The shot-stopping stars that Limerick and Clare look to for inspiration
Stephen Barry
ABOVE ALL OTHER positions, competition will be fierce for All-Star goalkeeper nominations in hurling this year.
Waterford’s Billy Nolan compiled a catalogue of standout saves, including back-to-back penalty denials, while scoring from play and placed balls.
Nickie Quaid already has two man-of-the-match awards, in recognition of his puck-outs and shot-stopping, from victories over Clare and Cork.
HT: Cork 1-11 Limerick 1-09Cork lead the Munster SHC final but it could have been by more if not for this immense Nickie Quaid save
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Had Cork won that Munster final, Patrick Collins would’ve probably pocketed the post-match crystal for his sequence of spectacular saves.
Then came Éibhear Quilligan’s claim, picking up a man-of-the-match award against Dublin after nailing seven saves to protect his clean sheet. Few of them could’ve been considered routine.
Nickie Quaid’s longevity goes without saying. His 178 appearances surpass the county record long held by his father, Tommy. He is the sole Treaty survivor from the last Clare-Limerick semi-final in 2013.
Just as Quaid is in his 17th season in green, Davy Fitzgerald spent 17 seasons as the Banner number one over the county bounds. Since then, Quilligan’s seven-year tenure is the longest stretch of consistency put down by any Clare keeper.
While Quaid has held the jersey since he graduated from under-age hurling, Quilligan spent his three years at U21 level as a sub-goalie and the next four playing away for his club, Feakle.
By late 2019, he wasn’t waiting on a call-up and initially suspected the text from new manager Brian Lohan was a wind-up. At first, he aimed to make the panel cut as third-choice keeper. He ended up winning the race to start that 2020 championship in goal and closed the year with his first All-Star nomination.
There were ups and downs, saves and occasional errors, across the subsequent years, culminating in Lohan giving his preference to Eamonn Foudy to start the 2023 championship between the posts. After a traumatic debut against Tipperary featured five goals conceded, Quilligan was back for the season-saving victory over Limerick. Thirteen seconds into his recall, he saved from Séamus Flanagan. He ended the year with a second All-Star nomination.
At least externally, the question marks over Quilligan’s position seemed to linger into 2024. He saved a poorly struck Eoin Cody penalty in the league final, but his jersey became the subject of some comment after shipping three goals to Limerick in the Munster opener and a moment’s hesitation in the provincial final.
Lohan stuck with his keeper and was repaid across the summer with four saves to keep them in touch with Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final and a flying extra-time stop from Robbie O’Flynn in their final triumph, added to his assured distribution.
Eibhear Quilligan denies Robbie O'Flynn with this magnificent save Four minutes to find a winner....
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Quilligan earned his third All-Star nomination, but the year ended with Quaid receiving his third All-Star. Like this year, the Effin netminder was a Hurler of the Year front-runner up until the semi-finals.
Where Quaid was following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, Quilligan was emulating the path of fellow Feakle club mate and Clare goalkeeping great Séamus Durack. In the early years of his career, he would be managed by Durack with the club and Davy Fitz at LIT.
Quilligan would later coach the Feakle U14 team that produced his future last line of defence, Adam Hogan.
Both goalies are obsessed with the smallest details. The 32-year-old Quilligan works for a health and wellbeing nutrition company. Quaid, 37, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in health, leisure and fitness, sports development, adapted physical activity, health and wellness, personal training, and sports psychology.
Each keeper pushes their body to the limit. Quaid famously recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in less than five months, when a nine-month rehabilitation was anticipated. In January, Quilligan was back in pre-season action four months after undergoing knee surgery on a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury, returning well inside the doctors’ six-month timeframe.
Quaid arrives at the semi-final stage once again in the Hurler of the Year hotseat among the odds-setters. His magnificent game management has been supplemented by some stunning saves.
Before the Munster final, William O’Donoghue was asked by Sporting Limerick who would be the most expensive Limerick player in an inter-county transfer window. The centre-back didn’t hesitate in his reply – ‘Nickie’.
Quilligan has had more to do than most goalkeepers this year but stands up to the barrage. He made match-saving blocks in the closing minutes from Cian O’Sullivan in the Division 1B league final and Patrick Curran in their Munster opener against Waterford.
Clare’s puck-outs were also much smoother against Dublin, although Quilligan acknowledged that Limerick will require further precision.
“It’s always a work in progress and there’s days you go out and it’s frustrating when things mightn’t go well,” Quilligan told Clare FM.
“It takes time, and hopefully we’re going in the right direction.
“Limerick will be another step up in terms of the test that they bring in that regard, so we’ve another two weeks to work on that and fine-tune it.”
This pair will have more time with the ball in hand than any other player on Sunday. Quilligan needs to bring his best Shannonside Derby performance to match Quaid and give Clare the platform to compete against Limerick’s fearsome puck-out defence.
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