FOR PETE’S SAKE ..WIN SOMETHING
Donaghy well aware of pressure on boss
KIERAN DONAGHY predicts Peter Keane’s honeymoon period will last until the end of the Munster Championship – if that.
Then it will be business as usual for the latest Kingdom supremo in a summer that could see arch rivals Dublin do what no county has done before and complete the five in a row.
“That’s the way it is, that’s just expectations,” said Donaghy, a four-time All-ireland winner and one of a number of veterans who quit the Kerry panel last summer.
“Is it heightened because of the fact Dublin could make history? I don’t think so. Kerry will want to win an All-ireland and if they stop Dublin winning five in a row it will be very sweet.
“We haven’t won one since ’14,
that’s the reality of it. We went from ’09 to ’14, which was five years, and that felt like an entirety. I was playing through all them years, lost a final in ’11, lost two semis, two quarters.
“It’s not nice when you’re in Kerry and you haven’t won an Allireland in five years. We’re at that now again, the fifth year again. “Every year it’s adding on. Eleven was a famine when it was ended in ’97, when I was up in the Nally Stand as a 14 year old. That was a long time.
“It’s trying to win Allirelands and that’s what Dublin have done, that’s what Mayo are trying to do. It’s about winning at this stage.”
Donaghy has welcomed the return of Donie Buckley (inset) as coach and was impressed by Keane and Tommy Griffin’s work with the Kerry minors.
The return of Tommy Walsh will enhance a Kerry forward line in good working order, he feels, but Donaghy is wary of talk of overthrowing Dublin.
“If I was in Peter Keane’s shoes now, Dublin would be the last thing in my mind,” he said.
“It’d be about getting my team going and playing well – trying to get to an All-ireland f ****** semifinal is the first thing we’ve to do.
“We lost in two of them in ’16 and ’17 and didn’t even get to one last year. So we’re miles off it as of now.
“But look, it’s never going to change in Kerry, when you put on the jersey people want you to win All-irelands. They’ll get the League and they’ll get the Munster Championship, then it will be kind of step up to the plate.”
The Lidl Comortas Peile Paidi O Se is taking place on the Dingle peninsula from the February 15-17. This year’s event is the biggest yet, with an adult men’s and women’s tournament with 44 clubs in total. Teams from England, Scotland, the UAE, and 17 counties across four provinces will participate.