When Monaghan and Cavan take the Clones turf on Sunday (live on RTÉ2 from 3.15pm) for their latest Ulster joust, it is expected that Darren McDonnell and Gary O'Rourke will be the respective shot-stoppers - barring a late call from the Oriel County.
The pair have been filling significant voids in the early stages of the year. Clontibret's McDonnell was the main man for the Farney’s league campaign that ended in relegation while O’Rourke only missed the Division 3 opener.
Yet it is their respective predecessors that loom large in this fixture.
Raymond Galligan has moved from endline to sideline as he embarks on his first championship as an inter-county manager, 10 months after his final outing between the sticks for the Breffni men.
Rory Beggan will be on the sideline too, after being named on the bench as he waits to hear whether his NFL dream will become a reality. It seems a longshot he will be parachuted straight back into the team, notwithstanding his all-encompassing role as long-range shooting sweeper-keeper, but his inclusion in the squad keeps that option open.
With the RTÉ cameras rolling into town for the first televised match of the championship, viewers may need a little adjusting to the sight of both teams operating without such influential and conspicuous presences in goals.
Five years older than Beggan, Galligan had a more circuitous route to his role between the inter-county posts.
A highly-regarded forward for Lacken, it was during the Tommy Murphy Cup in 2006 that Galligan made his Cavan debut as an attacker. The early years were about getting in, making an impression.
In 2010 he did that in spades with a virtuoso league performance against Roscommon.
Galligan torched the home defence at the Hyde, picking off 10 points. A haul that included six frees, points off either foot and a sideline ball for good measure.
Yet from there things stalled somewhat under Val Andrews and after drifting off the panel, he opted for a change in direction and packed his bags for Australia.
When he returned home, Terry Hyland was in charge of the county team and felt the 27-year-old could offer something different. Knowing Galligan’s kicking prowess off both feet, he cajoled his clubmate to come into the panel at the end of 2014 as third-choice keeper.
"When I went for the goals, I started at the very bottom of the ladder," he admitted last year.
The hard yards were certainly that. Gary Rogers was part of the Cavan backroom team to assist the goalkeepers, but Galligan (above) sought more to make the position his own.
He enlisted the help of former Ipswich Town and Dublin GAA keeper Shane Supple, meeting up at the St Brigid's club in Dublin to get a better understanding of the role
"Raymond was an excellent placed-ball kicker, and needed little assistance there, but it was more the technical aspects such as shot-stopping and positioning," Supple recalls.
"He was very keen to get a better understanding, more so than others I coached.
"His football IQ was higher than others I worked with also. I do remember all the questions he would ask. He really wanted to figure out how he could make gains."
Supple, who is now part of the Meath backroom team, believes in some ways transitioning to a goalkeeper now would require less technical coaching given the evolution of the role.
"Kickouts and being comfortable in possession are arguably more important (than the technical aspects). "We probably shouldn't even call GAA goalkeepers anymore because it's not really about keeping the ball out of the net."
Still, Galligan's future path wasn't apparent in that first league campaign as a goalkeeper.
Conor Gilsenan was first-choice and when he cried off for the final league outing against Meath, it was James Farrelly who got the nod.
The break came in New York on a pre-championship training camp. He caught the eye against the Exiles and was entrusted between the posts for the Ulster opener against today’s opponents Monaghan.
A one-point defeat was Cavan’s lot, but Galligan boomed over a long-range free to show his threat from dead ball situations also. Monaghan had three successful free-takers on the day, but Beggan at this stage was utilised solely between the sticks.
Galligan would become a steady scorer from range as well as a tidy shot-stopper. Captaincy came his way in 2019 as Cavan reached a first provincial final in 18 years.
A year later they went one better, exacting revenge on Donegal in the decider, yet it was his 58-metre match-winning free against Monaghan in the preliminary round which set the wheels in motion for the Anglo Celt success.
He ousted All-Ireland winner Stephen Cluxton and David Clarke to that year’s All-Star award and remained the team’s conductor until he was surprisingly named as the successor to Mickey Graham last winter.
With a backroom team of 19 – including former Tyrone forward Stephen O’Neill, former Meath ladies All-Ireland winning manager Eamonn Murray, Catherina McKiernan and former Dundalk goalkeeper Rogers – Galligan, who is based in Dublin, will be seeking a better display than their flat display in last year’s Ulster defeat to Armagh.
A solid Division 2 campaign – three wins and three defeats on their return to the second tier – bodes well, yet judgement will be reserved primarily on championship fare.
You have to go back 4,285 days and 54 championship games for the last time Rory Beggan wasn’t in goals for Monaghan. That run could very be broken this afternoon.
The Farney men exited the 2012 football championship with a second round qualifier defeat to Laois with Mark Keogh between the sticks.
Since then, the Scotstown man has started and finished every championship outing. Beggan’s incredible consistency was highlighted at the conclusion of last year’s league campaign when Cahair O’Kane in The Irish News crunched the numbers on the goalkeeper’s extraordinary record in the secondary competition.
With the exception of one 10-minute black card spell, Beggan had played virtually every minute of Monaghan’s previous 71 league games.
Beggan has been in America during recent months in a bid to secure a contract as a kicker through the NFL’s International Player Pathway. While Down’s Charlie Smyth inked a three-year deal with New Orleans Saints last week, Beggan’s future remains unclear.
Beggan has been selected in the panel, somewhat surprisingly, but would manager Vinny Corey thrust him straight back into action and relegate McDonnell back to the bench?
McDonnell, who had to navigate some choppy waters at times during a difficult league campaign, was given an extended run to grow into the role with Beggan concentrating, for the time being, on pursuing a professional career in the NFL.
McDonnell, who landed two points in the league, won’t offer the same scoring threat or high-pressing, but is trusted as a steady presence in the square.
Likewise O’Rourke as of yet hasn’t shown Galligan’s range of kicking, but since coming into the side has caught the eye with his shot-stopping ability, most notably in the draw with Meath.
With Galligan retired and Beggan's future unclear, big shoes are to be filled in both camps. McDonnell and O'Rourke appear best placed to step up to the mark.
Watch Monaghan v Cavan in the Ulster Football Championship on Sunday from 3.15pm on RTÉ2, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates from all matches on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
