The peninsula hummed to the usual festivities, the Wren on St Stephen’s Day and the influx of revellers for New Years celebrations.
Football never strayed too far from local thoughts, yet instead of conversations about a gentle build-up to 2026, it was today’s All-Ireland semi-final assignments for neighbours Dingle and An Ghaeltacht in a Páirc Uí Chaoimh double-header that commanded the attention.
Mikey Geaney’s 20th season as a Dingle senior player has been prolonged. Continuing to fulfil that commitment is not straightforward. He lives with his wife in Portmarnock in north Dublin, working as a sports trader for FanDuel, a role that kept him busy for a few hours on Christmas Day with college basketball in the States.
Yet he’s put down the miles on the road to head home over the past couple of years, maintaining his role in the Dingle football camp and helping out in the family business in the Barr na Sráide Inn on the town’s main street.
Flying from Dublin to Farranfore used to be an option to ease the burden of travel but with flight times not always favourable, he has generally jumped into the car, even for an eight-hour midweek trip to train with the rest of the squad at the Kerry GAA centre in Currans.
“To be honest, I don’t mind the driving, Anyone from Dingle is used to driving anyway because we’re so long from everywhere.
“The journeys are very easy when you’ve that carrot dangling in front of you, it would have always been the dream to win a county in Kerry.
“Once you have the the holy grail achieved, anything after that is bonus territory. For us, this is breaking new ground.”
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Mikey Geaney at the final whistle of last year's Kerry county senior final. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
The long wait of over seven decades to reach the Kerry football summit ended for Dingle last October.
It wasn’t always clear that the story for their group would be wrapped up neatly with a successful ending. Geaney made his championship bow in 2006 and from there at six-year intervals (2012, 2018, and 2024) they lost finals at the hands of Dr Crokes.
The run was interspersed by quarter-final and semi-final defeats against powerful divisional forces like Mid Kerry and East Kerry. The signs at the outset twelve months ago weren’t hugely positive either. Preparations were hampered by having seven players in with the Kerry seniors, stretching their squad, and they incurred injuries as the year progressed, including the cruciate season-ender suffered by midfielder Barry Dan O’Sullivan in June. Still they persevered.
“You’re nearly thinking put a line through this year and try and come back next year again, but It just seemed to work out, fellas came back bit by bit. A few weeks off before the county championship and then just got the ball rolling.
“You just keep coming back, you think nothing of it when it’s all you’ve done. It’s tough going when you’re losing finals and losing semi-finals. 20 years of that will kill the dream and it’ll make even the most optimistic man pessimistic, that you might never get there. Probably know no better only just to keep coming back.”
There was also an awareness of the talent emerging in the Dingle ranks.
When Kerry’s dominant run at minor level commenced in 2014, Dingle players populated the sides and the club reaped the reward in subsequent seasons. The 2014 success saw Tom O’Sullivan, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Mark O’Connor, and Matthew Flaherty all start. A year later O’Connor captained a team that included Tom Leo O’Sullivan and Conor Geaney. Then there was the Kingdom class of 2018, where Conor Flannery and Dylan Geaney played prominent roles.
Conor Geaney, Mark O'Connor and Tom Leo O'Sullivan celebrate after the 2015 All-Ireland minor final. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“That gang that came up through the school system and won the All-Ireland minors and Hogan Cups, I mean it’s very easy to be optimistic about them coming in. It probably took a while to form a team out of that.
“We had a few years there where we hadn’t anyone coming through and then Dylan (Geaney) came and a few like Ned Ryan there, the young lad, he’s a fabulous footballer and there’s a few lads around his age there that are coming now.”
Geaney sampled success on the biggest stage in 2014, featuring in Kerry’s Croke Park win over Donegal. He drew a line under that inter-county chapter at the end of 2019 and funnelled his energy towards Dingle ever since.
“2014 came as a whirlwind and with such a young team, but the club was always the thing for me. I would have got away without winning an All-Ireland, like I would have been able to sleep at night, but if we hadn’t won a county championship, it would have always been a regret like.
“Look, it’s a great privilege to be involved in that Kerry team that did win an All-Ireland. A great management set up and a great bunch of lads, but it’s always going to come back to the club, especially at this stage of your career.
James O’Donoghue, Kieran O'Leary and Michael Geaney celebrate after the 2014 All-Ireland senior final. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
“With social media now, in September, October, November, county championship season, you’re looking at everyone on social media winning and you’re just thinking, ‘Jesus, I’d love just one.’
“When you’re at the club, I know it’s cliched, but it’s just all about the people around you, it’s unreal.”
They built on the good vibes emanating from their Kerry breakthrough to progress in Munster, defeating St Finbarr’s in last month’s epic final contest and in the process closing the book on the pain of their 2023 loss to Castlehaven on a day when a storm raged in Limerick.
“The weather was so extreme that day and they were coming at us with the wind, but we had it won a couple of times,” recalls Geaney.
“We gave away the ball just before extra-time and they got the last minute score. Then we had a shot to win the penalties and then we missed that, and then I missed the last penalty in sudden death, That was rough to take, but this one was so sweet because it looked like it was gone from us.
“We rode our luck a small bit then, but then just to win it with the last kick of the game. The county win was pure relief, whereas Munster was pure joy.
“That 2014 semi-final (Kerry v Mayo replay) was definitely the coolest game I was ever involved in, this definitely matched it, just because the way it ended.”
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The family factor sweetens the taste of victory with cousins Paul, Conor, Niall, and Dylan all involved.
“It always is special. We’ve won a couple of club championships, and one back in 2015 when Dave (Mikey’s brother) was playing as well.
“The family always have a thing, all the uncles, aunts and cousins, everyone’s at the game, that they get a group photo with the cup. So we got one after the county final that I actually missed, I was inside in the dressing room! We got one after the Munster final as well, it’s class with five of us playing.
“Even Conor, Dylan and Niall are first cousins of the O’Connors, the three back, on the other side of the family, so their grandparents have six grandchildren playing.”
The adventure continues today. The exodus from West Kerry to Cork will see locals take in An Ghaeltacht’s intermediate curtain-raiser against Sallins of Kildare, before Dingle take to the senior stage against Dublin heavyweights Ballyboden St-Enda’s.
“There’s a great buzz back there. The new season you’re nearly dreading it this time of year, but now there’s a pep in your step. It’s completely different, Ballyboden are obviously going to be a big step up again from we’ve faced.
“Even even getting to go down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh and play there, Thurles as well the last day. Dingle is a long way from everywhere, but everyone’s eager to travel and get a new experience down in a new stadium.
“I presume they’ll have a big crowd coming down like they’re a lot bigger club than us, but we’ve we’ve a fairly loyal following that’ll probably match them in noise. It’s class to be going down to Cork playing teams of the calibre of Ballyboden.
“There’s only four teams in the country that have a chance to win the All Ireland club, obviously we’re heavy underdogs, but that might suit us, we like that tag.”
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Mikey Geaney: 'The county win was pure relief, whereas Munster was pure joy'
CHRISTMAS WITH A difference in West Kerry.
The peninsula hummed to the usual festivities, the Wren on St Stephen’s Day and the influx of revellers for New Years celebrations.
Football never strayed too far from local thoughts, yet instead of conversations about a gentle build-up to 2026, it was today’s All-Ireland semi-final assignments for neighbours Dingle and An Ghaeltacht in a Páirc Uí Chaoimh double-header that commanded the attention.
Mikey Geaney’s 20th season as a Dingle senior player has been prolonged. Continuing to fulfil that commitment is not straightforward. He lives with his wife in Portmarnock in north Dublin, working as a sports trader for FanDuel, a role that kept him busy for a few hours on Christmas Day with college basketball in the States.
Yet he’s put down the miles on the road to head home over the past couple of years, maintaining his role in the Dingle football camp and helping out in the family business in the Barr na Sráide Inn on the town’s main street.
Flying from Dublin to Farranfore used to be an option to ease the burden of travel but with flight times not always favourable, he has generally jumped into the car, even for an eight-hour midweek trip to train with the rest of the squad at the Kerry GAA centre in Currans.
“To be honest, I don’t mind the driving, Anyone from Dingle is used to driving anyway because we’re so long from everywhere.
“The journeys are very easy when you’ve that carrot dangling in front of you, it would have always been the dream to win a county in Kerry.
“Once you have the the holy grail achieved, anything after that is bonus territory. For us, this is breaking new ground.”
The long wait of over seven decades to reach the Kerry football summit ended for Dingle last October.
It wasn’t always clear that the story for their group would be wrapped up neatly with a successful ending. Geaney made his championship bow in 2006 and from there at six-year intervals (2012, 2018, and 2024) they lost finals at the hands of Dr Crokes.
The run was interspersed by quarter-final and semi-final defeats against powerful divisional forces like Mid Kerry and East Kerry. The signs at the outset twelve months ago weren’t hugely positive either. Preparations were hampered by having seven players in with the Kerry seniors, stretching their squad, and they incurred injuries as the year progressed, including the cruciate season-ender suffered by midfielder Barry Dan O’Sullivan in June. Still they persevered.
“You’re nearly thinking put a line through this year and try and come back next year again, but It just seemed to work out, fellas came back bit by bit. A few weeks off before the county championship and then just got the ball rolling.
“You just keep coming back, you think nothing of it when it’s all you’ve done. It’s tough going when you’re losing finals and losing semi-finals. 20 years of that will kill the dream and it’ll make even the most optimistic man pessimistic, that you might never get there. Probably know no better only just to keep coming back.”
There was also an awareness of the talent emerging in the Dingle ranks.
When Kerry’s dominant run at minor level commenced in 2014, Dingle players populated the sides and the club reaped the reward in subsequent seasons. The 2014 success saw Tom O’Sullivan, Barry Dan O’Sullivan, Mark O’Connor, and Matthew Flaherty all start. A year later O’Connor captained a team that included Tom Leo O’Sullivan and Conor Geaney. Then there was the Kingdom class of 2018, where Conor Flannery and Dylan Geaney played prominent roles.
“That gang that came up through the school system and won the All-Ireland minors and Hogan Cups, I mean it’s very easy to be optimistic about them coming in. It probably took a while to form a team out of that.
“We had a few years there where we hadn’t anyone coming through and then Dylan (Geaney) came and a few like Ned Ryan there, the young lad, he’s a fabulous footballer and there’s a few lads around his age there that are coming now.”
Geaney sampled success on the biggest stage in 2014, featuring in Kerry’s Croke Park win over Donegal. He drew a line under that inter-county chapter at the end of 2019 and funnelled his energy towards Dingle ever since.
“2014 came as a whirlwind and with such a young team, but the club was always the thing for me. I would have got away without winning an All-Ireland, like I would have been able to sleep at night, but if we hadn’t won a county championship, it would have always been a regret like.
“Look, it’s a great privilege to be involved in that Kerry team that did win an All-Ireland. A great management set up and a great bunch of lads, but it’s always going to come back to the club, especially at this stage of your career.
“With social media now, in September, October, November, county championship season, you’re looking at everyone on social media winning and you’re just thinking, ‘Jesus, I’d love just one.’
“When you’re at the club, I know it’s cliched, but it’s just all about the people around you, it’s unreal.”
They built on the good vibes emanating from their Kerry breakthrough to progress in Munster, defeating St Finbarr’s in last month’s epic final contest and in the process closing the book on the pain of their 2023 loss to Castlehaven on a day when a storm raged in Limerick.
“The weather was so extreme that day and they were coming at us with the wind, but we had it won a couple of times,” recalls Geaney.
“We gave away the ball just before extra-time and they got the last minute score. Then we had a shot to win the penalties and then we missed that, and then I missed the last penalty in sudden death, That was rough to take, but this one was so sweet because it looked like it was gone from us.
“We rode our luck a small bit then, but then just to win it with the last kick of the game. The county win was pure relief, whereas Munster was pure joy.
“That 2014 semi-final (Kerry v Mayo replay) was definitely the coolest game I was ever involved in, this definitely matched it, just because the way it ended.”
The family factor sweetens the taste of victory with cousins Paul, Conor, Niall, and Dylan all involved.
“It always is special. We’ve won a couple of club championships, and one back in 2015 when Dave (Mikey’s brother) was playing as well.
“The family always have a thing, all the uncles, aunts and cousins, everyone’s at the game, that they get a group photo with the cup. So we got one after the county final that I actually missed, I was inside in the dressing room! We got one after the Munster final as well, it’s class with five of us playing.
“Even Conor, Dylan and Niall are first cousins of the O’Connors, the three back, on the other side of the family, so their grandparents have six grandchildren playing.”
The adventure continues today. The exodus from West Kerry to Cork will see locals take in An Ghaeltacht’s intermediate curtain-raiser against Sallins of Kildare, before Dingle take to the senior stage against Dublin heavyweights Ballyboden St-Enda’s.
“There’s a great buzz back there. The new season you’re nearly dreading it this time of year, but now there’s a pep in your step. It’s completely different, Ballyboden are obviously going to be a big step up again from we’ve faced.
“Even even getting to go down to Páirc Uí Chaoimh and play there, Thurles as well the last day. Dingle is a long way from everywhere, but everyone’s eager to travel and get a new experience down in a new stadium.
“I presume they’ll have a big crowd coming down like they’re a lot bigger club than us, but we’ve we’ve a fairly loyal following that’ll probably match them in noise. It’s class to be going down to Cork playing teams of the calibre of Ballyboden.
“There’s only four teams in the country that have a chance to win the All Ireland club, obviously we’re heavy underdogs, but that might suit us, we like that tag.”
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