Donaghy’s return ticket

THE train had already left Heuston Station for Killarney last summer before the reality of Kerry’s defeat to Down finally hit home for Kieran Donaghy.

For five years, the Austin Stacks man had known nothing but seasons that stretched as far as September and it would take more than their six-point All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to rewire a thought process that had trouble computing the detour that lay ahead.

“All of a sudden you have guys from the county board coming up and saying to us ‘you are playing county championship next week’ and in our heads we were going back training on the Tuesday night. That was the rhythm we had got into for the last five years so it was strange.”