Lessons learned have Geaney primed for biggest test

By John Harrington

By his own admission, Paul Geaney used to get overexcited ahead of big games with Kerry in the past.

It wasn’t quite paralysis by analysis, but by match-day his mental energy was depleted to the extent it affected his ability to physically perform.

He’s 35 now and the benefit of experience means he can recognise this and take steps to prevent it happening again, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy fix.

“No, it's not easy,” says Geaney. “I suppose you have to consciously not think about it. Early in my career I probably spent every second thinking about the game and playing out different situations.

“Now you just park it, do whatever, and open windows I suppose. Go out for a walk and do a little bit of thinking about maybe scenario-based stuff there, but then just park it again.

“You lose a lot of energy when you're doing that all week for two weeks before a game. Then again, in the early part of my career you'd a month (to prepare for an All-Ireland Final) so it was a bit longer, so you'll probably have less time now to be thinking about it.”

Geaney is the proprietor of one of Dingle’s most popular public houses, so you’d imagine avoiding thinking too much about Sunday’s All-Ireland Final isn’t easy when it’s all most of his patrons wants to talk about.

“Yeah, I suppose in my lifestyle where I'm in the pub, it's a bit different,” he admits.

“The All-Ireland Final used to be in September so we'd have less people on visits to Dingle whereas it's black with people now at the moment, so it's tough alright to not get drawn into talking about the game I suppose in these two weeks.

“I just remove myself from the situation. Don't be loitering around the pub around this time of year. Get in, do the few jobs I have to do, and get away from it. Do some stuff in the background instead or get in in the morning before we open.”

It’s only recently that Geaney has come to realise the importance of being careful with your mental energy ahead of big matches.

Ironically, Kerry’s All-Ireland win in 2022 was the watershed moment.

Geaney was substituted in the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin after 41 minutes and the All-Ireland Final against Galway at half-time after failing to score in either game.

“I'd say in 2022, I probably spent too much time thinking about it,” he admits. “My daughter was born the week before the semi-final, the Dublin game, that year as well, so it was probably nearly over-compensating trying to be right.

“Obviously your life changes when a child comes into it and that was our second child. I was nearly overcompensating, trying to make sure I was right for an All-Ireland final. I was just seeping energy probably everywhere.

“So probably 2022 if I just relaxed a little bit more around that semi-final/final, I would have been in better stead.

“After that as well you realise that you don't have a pile of years left so you just kind of relax a little bit more as well in your football. I think that probably, especially with the club, it really stood to me. I just enjoy every day I go out now and take it as it is.”

That enjoyment has been enhanced by the advent of the new FRC rules. Without them, Geaney doubts very much whether he’d still be playing for Kerry.

“There's a good chance I wouldn't have, no,” he says. “There was a lot of years there where you're in the system of it. In 2018 I probably should have taken a year out really. Looking back, I was pretty much sick of it.

“Sick of football maybe or whatever but in hindsight I probably should have taken a year out and I would have been fresher again if I was to come back.

“So, yeah, I don't think I'd be here if the rules didn't change because it's just so enjoyable really. It really is and club football is so enjoyable as well.

“Club football had gone the other way as well even though it wasn't completely mimicking (county football) but there were aspects of it.

“Club football, and I hope it stays that way, has not really gone to the more professional side of what I see will come with intercounty at some stage with possibly no more shooting ones and not going for goals because percentages will come in and stats people will take over the game.

“I hope it doesn't go that way but that's possibly why it went that way in the first place because the stats were showing you can only shoot from here and more bodies and all that sort of stuff.

“I hope it stays some way and coaches develop on coaching forwards and coaching backs better techniques rather than cheating with stats and all that kind of thing.”

Paul was one of five Geaneys who helped Dingle to victory over St. Brigid’s in the AIB All-Ireland Club SFC Final last January along with his cousins Mikey, Conor, Niall, and Dylan.

They’re all different sorts of players, but there is one common thread – they’re kickers.

Be it shooting or passing, when the Geaneys put boot to leather there’s a natural grace about how they do it.

So much so you’d be tempted to say it’s something that comes naturally, but the reality is that it’s a craft they’ve dedicated themselves to honing over the years.

“David I suppose was the first of us and he was a forward and watching David as a kid, he was five years older than me, he was a free-taker and a very good free-taker so he'd probably be going up to the sports field and you'd be kicking with him or practicing with him or whatever,” says Geaney.

“So it was that for me and then afterwards the three lads (Conor Niall and Dylan) had been born and their father Colm just had him out in the garden since they were hoppers.

“Niall is capable of being a forward as well. He's wing forward/midfield and probably started out wing back but has huge ability to kick as well.

“So, two-footedness and kicking is probably always our thing. Growing up, going up to the sports field even with those three lads, we used to have kicking competitions and Dylan probably won most of them even though he was the youngest.”

Since the advent of the two-pointer that ability to kick points from distance is suddenly coveted again by the same managers and coaches who did their best to extinguish it from the game because it wasn’t the percentage play.

So much so, that many management teams have brought in kicking coaches to improve the kicking biomechanics of their players.

The way Geaney sees it, it’s a waste of time if a player isn’t in the habit of going to their field with a bag of balls on their own time.

“Kicking coaches can help you a little bit but then sometimes they can muddle it up,” he says.

“It's all about just going out and getting the feel and adjusting yourself to what works. It's as simple as that.

“It is really repetition and deliberate practice really and putting yourself in a situation where you're trying to shake off a back and shoot on the fly and that didn't work there, what felt wrong there, and just feeling it out and getting it right and putting in those hours and then obviously go on to game day and then go off at it again. I put it down to just practice hours.”

Game recognises game, which is why Geaney has nothing but admiration for the ability and threat that Mayo’s inside-forward line of Ryan O’Donoghue, Kobe McDonald, and Darragh Beirne will bring to Croke Park on Sunday.

“Yeah, they play like no other team in the country and it brings that other challenge,” he says.

“They definitely play how they see it which is a great place to be as a forward. They're kicking big scores, kicking most of Mayo's scores, the three of them as well. They're playing very well.

“From an outsider's view, it's probably great to watch but we'll have to think of something to scupper them a small bit. Mayo are playing the Mayo brand of football in the new rules which is suiting them and they're improving day to day which is a big thing.

“They probably haven't got the recognition that they deserve out in the public but I've watched plenty of their games and I've seen how they're improving. They're full of energy and they just don't let up.”