Tyrone footballer Niall Morgan at the launch of John West Féile 2025, marking 10 years of sponsorship by the company of the competition at Croke Park, Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Niall Morgan has been the most talked and written about footballer so far this year because the FRC rule enhancements gave him an even greater platform to show off his considerable skill set.
He was so effective at playing as the ‘12th man’ in the opposition half of the field that the 3/3 structure rule has now been amended to ensure that a team must have at least four players (which may include the goalkeeper) in their half of the field and at least three outfield players in the opposition half of the field.
This did little to curb Morgan’s influence in Tyrone’s win over Donegal at the weekend as he scored 0-5 ( 2 2ptf) and was named man of the match.
Some media commentators weren’t best pleased with the influence that goalkeepers were having before that rule tweak or indeed Morgan’s willingness to go to bat for he and his fellow net-minders when some suggested their playing role should be limited to kick-outs and shot-stopping.
He hasn’t enjoyed being a lightning rod for opinion, but he knows it's ultimately a reflection of his effectiveness as a footballer.
“In a way I suppose it's a bit of a compliment because it feels like you're still evolving,” said Morgan yesterday at the launch in Croke Park of John West Féile 2025.
“When I was starting out everything was about Cluxton had evolved the game and changed the game and now it seems to be me, Rory (Beggan) and Ethan (Rafferty) that are being brought up in this conversation all the time.
“I see it as a bit of a compliment. Now, it's not ideal at the same time because you're the one who is always being asked about rules and then you're put in all the papers and on all the outlets. It's grand, the majority of journalists will take you at face value and what you've actually said.
“Then there's other people that want to gain clicks out of it and want to exploit what you've said and change what you've said and make it work for them, which can be frustrating and I suppose it leads you back to that whole thing of players don't talk enough.
“But then you're saying, 'If we could trust the journalists more we would talk more and we wouldn't be as worried about being exploited'.
“What I had said was completely taken out of context. That, I suppose, was the disappointing thing because you don't want to be targeted as an individual. That's not what you're here for.
“You're here for the betterment of the game and you're hoping that that's what you're doing and you want to be a role model for younger people to also want to be a goalkeeper, not just play outfield.”
Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Donegal and Tyrone at O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny, Donegal. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
Morgan’s ability to kick long range scores means it still makes sense for him to occasionally rove into the opposition half and have an outfield player drop back as the fourth defender under the tweaked 3/3 structure, but not many inter-county goalkeepers have the same skill-set.
“We saw at the weekend that with a lot of teams, the 'keeper did just stay back,” says Morgan. “I didn't. I suppose it's just about trying to find ways of making it work.
“I'm just glad that they didn't say altogether that you have to stay (back)...like, some people are saying the 'keeper should just have to stay in the half but then you're not allowed to receive the ball in your half so that doesn't work out either.
“It'll be interesting to see how it progresses. It probably didn't help out a wee bit at the weekend that teams were coming out a wee bit more rather than completely sitting back.
“As I said, I think teams will continue to defend the arc, regardless of how many forwards or how many defenders you're allowed to have.
“I think it will be just a case of rotating who stays back. I didn't go forward as much at the weekend as what I have been previously.
“There was still plenty of opportunities for boys who maybe had went on two or three runs and needed a break, that's probably going to be the workaround for it, that you're basically rotating who goes and who stays.”
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and you’re never going to get equanimity on what constitutes good football, but Morgan believes the FRC rule enhancements have led to a more entertaining product for players and supporters alike.
“I think it is personally,” he says. “Everybody will have their opinion, everybody is going to be different. I think the weekend there was probably the first time we've seen it with half decent weather.
“The wind and the rain and stuff that we had at the start of the league wasn't ideal for showcasing anything.
“It'll be interesting to see how it progresses now and how managers get their teeth into trying to find different ways to...I suppose everyone is trying to exploit the rules and to make them work as best they can for them.
“It's going to be interesting going forward into this last league weekend which is absolutely huge for so many teams in terms of getting to the final or not get to the final in some cases, going by what some managers are saying.
“And so many teams can still go down, and that's just Division 1. Division 2 is very similar as well. There's hopefully a good weekend of football ahead.”
Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan in action against Jamie Brennan of Donegal during the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Donegal and Tyrone at O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny, Donegal. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
No game is arguably bigger than Tyrone’s home game against Dublin because it will have a very significant impact on both ends of the Division 1 table.
“If we don't win we go down, it's as simple as that,” says Morgan. “I've said before that we want to play Division One football, it's probably been the only thing that sort of saved our last couple of seasons where we've been really poor, we could still turn around and say we secured Division One status.
“It's not the be all and end all because we've seen what Armagh and Dublin have done in previous years but you still want to play at the top division and you still want to be in Division One.
“It’s not the case that this is a throwaway game and we’re not worried about going down, we want to stay up. You don’t want to go down by any means but we’d just be unfortunate that if we did win coming off the back of two wins and a draw and still possibly go down, depending on other results.”
The performance of the respective goalkeepers will likely have a big impact on the result on Sunday.
Morgan has been Tyrone’s main man this year, and last weekend Stephen Cluxton made a winning return for Dublin.
Was Morgan surprised to see the 43-year-old return for yet another season?
“No, not at all,” he says. “I sort of knew that whenever he played the Interprovincials before Christmas that he was probably seeing what it was going to be like and then whenever Dessie said that he was going to be back playing, I maybe didn't expect to see him so early, usually they don't play him until Leinster but obviously because of the new rules they're trying to get him more adapted to it.
“It's going to be a massive change for him again too because he's been so used to probably being the best at finding short kick-outs and maybe not having that option, but as we seen at the weekend he quickly adapted after half-time and the whole thing seemed to open up for him so we'll get a front row seat for that at the weekend in Omagh.”
