The Goalkeepers merry-go-round

One of the features of the preseason has been the movement of goalkeepers between the clubs – some amicable, others perhaps not… Most of the action has centred around Pembroke, due to their overload of quality keepers. The first set of rumours had Charlie Henderson moving back to his old club, joining up with his older brother Nigel, current Irish number one David Harte, Stephen Doran and Irish under 18 Stephen O’Keefe. Five into one doesn’t go but their season could stretch to nearly 50 games if all goes to plan so may have been some necessary hoarding. Imagine, though, rocking up to play in your first div 6 match and seeing Nidge at the other end!

Something had to give and initial gossip had young O’Keefe on his way to Rovers before later that day Charlie rocked up to Grange road for training. Meanwhile, Stephen Doran went further along the M50 to perennial rivals Glenanne, to leave a more manageable three, with the older Henderson likely to continue building his coaching CV.

Corinthian subsequently bolstered their goalkeeping options, signing up Irish Development keeper, Ross Murray from YMCA. YM allowed Murray to go with their ‘blessing’, given the strength of their goalkeeping stock. Barring injury, Iain Walker will be pushing hard for a spot in the Olympic qualifiers squad and Graham Woods is a more than adequate deputy.

In the women’s league, Emma Grey made the step up from relegation battlers Trinity to Hermes while Jayne Coyne seems to have snaffled the top gig at Railway under Mick McKinnon after some outfield excursions last season.