“It was a big decision, but it was an easy one,” Conor Kearns says about moving from the capital to sign for Galway United.
A number of factors mean that Kearns remains enthusiastic about the future in the west with the set-up being implemented by John Caulfield.
“It is full time football, I think probably the best city in the country, for me,” Kearns adds. “I love living here, a fantastic club. You have John at the forefront of that, who is driving a level of professionalism that you can't really better.
“I'm sure some clubs can match it, but I don't think you can better it. He really gets everything done the right way.
“That goes right from the top down to the very bottom, everyone works as hard as they can. I love the full-time football, there is nothing else I would rather do, we all do. We do it because we love it. The chance to be able to do it as a full-time job is a privilege.”
On Friday evening Kearns was commanding, claiming a couple of late crosses with authority when Cobh Ramblers began to pose some questions with United eventually prevailing. Winning was all that mattered for United.
“That was it, just win the game, get three points on the board after last week,” Kearns said about United’s response following a loss in Longford.
“We managed to get over the line to get the win. In fairness to Cobh they made it very tough, it wasn't an easy win, but we got there, and we move on to next week now.”
Clean sheets always carry relevance for a goalkeeper. “I think a clean sheet is a big thing,” Kearns says.
“We had a lot of that last season, we wanted to have more this season. I think the big thing in this game was for the couple of crosses I was able to come out to maybe take the pressure off the lads.
“Anything I didn't come out for they dealt with. I think everyone as a unit did their job. Thankfully I was able to do mine, but right across the back four and midfield four and front two. We did our jobs defensively and managed to keep Cobh at bay.”
Kearns is adamant that there is scope for further improvement. “I think we know we have more in us, we know we can get better,” he replies.
“You have seen flashes in almost every game, but that level of consistency is going to come as games go on. Once we keep trying to demand standards of ourselves, I think we are second in the table with a game in hand. We are there or thereabouts.
“I feel like we can get better so we can't have too many complaints. We still have to demand standards, we cannot just expect that we are going to get better, that it is just going to happen. We have to keep driving it home. It is good to see things like this - where we had a disappointing result, but then bounced back to get three points.”
In an intriguing first division a string of teams believe promotion is possible. “Last season it was an incredibly competitive division, people feel like Shels ran away with it, but there was a lot of pressure on them for large spells,” Kearns recalls.
“This season it is going to be the same. Longford even, I think people have been overlooking them a little bit because they haven't played as many games as everyone else. They are picking up good results, Waterford are picking up good results, Cork are picking up good results. Wexford are a lot stronger. I don't think there is going to be an easy game this season, it is a cliche, but I really don't. Every game we play is competitive. You have to stay professional, to stay focused, and keep demanding to get three points every week.”
Reaching the next level with United is the mission Kearns wants to accomplish. “There is huge potential here, everyone knows Galway for a while was an untapped gem of sorts,” Kearns says.
“There has always been huge potential here. There is a fantastic following in a fantastic city, thankfully we have a great group of lads here from the staff to the players, even the volunteers and people in the background at the club.
“There is huge potential for this club to move forward, but us, as players, have to be at the focal point to drive the results, to drive us up the table and back to where the club wants to be.”
**Listen to the full interview with Galway United goalkeeper Conor Kearns on this week’s ‘Cian on Sport’ podcast available on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
