“When I started off, whoever could kick it the furthest was the best goalkeeper.”
David Clarke has seen a lot of change.
Ten years ago, he manned the goals for a Mayo side that went down with 13 points to spare against Kerry in the All-Ireland final. Four times his net was bulged that day as Colm Cooper, Kieran Donaghy, Declan O’Sullivan and Eoin Brosnan queued up to take fire at the Ballina man.
A decade later and he has reinvented himself. He’s adapted to the modern game and 2006 is not his only heartbreak. Nor has it even come close to defining him.
The Connacht force prepare to face off this Sunday with forwards even deadlier than what the Kingdom boasted that day but this Mayo side are unafraid. And they’re ready.
A mark of their success has been the tussle for the number one jersey.
David Clarke and Rob Hennelly have been playing musical chairs for a while now and they’ve done it again this season. Clarke has managed to keep Stephen Rochford nodding in his direction and he’s obviously happy about that. It doesn’t mean he wishes any ill-fortune on his counterpart.
“I don’t think that really works for a goalkeeper, hoping the fella makes a mistake. It will come back to bite you at some stage.
“There’s a great respect between the two of us,” Clarke told SportsJOE. “He’s worked me really hard – I’ve had battles with him over the last number of years, it’s been tit for tat. He’s been in, I’ve been in, different managers. We work hard together.
“We’re our own little unit. We room together, we get on well. We train hard and work hard and, if one of us gets the nod, there’s great support from the other.”
It’s only natural in a sense that there’d be a bit of rivalry. Everyone wants to play. We don’t get into Gaelic Football to watch from the bench and Clarke understands that better than most.
It doesn’t mean that Rob Hennelly hasn’t been there to help the Stephenites clubman throughout the 2016 campaign.
“We all want to play,” Clarke said. “We all start off being number one in our underage teams, our club teams, and underage county teams. It comes to the top and only one of us can play.
“The bottom line is, you’ve got to be ready. things can change. I think it was last year I came off in the quarter-final, Rob took over and I couldn’t get back in afterwards.
“He’s a fine ‘keeper. He’s probably ahead of me in some aspects of my game and he’s helping me work on that. Rob is a fine kicker of the ball – left or right foot, he can ping them out with either.
“The way the game has gone, kickouts has become a major part of the game so it’s something I’ve probably had to redevelop. I’ve spoken with Rob about it and we bounce ideas off each other but there’s no point in me trying to copy someone. I can only be what I can be.”
It’s serving him well so far. It’s serving Mayo well.
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