By David Hennessy

FC Dallas may not be one of Major League Soccer’s glamour teams with international stars like David Beckham, Robbie Keane or Thierry Henry, but with the help of an Irish coach, The Red Stripes are more than competing with the teams who boast international superstars.

Drew Keeshan, from Tipperary, played League of Ireland football with Galway United, Kilkenny City and Limerick before moving to the United States for some study when he was “bitten by the coaching bug” as he played and worked with US university teams.

“I graduated over here and I wanted to work in Ireland as a dietician while playing in the League of Ireland. The Irish government said I needed to finish an internship, I’d done a ten week internship but they wanted me to do six months, so I ended up having to come back to the States at the end of my season with Limerick with the plan that I would finish my internship and then come back. I thought about coming back to Ireland or pursuing coaching over here and I made the decision to stay.”

Drew has been goalkeeping coach with FC Dallas since 2008 and he explains how a couple of fellow Irishmen helped him along the way: “I was working at a couple of youth clubs and the keepers I was working with were doing well, getting included in international camps so I kinda built my reputation up. A friend of mine was goalkeeping coach for the US Under- 20s and we were chatting one day when he said Dallas were looking for a goalkeeping coach. I was working with Clemson Tigers at the time with a coach called Trevor Adair, from Belfast and he put a call in to Steve Morrow who was Dallas coach and gave me a good report.”

Steve Morrow should be a familiar name to fans of Arsenal as he scored the winning goal in The Gunners’ Coca- Cola Cup victory in 1993. It was his first goal for the club and it was made even more memorable by Steve then being dropped by exuberant captain Tony Adams and breaking his arm. Morrow also won 39 caps for Northern Ireland but Keeshan would not get the chance to work with him for too long.

“I was only here three months when Steve got fired,” Drew remembers an uncertain time. “I had a good job so I took a chance coming here. The coach who came in (Schellas Hyndman) was a local college guy. I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me so he sat me down and said: ‘You’ve got five months to show me what you’ve got’. He gave me the opportunity which I was grateful for. The first two years were tough, we didn’t make the play- offs but we found the formula and we have had two good years now.”

Like with any American sport, the MLS is all about reaching the play- offs where anything can happen. Runners- up in 2010, FC Dallas are now looking to go one better. But in a country as vast as USA, players have to deal with an amount of travelling, you would not get anywhere else. Professionals are asked to travel through various time zones and climates, which can take its toll: “The end of the season, it was just too much. The boys were just completely shattered. We travelled 60,000 miles last year. I’m not making excuses at all. Other teams have the same thing but out squad is probably a little bit too young and may not be experienced enough to deal with it.”

Drew has played a huge part in the renaissance of a goalkeeper some had written off: Kevin Hartman. Hartman has been playing MLS since 1997, has appeared five times for the US national team but prior to joining FC Dallas, the 35 year old had been released by Kansas City Wizards. “We took a chance on him,” Drew reflects. “He came in very motivated and he’s been great to work with.”

Kevin has impressed since arriving at Dallas and become the first MLS goalkeeper to reach 100 clean sheets. “I’ve been very pleased with Kevin,” Drew enthuses. “But like Kevin says himself, it doesn’t stop there. He wants another season or two of what he has already produced for us.”

Drew has spent some time training with English clubs like Everton, Hull City and Portsmouth. “I spent a week shadowing Chris Woods at Everton,” Drew remembers. “Chris is one of the best goalkeeping coaches in the Premiership. I was very grateful that they let me come in and spend seven days there, observing what he does and bouncing ideas off him. I’m still young, I feel like I can still grow in the position. I didn’t want to think that I now know everything there is to know about it, I don’t. I wanted to observe guys who are working at a higher level than I am. It’s the premiership, I see what they’re doing and I get some ideas, see what might work for my keepers and stuff like that.”

Is the MLS catching up on the Premiership? “It’s catching up to a degree,” he answers in honesty. “I can’t imagine it ever will catch up to the Premiership. I played over here when the league was in its infancy and it has come on leaps and bounds. It would have been unthought of back then that a David Beckam or Thierry Henry would be playing in the MLS, which is brilliant. The clubs have gone from playing American football stadiums to their own specific stadiums. This club has definitely grown a lot since I’ve been here and it’s still growing. It’s still a very ambitious league they want to bring more quality players in and they want to keep developing the young players that are coming through. We are very much catching up to Mexico and passing out some of the other countries. Where MLS started and where it is now is night and day, I think.”

Like other US teams, FC Dallas have allowed one of their players to go out on a break time loan. George John is with West Ham who have the option of buying the defender if they choose. What does Drew, as a coach, think of professionals playing through their break? “That’s always tricky,” the experienced goalkeeping coach explains. “October 26^th was our last competitive game so it’s not like they’re playing in December and going straight into playing in England, they still get a break. They probably still get the same break a premiership player would get. Also, we get a loan fee and that money could bring in another player for you. They are taking the opportunity to go train or go play in England to stay fit and be involved at that level. I think it’s a good thing as long as they don’t come back injured, of course.”

Drew was delighted to see Republic of Ireland’s recent achievements in qualifying for Euro 2012: “It’s great for Ireland. I’ll tell you a funny story: We were playing New York in the play- offs and I’m walking in at half time, when I get a tap on the shoulder and there’s Thierry Henry asking me how Ireland are going to get on in their qualifier. I thought that was ironic.”

Drew tells me a seasonal visit home illustrated what harsh times we are living in. “I didn’t realise the economy was so bad,” he says. “I was jet lagged so I was watching political shows all night because I couldn’t sleep and it was just gloom and doom.”

Is Dallas home for this Irishman abroad? “I’ve been here four seasons, going on to my fifth now. Yeah, it’s home for now.”