Maybe I’ve one last onfield chapter left AWARD WINNER DONAGHY STILL STEWING OVER NEXT STEP
KIERAN DONAGHY picked up another ‘All-ireland’ yesterday as he continues to push the boat out on his inter-county future.
The 33-year-old’s autobiography, What Do You Think Of That?, published by Trinity Mirror, has been named as the Eir Sports Book of the Year and it reads as though he’s about to pull the plug on his Kerry career, though he’s in a slightly different headspace now as he weighs up his future.
“I know in 2014, I was gone,” he said. “You get that from the book, I felt like I was gone. Time was up, I was out of favour, my form wasn’t good and I was struggling with a bad injury.
“I wasn’t ready for the scrap heap but there were good young players coming along. But then Stacks won the Championship which was unbelievable, don’t get me wrong, but in that means you’re captain. I was the only guy in the squad so I said there was no way I could leave that opportunity so I had to go back for ‘15.
“But we lost a tough Allireland in ‘15 and I wanted to go again. You always want to go again it is so difficult because you are giving up what you are used to for the last 12 years and a lifestyle that you have been used to and Munster finals and big days in Croke Park.
“I’m 33 now. I’m going to be watching - with the God’s help
- games in Croke Park until I’m 83 so touch wood I have 50 years of watching games so maybe there’ll be 49 years of watching games and maybe one more playing.”
There are various factors behind Donaghy’s decision, such as work and family, and his rebooted basketball career with Tralee
Town BC (right), with the season set to run until next March.
“I have committed to it. I’ve worked hard to get the basketkerry ball team back to Tralee. It took a lot of meetings and peace talks. Picture your own town and pick the rival clubs and tell them they are joining together to play and try and go after something more than just local basketball, to have something for the kids to aim at, to have a super league team to aim at.
“I did so much to help get it back that I feel I have to be there and be all in with it. That will be until March,” insisted Donaghy.
“I don’t know if there’s any deadline. Eamonn [Fitzmaurice] hasn’t given me one anyway. The understanding we have is to play away with the basketball and see how I am physically.
“And mentally too because there’s days I wake up and I’m just thinking that the gig is up. And there’s mornings then that I wake up and go, ‘Maybe I can give it another year’.
“It would be great if it was just a footballing thing. if it was a footballing thing, you could go back every time. But there’s so much going on now.”