MONAGHAN DEFENDER COLIN Walshe says that goalkeeper Rory Beggan is always evolving his kicking game and has ‘taken it to a new level’ over the last few years.
The Scotstown netminder starred for Monaghan in their Super 8s draw against Kerry last month, hitting a tally of four points from frees in a man-of-the-match performance.
The accuracy from his kick-outs was equally impressive as the home side looked poised for victory to seal their place in the All-Ireland semi-finals, before a late David Clifford goal ensured a draw for Kerry.
Monaghan have one of the most gifted forwards in the country in Conor McManus, but Walshe knows that Beggan’s scoring ability is another lethal asset for his team to have.
He has witnessed the work that Beggan has invested in this aspect of his game, and has even been a victim of it at club level when Walshe’s Doohamlet take on Scotstown.
“He’s moving his game on to a new level nearly every time he goes out,” said Walshe at the launch of The EirGrid’s Moments in Time competition in Croke Park.
“Especially these last couple of years he’s really taken it to a new level and it’s great to have him there, he’s a great asset to have.
“He’s always working on his game with the goalkeeping coach there that’s with him, but it takes hard work to get where he is and you can see that the practice is paying off. He’s getting better and better.
“Be it his goal-kicking skills or his free-taking. Not every team has a weapon like him from free-kicks. In fairness to him, he’s got a serious kick of a ball and is a great asset for us to have.
I know from playing against him at club level how much of a torture he can be. If you imagine what he’s like at county football, you should see him on a club pitch. Where he can put the ball, it’s crazy.
“Yeah, he’s definitely a great man have to behind us.”
Walshe confesses that he doesn’t know the exact detail of Beggan’s training reigme when practising his kicking, but knows that he has a natural flair for this style of play which is difficult to master.
His skill-set could prove to be the difference this weekend as Monaghan travel to Salthill for a final Super 8s clash with the current Group 1 leaders Galway, where they will need a result following the setback against Kerry.
A win would see Malachy O’Rourke’s leap-frog Galway and progress to the last-four as the table toppers while a draw would also be a sufficient result to see them through to the semi-finals.
“He’s always been a good striker of the ball. I’m not sure what work he does individually with the goalkeeping coach. I wouldn’t have seen that or spent much time with them.
But definitely he’s just got that natural strike about him. It just looks effortless. He never looks like he’s trying to hard.
“If I was trying to kick a ’45 I’d look like it was a lot of work for me, whereas he can just clip it. It’s something that he’s worked on and it’s something he has improved on so it’s obviously the practice he’s putting in.”
EirGrid is calling on all GAA supporters throughout the country to submit their favourite image of a GAA Moment in Time be it on the pitch as a player, as a volunteer in a club or as a supporter on the side line.
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