Across the season Club Chaplain, Rev Grant Hamilton, speaks to members of the Sons squad about life on and off the park. Earlier this month it was St Mirren loanee Theo McCormick, and now another man who made the move across the Erskine Bridge, goalkeeper Shay Kelly, is in the spotlight.
GH: You arrived at Dumbarton originally on loan. From the point of view of a young footballer, what does a successful loan period look like?
“You hope you’ll be able to fit in and feel part of things and at Dumbarton that was easy as the team were brilliant with me right from the beginning. You obviously hope to play games and to enjoy different experiences. I’d been at St Mirren for my whole youth career and when I arrived at Dumbarton I was playing 18s football.
“You get trained to play out from the back in youth football but in the senior game I’ve had the chance to develop my kicking. I’ve also had to learn the dirty side of the game, if that makes sense, and become generally stronger. In under 18s you don’t get 6’4’’ working men charging on top of you to get the ball. Looking back, I definitely got the experiences I wanted and I loved it.”
GH: Obviously you then signed permanently. What encouraged you to do that?
“The manager has given me an opportunity to play senior football regularly, something that not many goalkeepers my age are doing. As a goalkeeper you can’t really ask any more than to get the chance to play week in, week out in League 2. I know as well that I have the manager’s full backing, even when things don’t go my way, and that was a major influence on my decision.”
GH: You have an older brother who is a well-known goalkeeper so was it inevitable that you would become a goalkeeper?
“When I started with St Mirren I was actually a striker and at 11 or 12 I was playing in the year above my age group. Some people think that I’m good with my feet because of that early experience and I don’t underestimate it because all the different experiences don’t get wasted.
“I can’t remember the exact circumstances but one day I got asked if I would play in goals for St Mirren. I said yes and I’ve never looked back since. It wasn’t planned at all but maybe I don’t have the legs to play outfield anyway.”
GH: Is it helpful having others in your family who’ve done it before?
“My older brothers are amazing. They have done it all and even when I came on loan last year my brothers were telling me about their own loan experiences. They have been with the St Mirren and Celtic and Ranger when they were younger and they told me not to go thinking it would be easy coming to Dumbarton.
“They stressed that I needed to be on top of everything because the road ahead would be difficult. They definitely helped prepare me as I didn’t feel like I was going into the unknown and was ready for the challenges and really looking forward to it.”
GH: Chaplaincy is part of the player support system at the club. How important has your own support system been to helping you get this far?
“My family have been amazing. My mum and dad have taken me everywhere since I was younger and I know they have sacrificed their time and things they wanted to do. My dad often worked night shifts and then took me straight to football without ever complaining about anything at all.
“My mum is virtually at every single game I play. Then you can add in the wee pointers my brothers can give me. Sean has played many games outfield in the Scottish Premier League and he can offer a different point of view to Liam so having both of them as well as my mum and dad has been brilliant for me.”
GH: Maybe this is difficult to answer at 18 but what personal ambitions do you have in football?
“I just want to play at the highest level I can. I know how hard it’s going to be but I’m ready to work hard to be the best player I can be. I’m ready to build my way up and combine whatever talent I have with a lot of hard work to go wherever it takes me. In the here and now I am fully focussed on doing the best job I can with Dumbarton.
“I want to learn as much as I can, whether that is facing different types of shots or handling different kinds of crosses or dealing with various kinds of pass backs in pressure situations. In the game against Edinburgh City I was man of the match but like every game, there are positives and negatives that I can sit and analyse and learn from. That is part of the process of helping me to grow and be the best player I can be.
“I don’t tend to set targets for clean sheets or things like that as these things can often get taken out of your hands anyway by incidents within a game. I just approach every game with the aim of being the best I can be by being clean and tidy on the ball, making good decisions and helping my team mates as much as I can.”
GH: What are your hopes for the team this season?
“We started with the disadvantage of minus 5 points but now we are back in positive points we hope to try and stay nearer the top end of the table by picking up as many points as we can.”
Chaplain’s Corner is available to read in every edition of our matchday programme, Sons View.