Hello folks, it’s Matt. This isn’t my regular match review or preview. I’m delighted to have been given the chance by LOI Talk to interview the Shelbourne goalkeeper Conor Kearns. This was an unbelievable opportunity, but enough of me , let’s get to the interview!
Before we got into the bulk of the interview, we asked a Conor a few quick fire questions! Here are his answers:
- Favourite Food: Chile con carne
- Favourite Movie: The Godfather
- Favourite Stadium: Tolka, comfortably, the Riverside has been class this season.
- A fact fans may not know: Here’s one, when I played u19s I scored an overhead kick in a match
- First thing you’d buy if you won the lotto: a gaff
- Who’s in charge of music in the dressing rooms: Ward has taken over this year but I prefer when Boyd is on it, Boyd’s tunes are better.
- Dream LOI seven-a-side: Myself in goal, Gav, Paddy , Lunney, Coyle, Boyd and Smith
Now for the main part of the interview I have put them under 3 different headings to make it easier for reading. Now let’s get started
Performance and Strategy
MATT: Obviously a phenomenal start to the season so far. Did you think we’d get off to such a flying start?
CONOR KEARNS: I think we were ambitious with our target, that we wanted to win as many games as possible. Obviously the first game against Waterford was a bit of a kick in the teeth with the way that the game went in general but look, you can be as optimistic as you want, 5 wins from 6 games is a good start and is probably one of the best starts the club has had in a while. But that’s all it is, just a start so we are happy with it but there’s plenty more work to be doing.
M: What do you say has been the key to such a strong start?
CK: I think it’s just first and foremost that the gaffer and Joey and the staff in general are unbelievable and they set high standards. I think the key to the start this season has been the buy in from the players as well as that. They set high goals, they set serious targets for us and demand the work ethic but the players have shown proper buy in to that. Once you get both sides of that coin, things are only going to be positive.
M: We’ve won all 3 Dublin Derbies so far, 2 of them being away. Another 3 coming up in April, how are you and the squad feeling for these games?
CK: Yeah they come thick and fast and there’s no game like the Dublin Derby. The thing about winning the 3 of them is you’ve now got 3 teams who are gunning to make things even and not make it feel like we have their number or anything like that. Expecting 3 more really, really tense games , really tight games. But hopefully we can take lessons from the good things we did and the not so good things we did in those games to give ourselves the best chance of winning them because they are never easy. There’s never really a guarantee. Form does go out the window a lot of the time in the derby, so we won’t be taking the fact that we’ve won those 3 as a given that we are going to win the next. They are going to be just, if not harder than the last 3.
M: Do you or any of the team have any special preparation for Derbies? Or is it standard like any other game?
CK: It’s not any other game for the supporters. We know that, we are aware of that, the supports do tend to be that little bit more. You have to buy into that understanding of what those games mean to the people who are paying to go watch it every single week. But in terms of your tactical preparation and how you prepare yourself for a game, you should be striving to be operating at as elite as a standard as you can going into those games, no matter who you are playing. There’s obviously a psychological difference to it but for us you for us you have to prepare for the game in a normal way, and then just control the atmosphere and control your own emotion when that game starts.
M: Are you happy with the business Damien Duff has done in the off season transfer wise? Are you happy with big signings such as Gannon and Burt?
CK: Yeah I think everyone he has added to the group, I know people haven’t seen much of the likes Deano and Wardy but their impact in terms of the standard that they bring to trainings sessions so far and the impact Deano showed in the few minutes he’s had off the bench, and the qualities of those lads can’t be understated either.
Gannon obviously, his experience speaks for himself, and what he’s done since he’s come in has maybe taken us to that next level, and the same can be said for John O’Sullivan and John Martin, I think everyone who has come in has added something.
Another one being Lorcan Healy, he’s come in and he’s really pushed me, he trains incredibly well, lots of experience in the league. Every player he has brought in has added to the squad definitely.
M: Are you happy with this seasons back line?
CK: How could you not be! Again, not just the lads who’ve started the bulk of the games, but the lads who have either come off the bench had to fill in. At times if there’s been an injury or whatever, like Griff coming off injured and I think paddy missed the first game as well. But yeah, incredibly hard work and make my job very, very easy as a goalkeeper, you couldn’t not be happy playing in front of them. They’re so so organised and so confident.
M: What has been the most challenging part of the season so far?
CK: I think every game, every game is challenging, you can’t overlook the preparations and dedication that goes into preparing for a Friday night or a Monday night. Each and every game has brought a different sort of challenge but you can’t say one thing, especially if you look at the results, they’ve all been quite close knit games, you couldn’t say one has been necessarily more difficult than the other.
I suppose the challenge when the more games you win is to keep that consistency going and to keep your feet on the ground and to just not get ahead of yourself, you know. I think every year in the league people start to get ahead of themselves if the team put a few wins together, we’re fully focused on the goals we set at the start of the season and we’re fully realistic about our own ambitions, and keeping that momentum going and staying focused on the next short term goal is a challenge, but it’s one we’ve been doing well so far
M: What do you enjoy the most about the Shelbourne squad?
CK: It’s so hard to pick out one thing but I think one thing people overlook sometimes is just going in every day and loving what you do, and I think that feeling is echoed by everyone in the dressing room. It’s our job and I’ve been in the league a few years now, and you can’t underestimate that feeling of just really, really enjoying what you do every day, really loving going out and playing football and training, and the environment in the dressing room. So I think for me the thing I enjoy the most is how much I enjoy it, that’s my favourite thing about it is that it’s such a positive place to be playing your football and to be learning from the experienced coaches that we have is an extra sort of bonus on top of that.
Team Dynamics and Management
M: It seems since the draw in Waterford the team has risen to a new level. Has anything changed in training? Has there been new rituals?
CK: No, nothing changed really I think. The thing about this team, and I said it in one of my post-matches was that the teams bigger and works too hard for one result, be it a good one or a bad one, to cause us to rip the manual and start changing things. We prepared for the Waterford game in the best way we possibly could, we had a good pre-season, but the first game of the season is always chaos, and sometimes when you reflect on it you think that it wasn’t a bad point after all, if you make the next few weeks count and I think we did make the next few weeks count.
So no, we didn’t change anything drastically, stayed very composed and focused on the next game, and it was Rovers after that we put in what was probably one of our best performances of the season.
M: So how are you and the squad feeling about the upcoming European games we have?
CK: Have not thought about it at all. Haven’t spoken about it , hasn’t been brought up once. And I don’t think that’s the case of trying to ignore it, it’s just not top priority now. I couldn’t even tell you when the games are to be honest. June or July? They’re so far away, so we haven’t thought about them, haven’t talked about them. That’s for another few weeks down the line before that starts creeping into the mindset.
I wish I had a more exciting answer for you, but that’s the reality of the situation, we’re focused of what’s ahead of us now.
M: What is it like being managed under a manager such as duffer?
CK: Brilliant yeah, like I said he’s made this the most enjoyable period of my football career so far. It’s not just his personality and man management, but the standards he sets upon players. I don’t think you need me to sit here and tell you tactically and technically how good he is as a coach because that’s evident. The evidence for that is on the pitch and the way players have developed not just this season but the last couple of seasons.
I think it’s a valuable learning experience for us as players, and as well as that you have , from my perspective, Paul Skinner who is an elite goalkeeper coach in this country, he has helped me develop my game in so many different fronts. And I suppose the understated Joey O’Brien whose starting to deserve a better reputation in the league now for what his input is because he’s another absolutely relentless coach in his approach to the game and trying to develop us and make us better.
M: Do you think we’ve the best backroom staff in the league?
CK: It would probably be unfair for me to categorically answer that question because you know I’ve only worked under a handful of them. But I love them, I couldn’t see how you could go to a level above what they are as a coaching staff, and it’s not speaking I’ll of anyone, like I’ve said I’ve no experience with a lot of the coaching staffs, but ours certainly has a wealth of experience and knowledge that is just second to none and I don’t think I would look for anyone to come into that coaching staff certainly at the moment, I wouldn’t be looking for any replacements anywhere, the each of them are unique. But yeah, elite in what they do definitely.
Personal Performance and Approach
M: What has been your most memorable moment at Shelbourne so far?
CK: It’s a toss up, I think my first Dublin Derby win in Tolka Park would be Bohs 1-0, that was my first taste of the Bohs-Shels Derby, it was an unbelievable atmosphere, a tense game, definitely a more nervy time and anxious time for me just coming into the club, so when we won that game it was electric, and the win against Drogheda was certainly a big one, last game of last season, I was injured going in, I missed the UCD game before with an injury, but I just really, really wanted to be apart of it that night. We went 2-0 down, the come back to win 4-2, was probably in a weird sense a marker for where the team is this season and how composed we were and how well we played. So ir pick those 2 moments were probably the most memorable so far anyway.
M: Do you have any methods to keep yourself focused pre-game or during the match?
CK: Pre-game I’m quite relaxed, I’ve spoken before that I use kind of a trigger, I write this trigger word on my wrist and that’s just something, a little reminder for me if I feel like I’m drifting in a game or I feel like I’ve even just done something that I’m not happy with it’s just kind of something, it’s something I’ve worked on over time to kind of keep me on a steady enough emotional baseline it’s not foolproof, it doesn’t work 100% of the time but I found over the years that having a little trigger like that just keeps me grounded in big moments, whether they’re positive ones or negative ones. But I’ve spoken with a psychotherapist, I see one every couple of weeks, maybe 14 days, just to make sure that every week and every game I’m in a good place going into a match.
M: What do you personally think sets you apart from other keepers in the league?
CK: I wouldn’t say it’s for better or for worse, but I feel like especially at Shelbourne I’ve carved out my own identity as a goalkeeper, and I’m speaking more in reference to myself as a younger goalkeeper that I feel very comfortable in my own shoes and my own skin right now and when I play a game, I don’t try to do anything that doesn’t come naturally to me.
One thing really in terms of that question is that I don’t compare myself to other people, other keepers. I just go out and try to play the game as who I am and try to play to the best of my ability. Again that’s not to say that any other goalkeeper is different to me, but I just feel like by almost not comparing myself to keepers in that way that’s what makes me feel like I can set myself apart and set my own standards.
That’s the interview, overall I thought it went very well and from interviewing him you can tell he’s a real genuine person and is down to earth. I’d like to again thank LOI Talk for the experience and the work that went into arranging this interview.
I hope everyone stays safe
UTFR
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