Kieran Donaghy’s hilarious take on whether the offensive mark would prolong his career

Michael Corry

Kieran Donaghy was our guest on Wednesday’s bonus episode of the GAA hour and if you haven’t listened to it yet, then you are seriously missing out.

Star and Wooly spoke on a number of issues, including Kerry’s season, his basketball career, Jason Sherlock’s influence on Dublin and David Clifford’s genius to name just a few.

It was a refreshing conversation to listen to given Donaghy’s open nature.

Toward’s the end of the podcast, conversation turned toward’s his own future within the game. Donaghy is now 35, and has been soldiering with the Kingdom for over 10 years.

Some believe his time has come, others think the old dog can fight another day. Ultimately the decision lies with Donaghy himself.

Wooly tried to press ‘Star’ on whether he was going to call it a day, before Donaghy turned the tables and asked him for his take.

“No, I don’t think you should retire, I think you should definitely go back, with the role you play you could easily play another three years in that role.”

Donaghy quipped that he would be like Eoin ‘The Bomber’ Liston continuing on with his Kerry career if he was to keep going and going.

“Sure, the Bomber played until ’93 (laughs).”

Star continued, “I saw the Bomber’s jersey from that ’93 Munster final before the 2014 final. We were getting ready to go and had our fan’s night. This fella had a jersey hanging over the railings, it was the width of the table there.”

If you listen to the show then you will be aware that Wooly has been pushing the offensive mark for some time now as a way of making Gaelic football more exciting to watch as well as rewarding good forward play.

The rule change was something that Armagh’s Andrew Murnin also highlighted during our recent sit down with him.

Wooly thinks this rule change could dictate whether Donaghy retires or not.

“Listen, you should wait until we get this offensive mark through, this could change your mind, this could be a huge bearing on whether you retire or not.”

He had barely got the words out of his mouth before Donaghy jumped on the opportunity to rib the legendary Bomber Liston yet again.

“I’ll be back like the Bomber in 2024, put me back in again, the forwards mark is in. I’ll put on about three stone in the meantime, and be very hard to mark.”