Joe Carroll: Mickey Harte probably didn’t gamble on losing two of his keepers

The gamble Mickey Harte said he took in playing Peter McStravick in goals for Louth’s match with Derry would seem to have cost more than just the loss of two valuable league points.

Missing when he considers the team for Sunday’s match with Limerick will be two of his panel’s goalkeepers, both of whom have taken their leave of the panel.

McStravick, chosen on the county panel on the strength of some solid performances outfield with Young Irelands, was the surprise choice for the No1 jersey for the game with the Ulster champions last Sunday week. He had never played there before for club or county, and that presented him with no easy task.

He had no chance with the penalty that beat him, but would probably have satisfied management with his kicks out – though three of them went over the sideline – and with the manner in which he filled the outfield role so much favoured by today’s manager.

However, in attempting to deal with a dropping ball – which wouldn’t have caused a regular net-minder much bother – the young man fumbled. The move ended with the ball in the back of his net, giving Derry the game’s most decisive score.

McStravick was Louth’s third goalie in as many games. Martin McEneaney got the nod for the O’Byrne Cup final with Longford, and on a day when the full-back line in front of him leaked like a sieve, he conceded three goals. His fine was to be dropped for the league’s opener with Clare.

Declan Byrne was the selection for this one, and like McStravick, but unlike McEneaney – who plays in goals at club level and was named on the panel on the strength of his performances with the St Patrick’s team – the St Mochta’s clubman had a task that was foreign to him.

Byrne kept his goal intact, and, and on one occasion when in an advanced position, delivered what was the longest and most accurate pass of the day. That the ball ended back in his hands about twenty seconds later wasn’t his fault, just symptomatic of what can happen in today’s game, when it appears it’s preferable to put in twenty passes when a few might suffice.

Seemingly, Byrne’s kicks out weren’t of the required standard. This is not easily explained. When he went long, landing the ball in the middle of the field, Louth weren’t good enough to win it, and when he tried to go short he had no target.

Stephen Cluxton introduced – and perfected – the short kick-out. The Dublin great couldn’t have done it on his own. He needed outfield players to be in sync with him, making themselves available. That didn’t happen for Byrne in Ennis.

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That was then, this is now. When Louth assemble at Ardee for Sunday’s game with Limerick, Byrne and McEneaney won’t be in the squad. Both have opted out, for, it can be said with some certainty, over being ignored for the Derry match.

Mickey Harte wouldn’t have wanted this to happen. He’s at the most crucial stage of his stay in this county, and defections is the last thing he needs to be dealing with. Byrne and McEneaney will feel they have a point; but how much of all of this can be attributed to what’s expected of goalkeepers from the game as it’s played today?

McEneaney can stop shots and drive the ball further off the ground than most others in this county. He can score as well, as he showed with that sideline-kick he converted in a club championship match in Clan na Gael Park last summer. This, it seems, is not an essential.

Byrne was willing to come out of retirement to fill a role entirely new to him, and at the same time take the county management out of a hole when they didn’t want to play McEneaney, and James Califf – another new-born goalie – wasn’t available.

As alluded to earlier, should he take the entire blame for what was considered wrong in Ennis?