rated Fitzhenry

not rating Fitzhenry? good start to this thread.:rolleyes:

wixfjord

Aye Fitzy was a great keeper.

Davy Fitz, Fitzy and Cummins in that order since my hurling recollection began circa 1994 imo.

Personally not a huge Donal Og fan.

Joe Quaid was brilliant, always rated that red head guy who played for Offaly too. Name escapes me, Stephen something was it?

Cake Man

wixfjord wrote: »

Aye Fitzy was a great keeper.

Davy Fitz, Fitzy and Cummins in that order since my hurling recollection began circa 1994 imo.

Personally not a huge Donal Og fan.

Joe Quaid was brilliant, always rated that red head guy who played for Offaly too. Name escapes me, Stephen something was it?

Stephen Byrne if memory serves my correct, good keeper for Offaly's '98 winning team.
Mention too for Graham Clarke of Down, decent keeper but wouldn't see him much/at all these days.

The_Kew_Tour

Ger Cunningham had it all imo..

Puck outs, shot stopping, you name it..

Pride Fighter

Gary Maguire is a fine keeper, saying that from my biased opinion

I always thought Brendan Cummins to be the best modern keeper in the last 10 years, followed by Clinton Hennesy, Donal Og and Davy Fitz. KK have had some fine keepers, but their backs have ensured they're rarely tested.

spankadamonkee

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Gary Maguire is a fine keeper, saying that from my biased opinion

I always thought Brendan Cummins to be the best modern keeper in the last 10 years, followed by Clinton Hennesy, Donal Og and Davy Fitz. KK have had some fine keepers, but their backs have ensured they're rarely tested.

Henessey? U serious? Id definitely have donal og and davy fitz and fitzhenry ahead of him.

Mountainlad

spankadamonkee wrote: »

Henessey? U serious? Id definitely have donal og and davy fitz and fitzhenry ahead of him.

I would also have them ahead of him but he's very under-rated.

Browney7

wixfjord wrote: »

Aye Fitzy was a great keeper.

Davy Fitz, Fitzy and Cummins in that order since my hurling recollection began circa 1994 imo.

Personally not a huge Donal Og fan.

Joe Quaid was brilliant, always rated that red head guy who played for Offaly too. Name escapes me, Stephen something was it?

Always felt Joe quaid was a class act. Our lack of an all Ireland will make sure that he will never be remembered unfortunately.

I've always liked cummins. He's not too bad for a tipp man haha. I'm sure the tipp crowd will remember when babs dropped him for Gerry Kennedy there in 2007. Utter lunacy.

The_Kew_Tour

Browney7 wrote: »

Always felt Joe quaid was a class act. Our lack of an all Ireland will make sure that he will never be remembered unfortunately.

Was a terrific keeper only saw him from 1990 onwards but will go down as legend to the older hurling folk.

Was a gentleman too by all accounts...

mags85

Browney7 wrote: »

Always felt Joe quaid was a class act. Our lack of an all Ireland will make sure that he will never be remembered unfortunately.

I've always liked cummins. He's not too bad for a tipp man haha. I'm sure the tipp crowd will remember when babs dropped him for Gerry Kennedy there in 2007. Utter lunacy.

Don't get us started on Babs! *grumbles....

Connorzee

Never rated Davey Fitz or Brendan Cummins. They're constant making a meal of saves did it for me. Granted davey fitz did make some excellent reflex saves in his time, but Cummins i feel tends to be very dramatic with shots near or straight at him. Cunningham (how many keepers can catch the ball over the crossbar?), Fitzhenry, Joe Quaid and Donal Og some of the greats

Mountainlad

Connorzee wrote: »

Never rated Davey Fitz or Brendan Cummins. They're constant making a meal of saves did it for me. Granted davey fitz did make some excellent reflex saves in his time, but Cummins i feel tends to be very dramatic with shots near or straight at him. Cunningham (how many keepers can catch the ball over the crossbar?), Fitzhenry, Joe Quaid and Donal Og some of the greats

:pac:

Temp Barry

spankadamonkee wrote: »

Henessey? U serious? Id definitely have donal og and davy fitz and fitzhenry ahead of him.

I can't believe the lack of stick Henessey got for the Tipp demolition. Most of the goals he made no attempt to save whatsoever. By my count 5 of them were heading straight at him and he dived out of the way. (At least that's my recollection - are they on youtube?).

I know its not easy having a bullet coming at you at a hundred mile an hour, but if you're an intercounty keeper, you have to at least make an attempt. Definitely the worst keeper in the first division.

OAOB

Joe Quaid, the man who sacrificed a lot to make a save:D:D

I'm biased but i think Cummins has been the best keeper of the lot, his shot stopping is incrdible and his puck-outs have improved year on year from when he just bombed them long to now pin point accurracy. The number of matches he's played is also something that should be noted. Fitzgerald and Fitzhenry were also excellent, never rated Donal Og or McGarry as highly but as has been pointed out they didn't make as many high class saves

sportinglegend

Always felt Cummins made some very basic mistakes and some of the saves were more dramatic than needed. He made a mess of a ball last weekend and ended up chasing it out over the sideline and the string of saves v kk in 03 was a result of a ball he dropped.
His puckouts have become outstanding it must be said very intelligent.

Fitzhenry I always had great time for but also made some dramatic stuff that wasn't needed probably the best shot stopper I have seen.

Davy Fitz was a raving lunatic in goals constantly winding players up and hopping around like a mad man that being said boy could he pull off a reflex save.

Donal Og I never rated that highly as a stopper but organisation and puckouts were always very good.

McGarry was criminally underated made things look very easy through excellent positioning and organisation. A shame the man never won an all-star only keeper to keep 3 clean sheets in All-Ireland Finals.

Joe Quaid was certainly not afraid to put everything on the line some memorable saves too.

Gary Maguire for Dublin is becoming a very good shot stopper but I question some of his decision making and ability to organize his defence

Offaly have had some good keepers also, Stephen Byrne was underrated IMO and Mullins on his day was a fantastic keeper.

Clinton Hennessy wouldn't inspire me with confidence doesn't command his area that well would try Adrian Power if I was waterford.

From the lesser counties I always rated downs Graham Clarke and Westmeath keeper Mark Briody also Brendan McLoughlin was a most accomplished keeper for Dublin when they were a struggling county.

Clareman

If you want a great read into the mindset of goalkeepers you could do far worse than get Christy O'Connor's book from a few years back http://www.obrien.ie/book575.cfm imvho it's a far better read than The Club

Back on topic, I think all great goalkeepers have 1 thing in common and that's a great full back line in front of them as well as a good half forward line to contest for the puck outs. In my life time the best goal keepers I have seen play would be (in no particular order)
Ger Cunningham. Great shot stopper, kept his full back line well marshalled and also great puck outs.
Donal Og. Puck outs alone have him on the list.
Damien Fitzhenry. Great puck outs and shot stopping.
Brendan Cummins. Shot stopping was brilliant.
Joe Quaid. Outstanding goalie.

I wouldn't have Davey on the list, mainly because his puck outs often led to his team getting into trouble and all too often he wouldn't be able to judge how the team was going and would speed up/slow down the puck outs at the wrong times. The strange thing is 1 of his very few mistakes in goal may have helped Clare with the All Ireland in 95.

Mountainlad

sportinglegend wrote: »

Always felt Cummins made some very basic mistakes and some of the saves were more dramatic than needed. He made a mess of a ball last weekend and ended up chasing it out over the sideline and the string of saves v kk in 03 was a result of a ball he dropped.
His puckouts have become outstanding it must be said very intelligent.

Fitzhenry I always had great time for but also made some dramatic stuff that wasn't needed probably the best shot stopper I have seen.

Davy Fitz was a raving lunatic in goals constantly winding players up and hopping around like a mad man that being said boy could he pull off a reflex save.

Donal Og I never rated that highly as a stopper but organisation and puckouts were always very good.

McGarry was criminally underated made things look very easy through excellent positioning and organisation. A shame the man never won an all-star only keeper to keep 3 clean sheets in All-Ireland Finals.

Joe Quaid was certainly not afraid to put everything on the line some memorable saves too.

Gary Maguire for Dublin is becoming a very good shot stopper but I question some of his decision making and ability to organize his defence

Offaly have had some good keepers also, Stephen Byrne was underrated IMO and Mullins on his day was a fantastic keeper.

Clinton Hennessy wouldn't inspire me with confidence doesn't command his area that well would try Adrian Power if I was waterford.

From the lesser counties I always rated downs Graham Clarke and Westmeath keeper Mark Briody also Brendan McLoughlin was a most accomplished keeper for Dublin when they were a struggling county.

The reason Power isn't in goal is because of his frailties in the air. Awesome shot stopper but lacks a little bit of confidence. Hennessey is as good in the air as any other Keeper in the Country.

And Brian Mullins was wicked dodgy.

Also, go have a look at Cummins save from Paul Flynn in 2004 and let there never be a bad word from you about him again. Amazing keeper.

Temp Barry wrote: »

I can't believe the lack of stick Henessey got for the Tipp demolition. Most of the goals he made no attempt to save whatsoever. By my count 5 of them were heading straight at him and he dived out of the way. (At least that's my recollection - are they on youtube?).

I know its not easy having a bullet coming at you at a hundred mile an hour, but if you're an intercounty keeper, you have to at least make an attempt. Definitely the worst keeper in the first division.

Absolute bulls**t. I'm not gonna use the argument 'Do you think you could do better' because that would be stupid, but you obviously don't realise how hard it it to make a save in a one on one situation. I thought maybe the first goal he dived to early but that was it. Did you miss his save from Callinan and Bonner Maher, and also his class save from Barry Daly against Galway?

I think Skehill is definetly worse, has made a few dodgy mistakes since getting into the Galway team. I don't think Gary Maguire is any better then Clinton. He's a good keeper though. Don't know an awful lot about Wexford's keeper. Jury is still out on Nicky Quaid for me. Who is in goal for Offaly these days? It's hardly still Mullins is it? Herity is very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8f60GxxZVY

Which one could he have saved? Or could another keeper have saved them? If so who?

aidan24326

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Ger Cunningham - total legend!! I'll never forget the all Ireland we won when he saved with his nose!!!!!

From Galway's Martin Naughton I think?

sportinglegend wrote: »

Donal Og I never rated that highly as a stopper but organisation and puckouts were always very good.

But in hurling that's a huge part of it. I'd say it's nearly more important than shot stopping, because let's be honest if a forward is through one-on-one in hurling he can't really miss.

His command of the defence and distribution of the ball was second to none. As a stopper he wasn't too bad either, that successful Cork team that he played with didn't concede many goals.

premierstone

Mountainlad wrote: »

I think Skehill is definetly worse, has made a few dodgy mistakes since getting into the Galway team. I don't think Gary Maguire is any better then Clinton. He's a good keeper though.

Agreed on Shehill, apart from hes unbelievable puck of a ball he offers nothing that any club keeper wouldnt. But I have to disagree with you re. Maguire, IMO he is streets ahead of Hennesey who is extremely ordinary, didnt make hes intercounty debut untill he was 28 and has conceeded 59 goals in 30 championship matches.

Hennessey seems to in my view escape criticism in Waterford because of the fact that its been quite a while since they actually had a very top level keeper and he was an improvement on what went before him, but the ability to comfortably catch high balls is hardly enough to justify he's position.

ReacherCreature

Browney7 wrote: »

I've always liked cummins. He's not too bad for a tipp man haha. I'm sure the tipp crowd will remember when babs dropped him for Gerry Kennedy there in 2007. Utter lunacy.

Result of a spat between Cummins and Declan Fanning, I think. Cummins didn't get on and wanted Fanning out. Babs dropped Cummins to teach him a lesson. I guess the idea is that they're all equals and no-ones bigger than the club.

Connorzee wrote: »

Never rated Davey Fitz or Brendan Cummins. They're constant making a meal of saves did it for me. Granted davey fitz did make some excellent reflex saves in his time, but Cummins i feel tends to be very dramatic with shots near or straight at him. Cunningham (how many keepers can catch the ball over the crossbar?), Fitzhenry, Joe Quaid and Donal Og some of the greats

You can't call Donal Og a great without including Fitzgerald or Cummins. Look at their career broadly and not just some small errors. They're fine keepers.

Clareman wrote: »

If you want a great read into the mindset of goalkeepers you could do far worse than get Christy O'Connor's book from a few years back http://www.obrien.ie/book575.cfm imvho it's a far better read than The Club

Thoroughly agree. It's a better effort than The Club, which I gave up on. O' Connor did a fantastic job getting deep into one aspect of the game. It ignited my interest in Hurling. Must buy the book soon actually.

I'm a fan of Fitzhenry. Shame to see him go but he was a huge servant to Wexford. I'd like Nicky Quaid to be good, purely because of the pedigree he comes from. But I haven't been wholly impressed. Does he need to bulk up? He looks slight in goals.

Herity looks very good - consistent, much like McGarry. His save against Dublin, going backwards, should be up for save of the year. Remarkable effort.

Little confidence in Clinton Hennessy. Nothing jumps out at me. Garry Maguire could be promising. Held his nerve on Sunday vs. a loaded Tipp forward line and his puckouts have been good, then again, Dublin are efficient through the air.

Very interesting thread.

toxicity234

Played againist a few great offaly Goalies,
Byrne as good,
but the outstanding ones were Jim troy and Damien Martin.
but Jim was the Best.
i remember in the all star vs al Champion game(cork) must have being 1990.
3 cork forwards coming through on him and he pull off the greats save i ever seen in an sport. the save was so good that the newspaper the follow day all started there articles with it.
How he never got an all star is shocking but he was from offaly and the all-stars were never fair to us.
The young Goalies we have at the moment is a great goalies in the making James Demspey. just 21 and could be the greatest offaly goal ever.

Mountainlad

premierstone wrote: »

Agreed on Shehill, apart from hes unbelievable puck of a ball he offers nothing that any club keeper wouldnt. But I have to disagree with you re. Maguire, IMO he is streets ahead of Hennesey who is extremely ordinary, didnt make hes intercounty debut untill he was 28 and has conceeded 59 goals in 30 championship matches.

Hennessey seems to in my view escape criticism in Waterford because of the fact that its been quite a while since they actually had a very top level keeper and he was an improvement on what went before him, but the ability to comfortably catch high balls is hardly enough to justify he's position.

Definetly don't think that is true. The biggest accusations that seem to be made against Hennessey are that he didn't stand up to goals that he conceded this year. I wonder what they made of Maguire's save from Callinan. How anyone is expecting a keeper to save shots from top class forwards who are mak 12 yards out and quite often less then 8, and under no pressure is beyond me. But look, tell me the goals you think he should have saved and maybe we'll be at something here. Did you see his saves as I mentioned against Tipp. In fairness, you'd expect him to save the Callinan one but he still saved it,also the save from Barry Daly.

Was it you that said you've never seen him produce a top class save?
Watch the first one.

purpleblaa

Not sure how people can "not rate" Fitzy. Without doubt one of the greatest keepers ever to play the game. The man was immense for Wexford for over 15 years in not only keeping goal, but also scoring numerous penalties and frees to drag us through games. Absolute LEGEND.

Cummins is a top keeper also, but I never rated Davy Fitz, think it was his personality I disliked. Also the cork keeper, Donal Og, not a fan. Honestly think that between Fitzy and Cummins, we've seen two of the greatest in history.

Also, forgot to mention....Hennessey...lol