KIERAN DONAGHY’S CLUB dream died on 15 February in Portlaoise.
But he’s wasted little time in getting over the shattering disappointment of that All-Ireland semi-final loss with Austin Stacks.
Donaghy has immersed himself in the county game and was back in harness with Kerry on Sunday, captaining them for the first time as they claimed league points over Dublin.
“It was a big day for me. My birthday today, first day out as Kerry captain. I’ll be honest, it was very disappointing to lose that game two weeks ago.
“We should have won it. To lose it was sickening. But I had a great privilege that the Stacks boys, through their hard work all year, had made me captain. You can’t be sitting around feeling sorry for yourself after losing a club semi-final, disappointing as it was.
“It was important to get back on. I wanted to come back in the Tuesday or the Thursday afterwards but Eamonn wanted me to take a week off and come back in the following Saturday so.
“It’s unbelievable to be given this opportunity and I want to play as many games as I can. I missed a lot of two years ago with injury and last year with injury so, I wanted to get back out there.”
Donaghy praised his teammates for the fight they showed in grinding out a victory.
“They (Dublin) came down with full ambitions of winning and we knew that. Where we were at half-time, down 7-6, I said to the boys, ‘ye didn’t expect anything else, this is going to be a war and a battle’.
“I think that’s what I’m most proud of in the team, that we were able to pull through in a battle, a battling game like that. At one stage there, I couldn’t see in the goal in front of us with the hailstones coming in. It was great to get the win.”
