‘You don’t stop learning from McGeeney’

IT has been three years since Ronan Sweeney made it over to Glasgow to watch his beloved Celtic play but he doesn’t have to jump through too many hoops to be reminded about the Parkhead club.

A few years ago, the Kildare footballer had a tattoo of the Bhoys inked and Kieran McGeeney’s appointment as manager to the county’s senior footballers in October of 2007 brought with it another comforting link to the Scottish Cup champions.

Back in 1989, McGeeney played on the same Armagh minor team as Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Sweeney has seen enough of the former Northern Ireland international down the years to detect the similarities with his bainisteoir.

“You would see certain mannerisms. They both seem very focused and single-minded and they both seem to be team-orientated. All about the players and stuff like that. I don’t know Neil Lennon but I know Kieran is all about the team and the squad.”

That allegiance works both ways. Last August, Sportsfile photographer Dave Maher captured McGeeney addressing his troops after the All-Ireland quarter-final win over Meath and rarely has the claim for one picture being worth a thousand words been more appropriate.

Kildare’s players clustered around the Armagh man in a circle on the Croke Park pitch, most of them arm in arm apart aside from a handful that included John Doyle who looked on rapt from one knee as McGeeney imparted his gospel.

It has always been thus, even in the very early days when Kildare were sucked down the plughole from the top tier into Division Two and Wicklow claimed their first win at Croke Park at their expense in the provincial championship.

Ask Sweeney what was the turning point for the players and his answer is there was none. Others may have despaired at the results and a scoring average of less than 1-8 per game at that point but the players always believed they were lucky to have him.

“The first couple of months he was in he was feeling his way around a bit, seeing how to deal with it and so were we,” said Sweeney. “It was a totally new system. He was bringing in totally new ideas to Kildare that we had never seen before. It probably took us a while to grasp it.”

The players were primed and ready to follow a new banner when McGeeney arrived. Kildare were “plodding along” before he touched down according to Sweeney, claiming the odd decent result here and there but diluting the good days with far too many bad ones. McGeeney changed all that by bringing in new players, new ideas and reintroducing everyone to a sense of belief that had been sorely lacking but ‘Geezer’ has been no autocrat despite his serious side and an almost scary dedication to the pursuit of excellence.

After that defeat to Wicklow, the players let the management know that the ultra-defensive system imported from the north wasn’t sitting well. McGeeney duly changed things but the learning curve is not yet over.

Though they have contested two All-Ireland quarter-finals and made the last four in 2010, Kildare have yet to claim any silverware and they will play Division Two football yet again next season after another less-than-stellar spring.

With that in mind, Sunday’s Leinster semi-final against Dublin is a game of enormous import. A crossroads.

Dublin, Cork, Tyrone and Down have all had their number in the really big games they have contested since 2008 and that has to change. Yet, win or lose this weekend, these Kildare footballers have already benefited from their dealings with a man who captained Armagh to their only All-Ireland title and wore the armband for his country in the International Rules Series.

Players have learned to leave their egos at home even if McGeeney seems to have avoided the mistakes made by other renowned warriors who have come to patrol the sideline in that any criticisms are delivered constructively.

“You don’t stop learning from Kieran. He has an abundance of knowledge,” said defender Aindriu MacLochlainn. “His insight into games and the way teams play and the way he wants the game played, he’s a professional.

“His commitment to it is obsessive. He doesn’t leave any stone unturned. I know it’s a common phrase used, but it’s a fact for him. There’s nothing he hasn’t thought of. There’s nothing he hasn’t contemplated.”

Apart from defeat, probably.

Picture: TOP MAN: Kieran McGeeney talks to his Kildare players following the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final win over Meath last season. “His commitment to it is obsessive” says Lilywhites defender Aindriu MacLochlainn. Picture: Sportsfile