“I’m an average footballer. I’ve no problem saying that. Most of my footballing skills are basketball skills that transfer very well on to a football pitch for my position.”
He may be a trash-talker, a haranguer of referees and a cocky son of a gun who opposition fans love to hate, but Kieran Donaghy has never pretended to be anything he isn’t.
On Thursday’s GAA Hour, Colm Parkinson all but retired the Kerry midfielder-cum-forward, telling the departed Marc Ó Sé that the fact ‘Star’ is releasing an autobiography in time for Christmas is a sure sign he is following the An Ghaeltacht defender into the gilded realm of ‘past Kerry footballer’.
Pictures of Donaghy and his daughter Lola Rose soaking up the Croke Park atmosphere following the Kingdom’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Dublin will also have fed the speculation.
However, in an interview with Christy O’Connor in The Sunday Times, the 33-year-old said he has not made up his mind and will inform Eamonn Fitzmaurice of his intentions in the Spring, once he has returned to his first love.
This fella killed me tonight and tried to jump over me for the dunk. Thank god he missed. A nice welcome from the Demons support. #warriors pic.twitter.com/VkeFYoUV1Z
— Kieran Donaghy (@starryboy14) September 23, 2016
The big fella is back playing in the Super League, with Irish TV Tralee Warriors, and will see how the basketball season goes before making a call on his intercounty career.
“The big question now is whether the body is able. If not, there is no point being there. My plan is to play some basketball, and see how the body is by spring. I’ll meet up with Eamonn early during the league. And if I feel I can offer something, I might go again.”
It says much for Donaghy’s approach to Gaelic football and sport in general that, at the age when many intercounty players plead for a restful winter, he is pounding up and down the hardcourts of Ireland, getting dunked on and elbowed in the chops.
After this, admittedly indoor, buffeting he will decide if the body is as willing as his indefatigable spirit.
This hints at a Kerryman with unfinished business, a big character who could have a very positive influence on that conveyor belt of minor talent being churned out in the Kingdom.
He may not be able to dummy solo off his left, he may lack the finesse of the Gooch or the kicking ability of Brian Sheehan, but the former footballer of the year’s will to win, competitive spirit and love of sport could be a valuable asset if Fitzmaurice is to rebuild and challenge the Dubs in 2017.
What do you think of that, Joe Brolly?
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