
Share
1st June 2023
12:46pm BST

Enda McNulty and Kieran McGeeney tackle a young Colm Cooper[/caption]
Speaking exclusively on the GAA Hour podcast, McNulty gives some insight to the the real Geezer.
"As a young player, I started to watch him, then started to train with him - I started to play senior football when I was 14 or 15, and Geezer at that stage was 20, so imagine what it's like in a training session with or against him. "You're learning very quickly, you're toughening up pretty quickly, because he nurtures you but he is tough with you. You could be in a tackling drill with him, and maybe Cody Burns who is a 6'4 farmer, built like steel, Geezer is about 6' built like steel, so you're learning the hard way."He also would have gave you a lot of coaching and advice from early on. He would say 'Enda, come on, you need to work on that step quickness' or 'Enda, you really need to work on that long foot pass', and you would spend hour after hour after a session practising.
"Whenever I went to live in Dublin, we would do a sprint session, then we would do a gym session, and then do a skills session in the evening - we would train three times a day."McGeeney's role wasn't always confined to just pushing boundaries in terms of training and demanding more from everyone, he was also just as diligent with his preparation from a tactical point of view as well. "I've spent thousands of hours with him during that 15-20 year period, so I couldn't speak any more highly of him as a player. As a captain he was inspirational, he would never ask you to do something he would never do himself. "Me, Geezer and Justin (McNulty) would always have sat the day before a match in Newry or in Dublin - Justin full back, Geezer centre half, and me in corner back - and we would have, what I call, a triangulation meeting.
"We would chat about 'well if Canavan loses me, Justin you step inside and take him. If Mike Frank Russell loses Justin, Geezer you step in and take him."We would have always had those pre-match chats, it was always over a bun and a cup of coffee, and when we left that cafe, we had it locked down. "We had it locked down what was going to happen tactically, mentally, from a leadership point of view and so on, so Geezer was always formidable in that space." You can listen to the full interview with Enda McNulty on the latest episode of the GAA Hour now. Related links: https://soundcloud.com/sportsjoe-gaa-hour/gaahour-2952023192
Explore more on these topics: