Paul Geaney: It’s kill or be killed at the top
Geaney was as distraught as the rest of his county colleagues at losing out to Mayo after a semi-final replay but he still dragged himself up to Croke Park last weekend to watch events unfold from the PwC box next to RTÉ’s studio.
He attended last September too. “Every day is a school day,” he explained. So he took mental notes. Ignored the sickening sensation in his stomach, and the pain involved in watching someone else lift Sam Maguire, all in the name of self-improvement.
Truth is he didn’t learn much new.
Maybe the manner in which Lee Keegan put Ciaran Kilkenny in his pocket. The extent to which Mayo squeezed Stephen Cluxton’s kickouts. And how it took an intervention from the sideline by Jason Sherlock for the Dublin keeper and captain to change tack.
“It’s not often you see anyone going into Cluxton to tell him what to do with his kick-outs, so that was interesting.”
More than anything, though, it was that end game that stood out, with the Dublin forwards choreographing expertly to drag various opponents to the ground once Dean Rock had landed the last point after 76 minutes.
And as for Keegan throwing his GPS at Rock?
“That’s maybe a step too far.” Geaney laughed as he said that but it wasn’t even half in jest. Really, he admired the Westport defender for his ingenuity and the willingness to cross a line no one even knew existed. As for Dublin’s dark arts? Just part of the job.
“I would expect it from anyone who has ambitions of winning an All-Ireland. Kill or be killed. There was a discussion on the black card the last day and somebody was talking to Colm Cavanagh, who was sitting next to me, about that incident with Sean against Monaghan.
“That was a case of either Sean Cavanagh taking a player down or Monaghan getting a goal and knocking Tyrone out. That is sport. In soccer there is a red card but that doesn’t stop defenders making challenges to save a goal or Luis Suarez handling a ball on the line.
“It is part and parcel of the game. It is the nature of sport and I would not have expected anything less from the Dubs in that situation. And they got their just reward for it, if you want to put it that way, in that they slowed the game down.”
Kerry are no idle observers in football’s debate on cynicism. Éamonn Fitzmaurice blamed pundits for tarring the Kingdom with that brush back in 2015 but Geaney described such tactics as basic building blocks for any team with ambitions of winning the All-Ireland.
Colm Cooper and Marc Ó Sé have already offered the opinion that Kerry won’t be climbing those Hogan Stand steps 12 months from now. Too many leaders lost and too much new blood to be infused is their take.
Geaney will tell you different.
He looks back at the summer just passed and thinks they probably peaked in the Munster final against Cork. They were off the pace against Mayo both days and even sluggish in victory over Galway.
Geaney will concede that Kerry need to bring the scores-against column down but he talks of a side that can match Dublin and Mayo physically and one that can still have either’s number on any given day.
It bugs him that he is a Kerry player during an era of Dublin dominance. And that their historic three in a row was founded on a final defeat of Kerry when the Kingdom were hoping to register their own back-to-back.
He’ll do what he can to change that and hopes Kieran Donaghy will stay on to lend a hand for another season. Fitzmaurice too.
“We haven’t been told anyway but hopefully (Fitzmaurice) will stay and hopefully those minors will come through and make the panel stronger and try and win the All-Ireland.”
By hook or by crook, if necessary.
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