Changes at the top!

End of an Era

Seeing Johnny Cooper, Michael Murphy and Lee Keegan retire this winter, I cant help but feel its like the end of a special period. These fellas have been the best in the business for the past 10 years and all 3 had a big say in my career and Kerrys journey in that time. As exciting as it is to retire and have a new life almost, I actually feel a bit of sympathy for the lads aswell because I know what is ahead of them over the next few months. Its going to be very strange for them! Football is going to go from being one of the most pivotal parts of their lives to being basically nothing at all for large spells. Not every player is blessed with a strong club to return to. It can take a few months before you see the light!

For now, they will have to deal with all the doubts about whether or not they made the right call. They will be lying in bed thinking ‘did I go too early’, ‘what on gods earth am I going to do every Tuesday and Thursday’ & the scariest one... ‘I’ll never have a handy excuse to miss a wedding again’.

Nothing comes close to some of the feelings and emotions of an intercounty season. The intensity of it all. The adrenaline rush of playing with your county is 100% addictive and all consuming. Add in 80,000 people and Croke Park and it is insane. People talk about the sacrifices that go into becoming an intercounty player, like the hours training or the lack of a social life. That is the easy stuff when you are involved. That is nothing. It is the mental side that people probably don’t realise. When you are sitting in your own company or even in other peoples company, you are thinking about your performance constantly. How did I play the weekend? Why is my back sore and hammer tight? Why is so and so suddenly a massive prick? Who beat you out to a ball on Tuesday night - rare but possible! Will I be ok for the weekend? Its constant. You're there in the room but you're not there, that's how we used to describe it. Its like the meme where you’re staring into space and your girlfriend is wondering 'is he thinking of me' and you’re sitting there thinking about cutting the sleeves off your jersey like Trevor Giles. The amount of time in the 3 lads’ day that revolved around football, maybe they don’t even realise yet. In fact I'm sure they don’t. There is a lot more than just a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday!

Work for Carr & Mcstay

The Murphys & Keegans of this world are in a completely different boat to most lads who finish up. They are fit, playing well and would still be a major part of their counties journey. To bow out at 33 seems about right from the outside, the thing is that those lads are as good as two 25 year old's on other teams. I wonder will it be a fatal blow for both sides this year.

When Paddy Carr walked into that new job in Donegal, the first thing he must have said is ‘we’ll keep hold of Michael Murphy anyway', but 3 weeks later Michael Murphy had retired.

Murphy was arguably the best player of his generation, a truly great player. There was a different kind of roar in Croke Park when he kicked a score against you, it was almost like the Donegal crowd would throw their eyes up to heaven laughing saying 'he's at it again'. I guarantee that every year since 2012, Murphy has thought that Donegal have a realistic chance of winning the All Ireland, just like Kerry did and Mayo & Tyrone. And it stirred something deep in his stomach. If that feeling wasnt quite there this time around and other things naturally became more important, then sometimes you need something fresh & exciting to put them there. Maybe outside of football. If everything inside you is telling you your time has come, its going to take something monumental to change your mind. I think Donegal would have had to come up trumps and go above and beyond with the new set up to keep hold of everyone. I don’t think they quite got that and it seemed a little underwhelming.

As a new management team, the gig is to go in and make everyone inside in that room think 'Jesus Christ this is different, we’r onto something here'. I'll never forget that feeling when Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Cian O'Neill gave us their first presentation with Kerry. We floated out of there. I have heard numerous times that Jim McGuinness gave that to every Donegal player 12 years ago. I know that there's 100 reasons to finish up, but the genuine belief that you will be walking the steps of the Hogan overrides 99% of them. I just wonder if Carr would do anything differently with those three weeks if he had them back.

I marked Lee Keegan once in Castlebar for about 20 minutes in 2013 and it was a serious eye opener! Pace, power, strength & stamina all rolled into one. That’s all grand, but he had the 2 most important attributes too – he could mark and he could score. I came out of there thinking I was miles off it. He was sensational. If he was your marker coming out for the second half, you’d be looking for a reshuffle before you got into your position, put it that way.

It was no secret around the country that he was thinking of calling it a day. He has gone to the well so many times and delivered in the most important and emotionally draining moments. Even if you are playing brilliantly, there's always more to life than football and when you know, you just know. That being said, poor Kevin Mcstay will be devastated. There's no doubt he tried everything to keep him but i wonder will he be thinking 'if only we had Keegan' at the end of the summer. It was a slightly different situation to Donegal, Mcstay had a couple of months to work on his main man. Could he have sold him the dream a bit better? Could that arm have been twisted another tiny bit?

Who knows! All I can say is that I wish the lads all the best, they have been incredible and I'm proud to say I played against them in their prime.

The question remains, will these losses be fatal blows or will it release new leaders in those dressing rooms to go and win Sam? Time will tell. One thing I know for certain, Kerry supporters wont be complaining, and neither will their half forward line.