‘We’re always a promising team’ says Paul Geaney

IT’S not such much that the question annoys him or frustrates him, it’s more that there’s a realism about it and, perhaps, even a little bit of weariness, albeit a weariness tempered very much by the enthusiasm and promise of the present.

It’s a question he had to have known was coming and coming is the issue, Dingle are a coming force, a promising combination. It’s clear that Geaney – and the Dingle club writ large – are tired of the label, he and they are more interested now in delivery. There’s no time like the present.

“I turned senior in 2006 and we had a promising team and my cousin David Geaney who was probably the talented forward before that was in ‘04 and ‘05 when they won the intermediate and they were a promising team,” he explains.

“I think Murph [Diarmuid Murphy] was on a promising Dingle team and fellas before that were on promising Dingle teams. It’s the ultimate kind of let down being from a rural club like Dingle is that fellas go to college and there’s no employment and depending on what happens with their lives they move on, so it’s very difficult to hold on to your talent in Dingle.

“We have a lot of fellas who go off and join other clubs up the country. It’s not viable to be training and playing with Dingle if you’re living in Dublin or elsewhere. That’s the difficult and that’s why we’re always a promising young team. That’s just the way it is.

“At the moment we’ve a lot of young fellas who are in college and that are home and it’s definitely the change. We have a group together. Those minors that won the Division 1 a couple of years ago and won the County Championship those two teams, there’s a bulk of them there.

“When I was minor I think there was four or five of us who stayed on playing senior and the year above us as well and then you lose one or two and as I said we’ve been unlucky with a couple of injuries this year.

“Eoin Murphy and Breandán Kelliher had knee injuries in the same game during the summer that was two of our best players and they were really coming to the fore, in the top of their form.

“Conor Geaney had a long term knee injury at the start of the year, another set-back. Cathal Bambury injured his ankle in the first County Championship game against Shannon Rangers, it’s a tall task and Darragh then with shin-splints and struggling with them and he came on today and everyone is trying their best to get back but when you lose those players at club level it’s very difficult.

“As I said a small club you need everyone really. That’s what we’re fighting against and it’s just a credit to all the rest of the young fellas who were there and are putting in unbelievable work to be fair throughout the year to show hands up and Tomás Sheehy inside corner-forward after nailing down his spot.

“He’s grabbed it with both hands since he’s come in to the corner-forward slot and other guys who’ve been coming in and really, really coming to the fore not just filling in but becoming leaders in the team and that’s what you need. That’s a special snap-shot of time at the moment with us that we have a bit of talent there so it is good.”

Critical to putting that talent together has been the work done by Seán Geaney and his management team. To our eyes Dingle look possibly the best drilled team in this year’s County Championship.

“We’ve an outstanding management team so I think the players know what they want us to put together on the field,” Geaney agrees.

“It’s not that often that a management team like that take over a small club like Dingle, that you have that talent in the club. We are a small club, our membership is 150 to 250 people maybe you know, in a small town, an elderly populated town.

“There are only twelve in second and third classes in the primary school, you’re trying to feed through the club with those small numbers. Under 14s and Under 16s are playing thirteen and fourteen-a-side so it’s difficult at the moment back in Dingle, so it’s great when you have that moment in time where you have that top class management team and a couple of talented players in a senior set-up so you kind of have to make the most of it.”

As well as a well-functioning management team Dingle would appear to have that most precious of commodities – momentum.

“It can work both ways,” Geaney explains.

“It’s what you make of it I think. Momentum is a good thing I think in sport when it’s with you. It’s a tough thing when it’s not, but momentum is with Crokes as well. They’re in a county final, they’re going for three in-a-row, they’ve been the dominant team since South Kerry dominated in 05/ 06 / 07 around then.

“Since then Crokes are in the final trying to beat them and since then Crokes have been dominant, winning an All Ireland club, you can’t say momentum hasn’t been with them either.

“Year on year winning county championships, that’s a longer momentum than what we have, we’ve a small bit of momentum over the last couple of weeks, which is great and there’s definitely the feel good factor that comes with the wins, even last week with the draw and coming again today and perform is the thing.

“It’s okay if you’re getting over games, game momentum, but since the East Kerry game we’ve had winning momentum and progressive momentum and performance and there’s definitely a feel-good factor with that.”