Donaghy refusing to fall foul of 'second year syndrome'
Kieran Donaghy celebrates Kerry's victory over Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, a match which confirmed that the magic of 2006 has not completely disappeared for the towering full-forward
If anything 2007 has revealed more about Donaghy than 2006. In the middle of last year he hopped up on to a carousel that just couldn’t stop spinning and he barnstormed through everything. This year he’s had to pick his step a lot more carefully, he’s had to navigate through the winds of adversity. When the music died he has still been able to move to the beat.
The pressure, the injuries, the red mist and the incessant video analysis of his style that every opponent engages in has made life on the football field more difficult for him.
In the Munster final Graham Canty was ready to claim the belt in their first bout until Donaghy loped out towards the sideline on the terrace side in Killarney and swung over a magnificent point to keep the local bragging rights at home.
Plotting
Monaghan spent hours on the training field and in the video room plotting and planning for him, but in the end Declan O’Sullivan’s goal to win the game broke off him.
And the last day against Dublin when his impact at fullforward was being dulled he drifted out around the middle to help control sweeping bushfires there. Just when you think the magic of 2006 has abated he pops up as a reminder of how it can be.
More than anything Kieran Donaghy has proved that he’s a footballer and a team player for all seasons.
His philosophy is simple. “I never worry too much about scoring and I’d say you can see that from the way I play. I don’t try and kick points for the sake of it. I’ll always try and get it to the fella who can score more. If that gets Kerry over the line then I’m happy.
“If I’m kicking at the post then it’s because I feel that I’m the best person to score.”
He’s enjoying it now a lot more than he was at the beginning of the season. He trained hard before Kerry’s opening league matches, sometimes four nights a week.
He was anxious to lay down a marker, conscious of how it would be portrayed if he didn’t.
His anxiety sometimes spilled over into exuberance. Twice he was red-carded for double yellows and after the second time (against Fermanagh in Kingspan Breffni Park) his manager Pat O’Shea publicly berated him.
Donaghy accepted it and moved on, promising to mend his ways. But against Donegal he damaged the A/C joint in his shoulder and was sidelined for the six weeks. Act one of season two had ended with some badly fluffed lines.
Act two has been somewhat better and now he’s feeling good again.
“I’m just delighted to be back in an All-Ireland again, 70 minutes away from another Celtic Cross maybe. This is what players play for, this brings the best out in players and hopefully it will bring the best out of us.”
The Dublin game gave him a real kick, possibly better than anything he experienced last year. He was nourished on Kerry lore and days when teams from the Kingdom marched behind the Artane Boys Band in front of a packed blue Hill 16 seemed so familiar for him.
He plugged into that feeling instantly.
Destiny
“It (the All-Ireland semi-final) was where this Kerry team really came to the fore for the first time this year.
“When you’re young you dreamed of something like that. You’ve watched the ‘Golden Years’ video enough times to see the teams marching around in front of the Hill. That was a personal highlight of the season, the parade around, soaking up the atmosphere, Kerry fellaslove playing in that kind of occasion.”
Life has changed noticeably for Donaghy. He switched from the cash register of a local Tralee sports shop to the business development section of Ulster Bank.
His diary is organised by the same man who looks after Seán Óg Ó hAilpín and other Cork hurlers, he feels himself being pulled from one direction to another and there has been little escape.
“Funny enough when you’re in the Kerry set-up you feel most relaxed about the football. Of course life was always going to change for me somewhat but there are still outlets, a night out in the Brogue, a walk on Banna Strand, the basketball was great in the winter.
“But look at the players you are surrounded by and it helps you keep your feet on the ground, make you know your place. Darragh, ‘Gooch’, are there two better players than Marc (Ó Sé) and Declan (O’Sullivan) this season?
He can’t contemplate losing an All-Ireland final to Cork. “I couldn’t picture losing. It just wouldn’t enter my head until the whistle goes and we’re down by a point.
“We have to match Cork for hunger, I think that’s a huge part of it.
“Cork were just so hungry against Meath in the middle third of the field that every ball that broke there, they swept up. That’s what we have to prepare for.”
