Donaghy has major Kerry role to play — Sheehan
BRYAN SHEEHAN believes that Kieran Donaghy can play a starting role in Kerry’s All-Ireland campaign.
While 32-year-old Sheehan called time on his inter-county career in the close season, he is backing his former team-mate to have a profound impact in this summer’s Championship.
Donaghy has not played for the Kingdom since seeing red in the closing seconds of their All-Ireland semi-final replay defeat to Mayo last August, after lashing out at Aidan O’Shea.
However that rush of blood could not colour an otherwise spectacular year, which saw the Austin Stacks clubman end the season shortlisted for an All-Star award.
As with late season, Donaghy reached an understanding with Kingdom boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice which allowed him to opt out of the Allianz League campaign to focus on playing basketball with Tralee Warriors, but he returned to full training last month.
After a spring in which Fitzmaurice sign-posted his intention to go with youth this summer – Seán O’Shea, David Clifford and Micheál Burns all enjoyed extended game-time – the expectation is that the 35-year-old will struggle to find a starting spot in his 14th and almost certainly final season as a Kerry footballer.
But Sheehan believes that Donaghy’s impact could be profound and is adamant that he still has what it takes to be in from the start when Kerry begin the defence of their Munster crown against Clare next month.
Donaghy’s return to basketball at an elite level has paid off on the hard courts – he was selected at the age of 34 for the national panel last year – and on the football pitch, where Sheehan believes his winter pursuits have helped fuel his summer passion.
‘People might be of that mindset that he is past it but for me Kieran played the best football he has in a long time last year,’ said Sheehan, speaking as an ambassador at a Paddy Power event this week.
‘Whatever he seemed to do with the basketball it really brought him on,’ said Sheehan. ‘His hands were as good and as quick as ever and he’s after putting another basketball season behind him again this year.
‘If I was to go on how he went last year when he came in, he was absolutely flying and against Galway in the quarter-final he was outstanding. He won that game for us in a 10/15 minute spell,’ added Sheehan.
While Donaghy made his name as the most effective target man in the modern game which saw him named player of the year in 2006, he showed last summer that he has more to offer than just an aerial threat.
His performance against Aidan O’Shea in the drawn semi-final, when he exposed the Mayo star’s lack of defensive nous was widely praised.
‘He was cute enough not to make a hero out of Aidan,’ explained Sheehan. ‘He started bringing him around the field. He’s very intelligent. He’s not all about kickmanent ing high balls into him. There’s no way you can write him off.
‘The other thing is, the amount of experience he has behind him. It counts for an awful lot when you go to Croke Park and that is going to count in his favour.’
But the big question remains as to whether Fitzmaurice will use Donaghy from the start, or for his game-changing impact from the bench.
He went with the former last year, with Donaghy starting in four of five Kerry Championship games. He has always been a regular starter – only 13 of his 65 Championship appearances have come from the bench – but with Kerry almost certain to be per- members of the Super 8s, questions will be asked if his 35year-old legs will hold up to what will be a testing schedule.
In either role he can be an asset, suggested Sheehan.
‘It could be a case where he plays both roles. It depends on the opposition and how his body is. He will be a massive addition in there and either way, you know what you’re going to get.
‘He is a massive leader in there, he talks really well in the dressing room, players really look up to him and I think he’s going to have a massive year with Kerry.’
If he does start, it will leave Fitzmaurice with the kind of selection poser to make most of his inter-counter counterparts greeneyed with envy.
It is expected that two-time AllStar Paul Geaney and Clifford will make up two thirds of Kerry’s inside line, which could leave two former players of the year battling it out to join them - with James O’Donoghue likely to be the loser if Donaghy makes the starting cut.
And that is a distinct possibility – the obvious benefactor of Donaghy starting will be teenage sensation Clifford, who will feed off the experience and the supply line of ball which the veteran is likely to provide.
One thing that Sheehan is convinced off is that Donaghy has not come back to make up the numbers.
‘If Kieran didn’t feel he had something to offer, he’d have held his hand up and walked away from it.
‘I think he really enjoyed his football last year and I think that, and the fact he had another fantastic year with the basketball, he knows himself that there is another year in him again.’