12 YEARS AFTER he made his championship debut, it’s Cavan once more for Paul Geaney.
In the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final, he came on for Kieran Donaghy on 49 minutes. It was a Kerry team of the two ÓSé brothers, Tomás and Marc, James O’Donoghue, Paul Galvin, Declan O’Sullivan. And the Gooch.
To have bridged that generation to now is an illustration of how long Geaney’s tour of duty has lasted.
He missed only his second ever championship game last weekend against Meath – the other being the Cork defeat in the Covid year of 2020 when he just ran out of time banking enough work to get back from injury.
This time the injury came against Cork in the group stages.
He had already taken a bit of a thump to his head off the ground, but the second one was an impact to his shoulder that brought some bone bruising and swelling.
He’s surprisingly durable for a man who has had his fair share in injuries. His good fortune, if you want to call it that, was that they usually happened on club duty or else during the national league.
He went through a period of persistent hamstring injuries until further investigation revealed that the root cause was a fractured bone in his back that was fixed with some surgery.
So, what’s his secret, at 34? Glucosamine? Pilates? Taping his mouth shut at night?
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“I think a run of getting older and smarter and treating myself better recovery-wise and in the off-season as well. I just stay on top of everything as much as I can,” says the proprietor of Paul Geaney’s Bar and Restaurant in Dingle.
“Down time…, relaxing and kind of letting the hair down is at a minimum. It’s probably two, three weeks between club and getting back to Christmas time. And even during that, I kind of take away from it as well.
Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE
“It’s more the mental side of it. The other side of it is that I felt so in love with the game, I suppose, again, that I probably haven’t needed a mental break either from it. And I was enjoying my football with my club so much in the off-season as well over the past two seasons.”
His form with Dingle has been spectacular in the last few Kerry championships. That’s kept him on the pitch longer, built his resistance to injuries and kept him sharp.
He has been one of the top performers for Kerry in a season where – like everyone else – people have been quick to point out faults and shortcomings with every side as the counties are whittled down to the last 12 with the preliminary quarter-finals this weekend.
His reasoning speaks of a man who has hit a sweet spot of maturity and appreciation. In November, he will turn 35. And yet he is less concerned with trying to cram in a few All-Ireland titles than when the was 28 and 29, supposedly in his physical prime.
In the national league, he caught the eye in the second round, coming on for his cousin Conor in Celtic Park with Derry seemingly cruising to a win on 55 minutes.
Paul grabbed 2-0 while Conor had already 2-4 on the board when he made way.
All in he scored 4-17 throughout the league, with 1-2 in the final against Mayo.
For Geaney and many others, the changes wrought by the Football Review Committee couldn’t have happened fast enough.
“About 2018, 2019, I found it hard to get motivated. In the summer of 2018, It actually reflected in my football, really. We lost to Galway here in the first round of the Super 8s and then drew in Clones with Monaghan,” he said.
“I kind of had turned the corner motivation-wise towards the end of that group stage. We had Kildare at home but the thing was out of our hands at that point.
“And we won, but Galway happened to lose to Monaghan at home, so we actually got knocked out, which was unfortunate because I felt that I kind of turned a corner.
“Then in the off-season, I probably felt I might pack it in, actually. I wasn’t playing as good, or I wasn’t invested. I wasn’t giving everything to the club either, I suppose, in a lot of senses.
“I might have been just sick of it, looking back but probably glad I stuck at it for a while because if I did step out, I don’t know would I have had it to come back.”
He just, as he says himself, “fought through” that patch of just not feeling it. Then some form came in 2019. But it’s hard to think of a period when he was as high functioning as he is over the last two seasons.
“The new rules now have kind of flipped it back the other way. I’m still a link man, but I get to be the out-and-out striker in the odd time as well. So you enjoy that. You enjoy that now at the moment,” he said.
“I hope it stays that way. I hope that some coach doesn’t come out and ruin it on us all. Because I think every team has seen the benefits of it. There’s teams that were playing defensive last year and the year before and showing no ambition to go forward.
“Then all of a sudden this year. Look, Meath last weekend as an example; we played them last year and they were 15 behind the ball and they showed no intention to play football. Then 12 months later, they’re able to play like they’re playing at the moment.
Sam Barnes / SPORTSFILE
Sam Barnes / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE
“They’re playing a great brand of football, they have the players and had the players last year, but they seem to be inspired at the moment.”
As much as he cares about this stuff and about the bigger picture, it’s hammer down time in The Kingdom. All distractions are removed with the introduction of proper knockout football kicking in. Losing to Meath by nine points ranks as a proper crisis in Kerry, one that can only start to be avenged when they host Cavan this weekend.
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Dissecting Kerry manager Jack O’Connor’s comments after the loss to the Royals, you sense he prefers having an extra game to get some injured bodies back and blow off the frustration.
“Clearly, we need it,” agrees Geaney.
“I think we need to nail down some things and need to find the energy that’s required to mount a challenge.
“Obviously, if you don’t win this weekend, you don’t deserve to be going any further. But it’s forced us into a one-game-at-a-time mentality, where it’s all about Saturday. It doesn’t really matter, there’s no point in talking about anything after that.
“Look, you couldn’t be happy with Saturday, everyone’s a bit disappointed. We just have to regroup and get things right now for this weekend.”
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'You couldn't be happy with Saturday' - Paul Geaney gets ready for charge at Sam Maguire
12 YEARS AFTER he made his championship debut, it’s Cavan once more for Paul Geaney.
In the 2013 All-Ireland quarter-final, he came on for Kieran Donaghy on 49 minutes. It was a Kerry team of the two ÓSé brothers, Tomás and Marc, James O’Donoghue, Paul Galvin, Declan O’Sullivan. And the Gooch.
To have bridged that generation to now is an illustration of how long Geaney’s tour of duty has lasted.
He missed only his second ever championship game last weekend against Meath – the other being the Cork defeat in the Covid year of 2020 when he just ran out of time banking enough work to get back from injury.
This time the injury came against Cork in the group stages.
He had already taken a bit of a thump to his head off the ground, but the second one was an impact to his shoulder that brought some bone bruising and swelling.
He’s surprisingly durable for a man who has had his fair share in injuries. His good fortune, if you want to call it that, was that they usually happened on club duty or else during the national league.
He went through a period of persistent hamstring injuries until further investigation revealed that the root cause was a fractured bone in his back that was fixed with some surgery.
So, what’s his secret, at 34? Glucosamine? Pilates? Taping his mouth shut at night?
“I think a run of getting older and smarter and treating myself better recovery-wise and in the off-season as well. I just stay on top of everything as much as I can,” says the proprietor of Paul Geaney’s Bar and Restaurant in Dingle.
“Down time…, relaxing and kind of letting the hair down is at a minimum. It’s probably two, three weeks between club and getting back to Christmas time. And even during that, I kind of take away from it as well.
“It’s more the mental side of it. The other side of it is that I felt so in love with the game, I suppose, again, that I probably haven’t needed a mental break either from it. And I was enjoying my football with my club so much in the off-season as well over the past two seasons.”
His form with Dingle has been spectacular in the last few Kerry championships. That’s kept him on the pitch longer, built his resistance to injuries and kept him sharp.
He has been one of the top performers for Kerry in a season where – like everyone else – people have been quick to point out faults and shortcomings with every side as the counties are whittled down to the last 12 with the preliminary quarter-finals this weekend.
His reasoning speaks of a man who has hit a sweet spot of maturity and appreciation. In November, he will turn 35. And yet he is less concerned with trying to cram in a few All-Ireland titles than when the was 28 and 29, supposedly in his physical prime.
In the national league, he caught the eye in the second round, coming on for his cousin Conor in Celtic Park with Derry seemingly cruising to a win on 55 minutes.
Paul grabbed 2-0 while Conor had already 2-4 on the board when he made way.
All in he scored 4-17 throughout the league, with 1-2 in the final against Mayo.
For Geaney and many others, the changes wrought by the Football Review Committee couldn’t have happened fast enough.
“About 2018, 2019, I found it hard to get motivated. In the summer of 2018, It actually reflected in my football, really. We lost to Galway here in the first round of the Super 8s and then drew in Clones with Monaghan,” he said.
“I kind of had turned the corner motivation-wise towards the end of that group stage. We had Kildare at home but the thing was out of our hands at that point.
“And we won, but Galway happened to lose to Monaghan at home, so we actually got knocked out, which was unfortunate because I felt that I kind of turned a corner.
“Then in the off-season, I probably felt I might pack it in, actually. I wasn’t playing as good, or I wasn’t invested. I wasn’t giving everything to the club either, I suppose, in a lot of senses.
He just, as he says himself, “fought through” that patch of just not feeling it. Then some form came in 2019. But it’s hard to think of a period when he was as high functioning as he is over the last two seasons.
“The new rules now have kind of flipped it back the other way. I’m still a link man, but I get to be the out-and-out striker in the odd time as well. So you enjoy that. You enjoy that now at the moment,” he said.
“I hope it stays that way. I hope that some coach doesn’t come out and ruin it on us all. Because I think every team has seen the benefits of it. There’s teams that were playing defensive last year and the year before and showing no ambition to go forward.
“Then all of a sudden this year. Look, Meath last weekend as an example; we played them last year and they were 15 behind the ball and they showed no intention to play football. Then 12 months later, they’re able to play like they’re playing at the moment.
“They’re playing a great brand of football, they have the players and had the players last year, but they seem to be inspired at the moment.”
As much as he cares about this stuff and about the bigger picture, it’s hammer down time in The Kingdom. All distractions are removed with the introduction of proper knockout football kicking in. Losing to Meath by nine points ranks as a proper crisis in Kerry, one that can only start to be avenged when they host Cavan this weekend.
Dissecting Kerry manager Jack O’Connor’s comments after the loss to the Royals, you sense he prefers having an extra game to get some injured bodies back and blow off the frustration.
“Clearly, we need it,” agrees Geaney.
“I think we need to nail down some things and need to find the energy that’s required to mount a challenge.
“Obviously, if you don’t win this weekend, you don’t deserve to be going any further. But it’s forced us into a one-game-at-a-time mentality, where it’s all about Saturday. It doesn’t really matter, there’s no point in talking about anything after that.
“Look, you couldn’t be happy with Saturday, everyone’s a bit disappointed. We just have to regroup and get things right now for this weekend.”
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Dingle Kerry Paul Geaney The kingdom wily fox