IF you were to compile a list of the 10 highest profile Gaelic footballers in Ulster would Rory Beggan make the cut? If not he’d have to be damn close.

The Scotstown shot-stopper has been one of the most famous faces in the goalkeeping revolution. Dublin’s Stephen Cluxton started the fire, and players like Beggan, Tyrone’s Niall Morgan and Donegal’s Shaun Patton are keeping the flames alive.

Not that he cares too much about the exposure. Whilst always courteous and helpful to the media, Beggan would be much happier if Monaghan were getting the positive headlines rather than himself. When it’s put to him that he is now a GAA star, you can tell that he is uncomfortable with the tag.

“I just try and keep the head down and push on with it,” he said. “That sort of stuff is out of my control.

“I know goalkeeping has had a bit more exposure and there is a lot more emphasis on it now. Maybe that’s one of the reasons.

“You have to deal with it like anything else and I certainly don’t associate myself with that sort of status.

“People might stop you in the street and have a chat with you, and you respect that and it’s nice that people like to come to chat to you about football.

“But I just like to get on with the game. At the end of your career you will be known for the medals you’ve won and the service you have given your county.”

Beggan’s notoriety has only ensured that the GAA chit-chat has been ramped up since taking on a sales development role with teamwear specialists Plyr-fit last November.

Since then the player has been dividing his time between the office and the road where he meets clubs to show off the company’s latest ranges of sportswear and equipment. Naturally, given who he is, the questions about Monaghan and the game in general are fired at him rapidly.

It’s one of his favourite parts of the job. The demands of modern football may be extreme but that doesn’t stop Beggan from engrossing himself in the GAA world.

“It’s a flexible role, if you have to meet someone then you can get away and see them,” he said. “You’re showing them orders and designs and it’s enjoyable to get chatting to people who love the GAA.

“I would consider myself a bit of a die-hard fan. Any time it’s on the TV I’d be watching it or if there is an underage match on down at the pitch I’d go to watch it when I have the time.

“I’d do a bit of coaching in the club with our underage teams and I’ll be doing a few coaching courses.

“It would be a big part of my life. Once I retire I would like to go into the coaching end of it and see where it takes me.

“I suppose the job, it ties in with the football because you’re dealing with a lot of GAA clubs so you always find yourself talking to a customer and 60 percent, 70 percent could end up just being about football.”

For now his GAA interest is firmly focused on the visit of Kerry to Inniskeen this Sunday.

One more win should keep Seamus McEnaney’s side safe, and with Meath also set to make the journey to Monaghan, they are still in a strong position to secure a seventh straight year in Division One.

Since joining the squad after the 2011 National League, Beggan and Monaghan have enjoyed a good record against the Kingdom.

Five league meetings have resulted in three wins and two losses for the Ulster side while the Oriel men somehow lost their one championship game when David Clifford threaded the eye of the needle for a match-drawing goal in their 2018 ‘Super Eight’ clash.

“Kerry, along with Dublin, are the benchmark for any county,” said the player.

“They have quality players all over the field and whether you’re playing them at home or away you treasure those sorts of games.

“These are the games that make you better as a team and you find out a lot about your team.

“Obviously the last result against Donegal wasn’t great and the confidence mightn’t be as high as it should be but we will be going into looking for the two points.

“On top of that it’s a great chance to measure ourselves. The league is the league at the end of the day, we would like to be going as far as we can but we’re essentially setting ourselves up for the championship.”

Monaghan arrive at Grattan Park with their confidence dented following a 2-12 to 0-8 loss to Donegal last time out.

You’d have to go all the way back to April 2015 for the last time they lost a league game by a double-digit margin with Dublin winning 1-22 to 1-11 in Clones. Still, there were some interesting nuggets of gold within the rubble of that defeat.

On the surface, conceding a goal isn’t usually a positive, but Oriel fans saw something very different when Hugh McFadden stroked home Donegal’s second major in the 55th minute.

Six points down before McFadden hit the net, ‘Banty’ and his selectors let their players go for broke.

As Patton lined up his kick-out, Beggan and Monaghan’s last defender were outside their own ‘45’. Three Donegal players were beyond them and free as a bird. By the time Patton’s kick-out landed, Donegal had four players inside Monaghan’s ‘45’ with only Beggan there against them. Twenty-five metres from goal, he tried to haul down Patrick McBrearty who wriggled free and fed the ball to McFadden who had the simplest of finishes.

A goal conceded, Beggan black-carded and the game lost. In terms of risk and reward, this seemed like a real losing call.

However, another way to view it is that Monaghan are prepared to bring a certain amount of bravery and innovation to the table and who knows how that will pay off when the real football starts in the summer.

“The league is a great place to try this stuff out,” Beggan said of the move.

“Come championship time and if it worked out like it did against Donegal you could be gone.

“But at least in the league we can try something and we can tweak it after seeing how it goes. It’s not something we have done too much during the league.

“We were six points down at that stage so it was worth trying even if it didn’t work out.

“You can’t take away from Patton’s kick-out in those conditions, he got a lot of length on it and it probably took us by surprise. We’ll go back and review it and see what we can bring moving forward.”

What we as fans of the game can expect moving forward is more exciting days from Monaghan and more top class performances from Beggan. These are exciting times to be a goalkeeper. The revolution is gathering pace.

n.mccoy@gaeliclife.com

To contact Rory directly

about Play-r Fit teamwear or equipment designs, you can

email him at rory@playr-fit.com