White: Goalkeepers becoming the 15th outfield player

HAULIE O’Neill was convinced Mark White had all the attributes needed to be a successful sweeper-keeper – and he has been proved right.

On this week’s Star Sport Podcast the current Clon shot-stopper namechecked his former manager as the figure who encouraged him to venture up the field with the ball.

O’Neill had seen enough of White to back Clon’s six-foot four-inch number one to make an impact out the field, as well as between the posts.

‘Mark is quick, tall, a natural footballer, comfortable with the ball in his hand and he played outfield for a lot of his underage career,’ O’Neill explains.

‘We saw it as a chance to have an extra man, a 15th outfield player who could make a difference – and Mark does. To be honest, he is as good at it as any inter-county keeper in the country.’

It’s a role White enjoys. He has the football IQ of an outfield player allied with the attributes of a top-class goalkeeper – together, it’s a potent combination that can make a huge difference at club level.

Clonakilty's goalkeeper Mark White bursts up the field to join the attack.

‘The role definitely has changed. Goalkeepers are becoming the 15th outfield player, really,’ the Clonakilty football captain says.

‘You can tell by the likes of Niall Morgan, Shane Ryan, Odhran Lynch at inter-county level, they’re starting to score now on a regular basis, not just a one-off attempt. It does add a different perspective to the game, another attacking threat. A lot of clubs wouldn’t be used to organising their defence against that, whereas now they’ll have to adapt to it.’

In the recent All-Ireland semi-final between Kerry and Derry, both keepers scored from play. While White has been ahead of the curve at club level in Cork for some time, he also expects to see more club goalkeepers join their team’s build-up play; the role of a number one is changing.

‘You can see it more at club level that goalkeepers are starting to venture out, to try and be the overlap, to get on the ball in the backline and build that attack,’ he says.

‘It was something that Haulie O’Neill pushed for me to start doing the last couple of years when he was involved and I’ll try and take it to a more effective level in the coming season.

‘A lot of times teams will step off the goalkeeper to mark the outfield players and that does give you a bit more space. I used to play outfield when I was younger, up until I was 21, so I am used to being on the ball.’

Given that 25-year-old White ticks so many boxes, his decision to step away from the Cork football panel ahead of the 2022 season was a blow to the Rebels. If Cork boss John Cleary picked up the phone, is the Clon man interested in a return?

‘I haven't really given it much thought, to be honest. I am just focussing on the club, giving the majority of my time to Clon and focussing on being successful in this year’s championship. We can see then when that is over how things will play out,’ he says, and right now all his attention is on the Bon Secours Premier Senior Football Championship that kicks into life this weekend.

First up for Clon in the ‘West Cork Group of Death’ is Valley Rovers in Bandon on Saturday night (7.30pm), and then neighbours Carbery Rangers and Castlehaven in the weeks ahead. All games to focus the mind, but White insists Clon’s full concentration is all on Valleys. Lessons have been learned from 2022. Last year Clonakilty went into the campaign off the back of a sensational run to the 2021 county final; they were the surprise packets, a breath of fresh air, and only lost by a point to the Barrs in the end. The expectation was Clon would build on that in ’22. Instead, they crashed out at the group stage, with Nemo Rangers and Castlehaven both beating them.

‘You can say it was a tough group or whatever … I’m not sure what went wrong, to be honest. Were we expecting to get out of the group anyway? I don’t know. Was it a bit of complacency on our side that we took it for granted? Given the group we were in, we shouldn’t have. Maybe we fell into that trap. We have rectified that this year and we will take it one game at a time, and not look beyond Valleys next weekend,’ he says.

White points out how important it is for dual clubs to get off to a winning start in the round-robin stage, and Clon’s junior hurlers will be in action for the two weekends in between the footballers’ games with Valleys and Carbery Rangers.

‘Having those points, hopefully, going into the Ross game will alleviate some pressure,’ he says, and confidence in the Clon camp is high after their county league campaign. They missed out on promotion in the end, tripping up in their last two games, but there was enough there for new manager Martin O’Brien to build on. New kids on the block like Darragh Gough and Aaron Cullinane, former Cork U17s, have stepped up. The return of Cork star Liam O’Donovan after his injury troubles is a plus. Cork footballers Maurice Shanley and Thomas Clancy have strengthened that Clon defence, though Eoghan Deasy and Gearoid Barry have both emigrated. The squad is in a good place, White says, and now it’s time to kick on, starting against Valleys.