Since former Shelbourne and Manchester United keeper Paddy Roche won 8 caps for the Republic of Ireland in the early to mid 1970s, only 2 goalkeepers born in Dublin have represented their country at senior level. Considering Dublin still provides the bulk of every other position, isn’t that a bit weird? Let’s look at some facts…

There have been 18 goalkeepers to play for the Republic of Ireland team since 1975;

Keeper Caps Born 1st Cap last

Packie Bonner 80 Donegal 1981 1996 Keith Branagan 1 England 1997 Nick Colgan 10 Louth 2002 2007 Colin Doyle 1 Cork 2007 David Forde 15 Galway 2011 2014 Shay Given 125 Donegal 1996 2012 Ron Healey 1 England 1977 1980 Wayne Henderson 6 Dublin 2006 2007 Mick Kearns 18 England 1970 1979 Alan Kelly Jnr 34 England 1993 2001 Paddy Kenny 7 England 2004 2006 Dean Kiely 11 England 1999 2008 Seamus McDonagh 25 England 1981 1985 Joe Murphy 2 Dublin 2003 2003 Kelham O’Hanlon 1 England 1987 Gerry Peyton 33 England 1977 1992 Darren Randolph 2 Wicklow 2012 2013 Kieran Westwoord 16 England 2009 2013

Wayne Henderson and Joe Murphy are the only 2 Dubliners!

A total of 388 caps have been awarded to goalkeepers and only 8 of them to Dubliners! In percentage terms only 2.06% of the goalkeeping caps awarded by the FAI have been given to Dubliners in the last 40 years.

In fact only 3 goalkeepers from Dublin have earned more than 10 caps for the ROI senior team;

Keeper Caps Born 1st Cap last Noel Dwyer 14 Dublin 1959 1964 Tommy Godwin 13 Dublin 1949 1958 Jimmy O’Neill 17 Dublin 1952 1959

Only 3 since the Republic of Ireland started playing international in 1924!

The situation at underage international level isn’t much different with only another Henderson (Stephen) a regular in recent times. The under 21 goalkeepers from the past couple of seasons have been Aaron McCarey (Monaghan) and Sean McDermott (Norway). At under 19 level 2 Cork man have dominated (Alan Smith and Eric Grimes).

League of Ireland

Maybe Dublin keepers just reach a certain level and don’t progress. Maybe the League of Ireland has all the good keepers? Nope…

Since the 1997/98 season Dublin clubs have won 13 of the 17 league titles. Only twice has a Dublin keeper been the primary No 1 for the league winners (and only once on a Dublin Team

Season Winner Goalkeeper From 1997/98 St Patrick’s Athletic Trevor Wood Jersey 1998/99 St Patrick’s Athletic Trevor Wood Jersey 1999/2000 Shelbourne Steve Williams Wales 2000/01 Bohemians Wayne Russell England 2001/02 Shelbourne Steve Williams Wales 2002/03 Bohemians Ashley Bayes England 2003 Shelbourne Steve Williams Wales 2004 Shelbourne Steve Williams Wales 2005 Cork City Michael Devine Cork 2006 Shelbourne Steve Williams Wales 2007 Drogheda United Dan Connor Dublin 2008 Bohemians Brian Murphy Waterford 2009 Bohemians Brian Murphy Waterford 2010 Shamrock Rovers Alan Mannus Northern Ireland 2011 Shamrock Rovers Alan Mannus/Ryan Thompson Northern Ireland/Jamaica 2012 Sligo Rovers Gary Rogers Meath 2013 St Patrick’s Athletic Brendan Clarke Dublin

Maybe some Dublin keepers have been excellent but not on Championship winning teams?

The Soccer Writers introduced a “Goalkeeper of the Year Award” for the last winter season in 2002/03. Only one Dubliner has won and that was Brendan Clarke last year. There have been 20 goalkeepers nominated but only 4 of them have come from Dublin. Only 20%.

Season Winner From Nominated From Nominated From 2002-03 Barry Ryan Clare Steve Williams Wales Wayne Russell England 2003 Steve Williams Wales Chris Adamson England Shay Kelly Offaly 2004 Steve Williams Wales Dan Connor Dublin Michael Devine Cork 2005 Michael Devine Cork David Forde Galway Barry Murphy Dublin 2006 David Forde Galway Barry Ryan Clare Mick Devine Cork 2007 Brian Murphy Waterford Dan Connor Dublin Barry Murphy Dublin 2008 Brian Murphy Waterford Ger Doherty Derry Matt Gregg England 2009 Brian Murphy Waterford Darren Quigley Dublin Chris O’Connor Australia 2010 Alan Mannus Canada/NI Peter Cherrie Scotland Ciaran Kelly Mayo 2011 Ger Doherty Derry Gary Rogers Meath Brendan Clarke Dublin 2012 Gary Rogers Meath Ger Doherty Derry Gabriel Sava Italy 2013 Brendan Clarke Dublin Peter Cherrie Scotland Gary Rogers Meath

In the same time frame there have been 72 nominations for the SWAI Personality of the Year. 40 have gone to Dubliners while 32 have gone to the rest – 56%. In terms of people nominated 28 Dubs have been nominated compared to 24 non-Dubs – a very healthy 54%. One of those Dubliners nominated was Stephen Henderson an ex-goalkeeper but then manager of Waterford. He’s the brother of Wayne and father of Stephen Jnr as mentioned earlier. His other Brother Dave Henderson won the league with pats in 1990 and won several awards himself.

If it wasn’t for the Henderson family we’d have no keepers in Dublin at all