IN THE MIDST of a 16th season on the county senior football treadmill.
Paul Geaney started out as a sub in January 2011, netting on his league debut against Cork, and when he came off the bench against Donegal in last month’s league final beating, it marked appearance number 61 in the springtime competition in Kerry colours.
Throw in 62 outings in the heat of championship combat and he has stocked plenty days of experience. The years on the road haven’t diluted the enjoyment as another summer of the glamour stuff inches near.
“It’s a long bank of time, alright, I don’t know where some of it’s gone. If you showed me pictures of some of the games, I probably wouldn’t even remember. Sometimes I wonder about fellas there that can tell you about all the games.
“It seems to be getting more enjoyable, to be honest. I think I’m better than I was when I started out. I’m physically in a better place as well, so it’s probably more enjoyable than the first four or five years of my inter-county career anyway. I’m more able for it and mentally more equipped. So, as long as I stay injury free now.”
That gets to the crux of the matter in reviewing the past nine months and a pair of All-Ireland winning experiences. The first, when Kerry reclaimed Sam last July, sparked natural joy and a swell of frustration that a fitness disrupted campaign had prevented him hitting his stride.
“It was coming, even in that Cork game (All Ireland round robin last year) I kicked two points before half-time, (injured) my scapula, so it was there then. I just need to get a clean run of it. I hope I get that.
“I want to get on the field, stay on the field and put out what I know is there at the moment. I was getting those injuries and I wasn’t able to produce my best that I knew that was in me. It was mentally the toughest year for me ever, on that side of it but the winter was unreal.”
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The winter was not smooth sailing fitness wise either. Battling to get fit for the Kerry senior final and hurting his calf in the December Munster club decider. The pain of the ailments was washed away by a magical journey in the Dingle ranks as they swept through the county, provincial and national series.
The memories of the All-Ireland celebrations still burn brightly in their minds.
“That whole week it was just special. There was so many moments, it was insane. Going back to Dingle (for) celebrations, the bonfires from Ballymac all the way back. We stopped in Annascaul and Lispole and and (followed) the band around the town. The Tuesday night in McCarthy’s Bar when it was just back to ourselves again. We’d the following Saturday with the six cups back there, all the rest of the teams came back for a night.”
The latter was a unique gathering, a late January collection of grassroots heroes drawn towards West Kerry.
“So it was Kevin Mahony (Ballygunner) said it on the way off the field to Shane O’Rourke our S&C, (and) Mark Evans – ‘We’ll see you next weekend.’
“Apparently the Ballygunner boys had said it that if they won and if we won, that they were going to come down and it was kind of left there.
“So I said, well, that’s probably the toughest of the whole six and might try and invite Upperchurch and Kilbrittain down as well. So I got onto their captains and invited him down.
“Didn’t take too much convincing really to be honest! And then Ballymac and and the Ghaeltacht were just over the road on a bus, so it was cool now. We went back to Krugers and and back to Páidí’s during the day and back into town then and had a bit of grub in the back of my place and a good night of it.
“It was great craic, a good way to kind of finish it off.”
Reintegrating back into the Kerry group has afforded him the chance to get acquainted again with their new backroom addition. In the 2014 All-Ireland final, himself and Kieran Donaghy supplied the goals that fired Kerry to victory. Now they are player and coach.
“He’s getting on great in the group, contributing an awful lot at the moment, and it’s exciting and it’s good energy around the place. It’s kind of natural in basketball to coach each other, and he always brought that to the table, and he was never afraid to say what works best for him.
“Other guys probably reluctant maybe to say I need you to do this for me, like? He was always straight up that way, so obviously if you can help him out to be good and then he’s helping you out, it’s a very selfless way to play.
“It’s a good relationship to have. He sees that from a coaching point. He knows how to get the best out of this guy and that guy and bring them together. That’s chemistry in forwards.”
Nailing down a starting spot in that Kerry attack isn’t straightforward, with a figurehead like David Clifford at one end of the scale and an emerging talent like Tomás Kennedy at the other.
“I enjoy it, it gets the best out of me then as well,” says Geaney.
“Just trying to get your jersey like, you have to go to another level. That’s where I enjoy the environment most is when it’s that competitive. Same as pretty much when I was there in ’14. You look at the forwards there and you say how’s Paul Geaney going to get into that team? I thrive I think with that kind of competition.”
He is operating at a time when forward play has been revolutionised by the suite of new rules in Gaelic football. The two-pointer is a highly valued commodity. Geaney started the year with that stunning left-footer to draw Ballyboden in the January club semi-final, he swung over another at the close last month against Donegal with his right, a reminder of his ability.
“I love it. It’s unreal and I hope the goals don’t suffer as a result of it down the line. I would have said as well from the start that they should have left the goals at four.
“You can see it already. Goal numbers are going down and two pointers are going up.
You would be concerned that in a couple of years’ time it’s basketball where you only take two point shots. The stats guys are already telling all their teams, don’t bother. The probabilities just doesn’t line up. So you have to reward it by bringing it maybe up to four.
“I have a reservation about it that way, but I love seeing the skill of long distance. At the moment it’s okay, there’s a nice balance. Again it keeps games live until late, so there’s that aspect as well. Seeing the outside of the boot from Ruaidhri Fallon or from Tom (O’Sullivan) or a loop shot from like David Clifford. Hopefully it stays with the play for the most part.”
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Their Munster campaign commences on Saturday against Clare, the honour of captaincy something Geaney carries. In a year where the cup has been named after Páidí Ó Sé, the sense of opportunity is reinforced.
“It’s cool. Big privilege for the Ó Sé family to have (it) named after Páidí and (it) my wife. It’s a great honour tor them, for him to be stuck in the cup like that, one that he won 11 times as a player and I don’t know how many times as a manager.
“To be immortalized I suppose like that, that you’re on the name of the Munster Cup, It doesn’t really make it I want to win it more because we already wanted to win it as much as you could, but it would be nice obviously to to try and lift it again this year.
“A bit of work to do before that obviously and a bit of work for me to do to get back into the team as well!”
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Paul Geaney: 'It was mentally the toughest year for me, but the winter was unreal'
IN THE MIDST of a 16th season on the county senior football treadmill.
Paul Geaney started out as a sub in January 2011, netting on his league debut against Cork, and when he came off the bench against Donegal in last month’s league final beating, it marked appearance number 61 in the springtime competition in Kerry colours.
Throw in 62 outings in the heat of championship combat and he has stocked plenty days of experience. The years on the road haven’t diluted the enjoyment as another summer of the glamour stuff inches near.
“It’s a long bank of time, alright, I don’t know where some of it’s gone. If you showed me pictures of some of the games, I probably wouldn’t even remember. Sometimes I wonder about fellas there that can tell you about all the games.
“It seems to be getting more enjoyable, to be honest. I think I’m better than I was when I started out. I’m physically in a better place as well, so it’s probably more enjoyable than the first four or five years of my inter-county career anyway. I’m more able for it and mentally more equipped. So, as long as I stay injury free now.”
That gets to the crux of the matter in reviewing the past nine months and a pair of All-Ireland winning experiences. The first, when Kerry reclaimed Sam last July, sparked natural joy and a swell of frustration that a fitness disrupted campaign had prevented him hitting his stride.
“It was coming, even in that Cork game (All Ireland round robin last year) I kicked two points before half-time, (injured) my scapula, so it was there then. I just need to get a clean run of it. I hope I get that.
“I want to get on the field, stay on the field and put out what I know is there at the moment. I was getting those injuries and I wasn’t able to produce my best that I knew that was in me. It was mentally the toughest year for me ever, on that side of it but the winter was unreal.”
The winter was not smooth sailing fitness wise either. Battling to get fit for the Kerry senior final and hurting his calf in the December Munster club decider. The pain of the ailments was washed away by a magical journey in the Dingle ranks as they swept through the county, provincial and national series.
The memories of the All-Ireland celebrations still burn brightly in their minds.
“That whole week it was just special. There was so many moments, it was insane. Going back to Dingle (for) celebrations, the bonfires from Ballymac all the way back. We stopped in Annascaul and Lispole and and (followed) the band around the town. The Tuesday night in McCarthy’s Bar when it was just back to ourselves again. We’d the following Saturday with the six cups back there, all the rest of the teams came back for a night.”
The latter was a unique gathering, a late January collection of grassroots heroes drawn towards West Kerry.
“So it was Kevin Mahony (Ballygunner) said it on the way off the field to Shane O’Rourke our S&C, (and) Mark Evans – ‘We’ll see you next weekend.’
“Apparently the Ballygunner boys had said it that if they won and if we won, that they were going to come down and it was kind of left there.
“So I said, well, that’s probably the toughest of the whole six and might try and invite Upperchurch and Kilbrittain down as well. So I got onto their captains and invited him down.
“Didn’t take too much convincing really to be honest! And then Ballymac and and the Ghaeltacht were just over the road on a bus, so it was cool now. We went back to Krugers and and back to Páidí’s during the day and back into town then and had a bit of grub in the back of my place and a good night of it.
“It was great craic, a good way to kind of finish it off.”
Reintegrating back into the Kerry group has afforded him the chance to get acquainted again with their new backroom addition. In the 2014 All-Ireland final, himself and Kieran Donaghy supplied the goals that fired Kerry to victory. Now they are player and coach.
“He’s getting on great in the group, contributing an awful lot at the moment, and it’s exciting and it’s good energy around the place. It’s kind of natural in basketball to coach each other, and he always brought that to the table, and he was never afraid to say what works best for him.
“Other guys probably reluctant maybe to say I need you to do this for me, like? He was always straight up that way, so obviously if you can help him out to be good and then he’s helping you out, it’s a very selfless way to play.
“It’s a good relationship to have. He sees that from a coaching point. He knows how to get the best out of this guy and that guy and bring them together. That’s chemistry in forwards.”
Nailing down a starting spot in that Kerry attack isn’t straightforward, with a figurehead like David Clifford at one end of the scale and an emerging talent like Tomás Kennedy at the other.
“I enjoy it, it gets the best out of me then as well,” says Geaney.
“Just trying to get your jersey like, you have to go to another level. That’s where I enjoy the environment most is when it’s that competitive. Same as pretty much when I was there in ’14. You look at the forwards there and you say how’s Paul Geaney going to get into that team? I thrive I think with that kind of competition.”
He is operating at a time when forward play has been revolutionised by the suite of new rules in Gaelic football. The two-pointer is a highly valued commodity. Geaney started the year with that stunning left-footer to draw Ballyboden in the January club semi-final, he swung over another at the close last month against Donegal with his right, a reminder of his ability.
“I love it. It’s unreal and I hope the goals don’t suffer as a result of it down the line. I would have said as well from the start that they should have left the goals at four.
“You can see it already. Goal numbers are going down and two pointers are going up.
You would be concerned that in a couple of years’ time it’s basketball where you only take two point shots. The stats guys are already telling all their teams, don’t bother. The probabilities just doesn’t line up. So you have to reward it by bringing it maybe up to four.
“I have a reservation about it that way, but I love seeing the skill of long distance. At the moment it’s okay, there’s a nice balance. Again it keeps games live until late, so there’s that aspect as well. Seeing the outside of the boot from Ruaidhri Fallon or from Tom (O’Sullivan) or a loop shot from like David Clifford. Hopefully it stays with the play for the most part.”
Their Munster campaign commences on Saturday against Clare, the honour of captaincy something Geaney carries. In a year where the cup has been named after Páidí Ó Sé, the sense of opportunity is reinforced.
“It’s cool. Big privilege for the Ó Sé family to have (it) named after Páidí and (it) my wife. It’s a great honour tor them, for him to be stuck in the cup like that, one that he won 11 times as a player and I don’t know how many times as a manager.
“To be immortalized I suppose like that, that you’re on the name of the Munster Cup, It doesn’t really make it I want to win it more because we already wanted to win it as much as you could, but it would be nice obviously to to try and lift it again this year.
“A bit of work to do before that obviously and a bit of work for me to do to get back into the team as well!”
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GAA Kerry Kingdom Leader Munster Paul Geaney Munster