Kerry forward Kieran Donaghy says he has no intention of retiring after Sunday's All-Ireland win over Donegal, as long as his body doesn't object.
‘Star’ scored 1-2 at Croke Park on Sunday to help guide the Kingdom to a 37th All-Ireland senior football title and insisted tonight that he’d like to “go again”.
“I’m going to see how the body settles, I’m going to take it all in, I’m going to enjoy it and we’ll go again with the help of God if everything is going well,” he told Newstalk’s Off the Ball tonight. “As long as I can feel I can contribute to Kerry and help in any way, I’ll do that. I’m not just going to go off into the sunset because we won an All-Ireland.
“I’ll see how the body is and if the body plays ball with me, I’ll play and if it doesn’t, I won’t. You know, I’ve no regrets either way.”
Donaghy's intervention in the 52nd minute was crucial, pouncing as he did on a hesitant short kickout from Donegal goalkeeper Paul Durcan, and finding the back of the net with a calm finish at a time when the game was seemingly hanging in the balance.
Reflecting on a difficult season in which injury and selections saw him play a peripheral role until the drawn semi-final with Mayo - in which he won a free for one point and set up the crucial late goal for James O'Donoghue - Donaghy said he always held out hope that he could do his bit if and when he was called upon.
“Every Tuesday and Thursday night (at training) was almost like a game to me, I was just trying to be mentally right going in there, that I was going to give it my best shot. It just paid off. I have to give my team massive credit for having the faith and trust in me to play to my skillset - again where we hadn’t for a few years - but I think definitely in the last few games we were conscious about looking in and we’d put it in and we played with a bit of gusto.”
In the final, however, they left Paul Geaney as the target man in the early stages and Donaghy paid tribute to his fellow forward's instant impact after he plundered a goal within 50 seconds.
“We said that if he (Donegal defender Paddy McGrath) did pick up Paul, myself and James (O’Donoghue) would step out in the first three or four minutes and see where it took us, because Paul is very good over his head and he had an unbelievable year.
“And the way he took that goal, he’s the ultimate goal poacher and he’s the ultimate finisher, he’s very clinical, he was like an assassin when he got it, he knew what he was doing before the ball hit his hands and it was massive for us.”
