Brooks is Wexford’s hero at both ends of the field in Tailteann Cup win over Leitrim

The role of goalkeepers in gaelic football has changed beyond all recognition over the past decade but few would expect their county’s netminder to be both a penalty stop hero and their team’s top scorer but that is exactly what Darragh Brooks managed for Wexford last Sunday in Parnell Park.

The Model County custodian was his team’s top scorer with four points, all from placed balls, but made an equally dramatic if more typical intervention at the far end of the pitch when he made a spectacular save from Keith Beirne’s spot kick, a kick if it had been successful would have put Leitrim four points ahead.

For Brooks, it was all about reading the conditions rather than any homework he had done on the Mohill man’s penalty record: “I didn’t study him but I kinda felt the wind was going across the pitch so it would have been easier for him to get more power if he went across the pitch so that was the way I dived. Normally I would have expected right footers to go across their body but just with the way the wind was, I just went that side.”

Wexford wear down Green & Gold but Leitrim rue missed penalty as Tailteann Cup campaign ends

LEITRIM 1-12 WEXFORD 1-16

Asked how he manages to combine the traditional role of keeper with the place kicking duties, both quite stressful in their own right, and Darragh credits Wexford boss John Hegarty for his faith: “John encourages you - first of all you have to get your stuff right as a keeper, can you be a 15th man at times, your kicking has to be exceptional, your freetaking - if you can add all that, kind of dictate the game, we can get better results.

“I am improving under John, I can feel myself getting better, more comfortable doing the job out the pitch. I should have got more, the first two in the first half were ambitious but look, any time I can contribute, I will.”

Despite the four point winning margin, Darragh believes it was a close run thing: “It could have gone either way - if their penalty had went in, we could have been on the bus home. It was tough, especially against the wind in the first half. We came in level and we said we just have to regroup, they’ll come out because they have 35 minutes to save their season.

“They scored their goal, maybe it was my fault but the lads dug deep and we got the result which was great. There was never a point that ‘we could be on the bus’ here - if the penalty had gone in, it might have been a different story but I’ll back the lads.”

UPDATED: Leitrim fans enjoy the sunshine in Parnell Park as Tailteann Cup journey ends - GALLERY

Leitrim and Wexford fans basked in the sweltering sunshine of Parnell Park as the Model County claimed their place in the Tailteann Cup knockout stages at the expense of the Green & Gold, winning 1-16 to 1-12, on Sunday. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was a busy man with his camera, snapping some great shots of fans in the sun .... see who you can spot!

Does that come down to self-belief or is it just something in-built? “I think it is fitness, we are very fit in fairness to the lads and in fairness to trainer Joey O’Brien, he got us very fit, but you just have to dig deep, we have great characters, a great group and we’d all die for each other and I think that is what it is.

“We had the fitness in the bank, we have the characters, we knew we were putting lads on the bench to come in as finishers so you just have to trust that. There was never a point that ‘we could be on the bus’ here - if the penalty had gone in, it might have been a different story but I’ll back the lads.”