
Share
30th July 2017
05:45pm BST

Chances came and went, Kerry lost sight of the radar but, in all the uncertainty, it was Kieran Donaghy they could rely on.
The Stacks man hugged the edge of the square but he was almost like the first wave of attack from that front three - the first to be unleashed. He came charging out time and again, straight and purposeful and, more often than not, he was used. If the pop off wasn't on, he'd spin and, suddenly, he's the man looking to make the most out of Geaney and O'Donoghue.
It was a real bashful shift from him though. At one stage, he just flicked Michael Daly out of his way as he carried the ball straight through the middle. He held it out at midfield when he had and, yes, he was deadly under the high ball.
It's not like that was Kerry's plan though - just an add on and, Christ, when they floated one up, Galway had no chance. Poor David Walsh might as well not have been there when Donaghy went up to fetch one of those pumped in efforts as he stripped it from the sky and laid on team mates or, even better, brushed maroon jerseys out of his way and curled in with his foot.
He plodded around not like a man who's doing it for one last night, but as a beautiful extra to this Kerry attack who could do the same thing for a few years to come.
And it makes sense when you hear how Eamonn Fitzmaurice welcomed the former Kerry captain back into the panel - as late as April.
In an interview with PST Sport, Donaghy spoke of how the manager got him back on board.
"I met Eamonn in January 2017," Star said. "He said I looked fit and we talked about where my hunger was at. I felt it was still there. He said to get to the gym with the Kerry boys 2 nights a week and said to keep up the basketball at weekends."For most, it's all in or piss off. To treat everyone equally, treat them differently. Kieran Donaghy has paid his dues to Kerry and Fitzmaurice and kept sharp, so he could be brought in just in time to be brought into the squad for the league final against Dublin.
"Eamonn called me and said to come in for a gallop and see how I felt. I hadn’t touched a ball in months. The first night back training with the group I was like a young minor all over again, the excitement, the tension, the question marks. "Was I still up to this level or will I get shown up? I didn’t eat a bite with the nerves all day. Maybe I should do it more often as I flew it, caught every ball, kicked points and set up a goal. I got the nod as the last man on the panel."A common sense approach to winter training is reaping dividends now in high summer.
Explore more on these topics: