Kearns heaps praise on defenders for role in three successive clean sheets

By Keith Kelly

Conor Kearns has been living the dream in the last few weeks, the Galway United goalkeeper having kept clean sheets in each of his last three games as his side has turned around a poor start to the season with a brilliant run of both results, and performances.

Mind you, the Dublin native is the first to admit that he hasn’t had to pay much of a role in achieving those blanks, as he heaps praise on his United team-mates in general, and in particular those in defence, who have ensured that not only has Kearns kept a clean sheet in the last three games, he has had to face the sum total of a single shot on target across those 270 minutes.

“One shot in three games, and I don’t even think at that it was a meaningful effort, it was a fairly routine one,” the former UCD and St Patrick’s Athletic netminder tells City Sport.

“Three games without anything to do – it looks great on the keeper when you keep clean sheets, but credit has to go to Conor [O’Keeffe], to Alex [Murphy] and Walshy [Stephen Walsh], to Maurice [Nugent] and Killer [Killian Brouder].

“The five of them have done absolute brilliant in those three games, it has been fairly routine for me just to make sure they are on their toes, as they have made sure they have dealt with everything in the last three games,” says Kearns.

He cut his teeth in the League of Ireland with UCD in 2018, and was a central figure in that side as they went on to clinch the title, losing just four games in a season in which they finished 20 points ahead of United.

That said, one of those defeats came at Eamonn Deacy Park, and Kearns played an unfortunate role in that, as an 11th-minute free-kick from Eoin McCormack came back off the post, hit the goalkeeper, and rolled over the line to give United the lead in a game they went on to win 2-0.

That was only three years ago, but both squads had a very different looks to them for last Friday’s meeting in Belfield compared to that May 2018 clash.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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