Paul Geaney glad to rediscover his spark and love for football after tough period
Thirteen senior seasons in the green and gold and Paul Geaney reports last Saturday's defeat to Meath was only the second time he was unavailable for Kerry in championship.
He returned to training on Tuesday night, confident that bone bruising in his shoulder will be fine after he shipped a knee to it in the win over Cork last month. His only other SFC absence? Against Cork in the Mark Keane Munster semi-final of 2020.
That almost sounds to good to be true for a player who had suffered hamstring injuries with a fractured bone in his back. However, those setbacks came in the early part of the season whereas this latest setback ended a run of 10 consecutive starts for the 34-year-old.
Geaney puts that down to being smarter about his recovery and preparation and 'letting the hair down is at a minimum'. But there was also rekindling of the Dingle man's affection for the game.
'The other side of it is that I felt so in love with the game again that I probably haven't needed a mental break from it. And I was enjoying my football with my club so much in the off-season as well over the past two seasons. It's helped almost coax me back into pre-season training and to be fit already.'
There was a time in 2018 when Geaney was at odds with the game to the point that he considered giving it up. His spark was gone. '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.
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'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.
'But 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 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. And I just kind of fought through that patch.
'A couple of years there, I was decent in '19, and then just fought my way back little by little. In '22, I felt I had a good season, but kind of started back then getting on a good trajectory to being at my best, which I feel I've been at the last two years.' If only Geaney now could have advised the younger Geaney.
'If I could go back today, I'd say just 'relax'. I suppose there was a few reasons for that. As you kind of come into an off-season, you're thinking, 'Am I able to go again? Can I commit to it time-wise? Can I commit to it family-wise?' All that sort of thing. It's hard to say no if you're available.
'I had a thing with my back surgeon there two years ago and he said, 'Whatever you're doing, keep doing it because it's keeping you healthy. So I'll just do it as long as I can.''
Geaney agrees with the point that the direction of football had left him disillusioned too. 'I was an out-and-out corner forward, I suppose, at the start. And then you started developing your second engine, your aerobic engine, for the way the game went afterwards, which I didn't mind too much.
'And I started to be more of a false nine than an out-and-out striker in the soccer sense for a lot of those years where you were kind of more of a link player and weren't scoring as much or as heavily.
'And obviously in GAA, there was a lot of defensive work that needed because the backs started going up the field and you had to mark your man. It was nearly more important to make sure that the corner-back wasn't scoring 1-3 than you getting 1-3.'
Geaney has spoken already this year about how the new rules appeal of him tactically as well as personally and he sees the way it has encouraged other teams to come out of their shells. '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.
'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.'
In the wake of that humbling day for Kerry in Tullamore, Geaney agrees with manager Jack O'Connor that this All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final game against Cavan mightn't be such a bad thing. 'Clearly, we need it. I think we need to nail down some things and 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.'
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Brian Concannon (Killimordaly) 11. Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh-Fohenagh), 26. Colm Molloy (Kilnadeema-Leitrim), 15. Kevin Cooney (Sarsfields) Subs 7. TJ Brennan (Clarinbridge) for Linnane (h-t) 12. T Monaghan (Craughwell) for David Burke (50) 24. Declan McLoughlin (Portumna) for C Cooney (51) 22. Tiernan Killeen (Loughrea) for K Cooney (58) 20. Rory Burke (Oranmore-Maree) for Glennon (66) Referee: Seán Stack (Dublin)
