ARMAGH’S new coach Kieran ‘Star’ Donaghy is banking on some of the skills he’s learned on the basketball court as well as his big-game experience with the Kerry footballers that spanned 15 illustrious years to help the Orchard men in 2021.
‘Star’ will be Kieran McGeeney’s “fresh pair of eyes” next season while Jim McCorry will remain an integral part of the new-look managerial set-up.
The 37-year-old Austin Stacks man took just over a week to accept Geezer’s offer to join Armagh ahead of next season.
“It probably seems it came out of leftfield for people that don’t maybe know my situation. I’m a sales director with a company called PST Sport and we’re building pitches all over Ireland. We’re trying to get more business up in the north.
“It’s workable for me. People couldn’t get their head around that and thought I’d be getting in my car in Tralee and driving up to Armagh. That wouldn’t be workable.
“I work out of Dublin a couple of days per week which makes it easier. Even in my role with Off The Ball over the last two years I’ve been in the studio in Dublin; people have been asking how do I get in the studio for seven o’clock in the morning from Tralee, but I’d be staying in Dublin through work anyway.”
Donaghy also said the decision to get involved with Armagh was made easier by the direct kicking style the Orchard men play under McGeeney.
“In Kerry, we’re all about kicking the ball so that was obviously a factor in me taking the role with Armagh,” ‘Star’ confirmed.
“It might have been different if I was going to another team who liked to carry the ball a small bit more. It’s hard to break that, whereas Kieran and the management team have got the boys playing the right way.
“I don’t know the fellas’ backgrounds, I don’t know what they’ve been like in the past – I’m going in there fresh and I’ll find out who are the leaders, who is communicating, are we communicating enough…”
Drawing on his own experiences with Kerry, which yielded four All-Ireland titles, the Tralee man recalled the day Ronan O’Gara spoke to the Kerry players about leadership and finding them on the big days.
“Ronan O’Gara told the Kerry team that Croke Park is no place for quiet men.
“You can be quiet in the team meetings, you can be quiet on the team bus and you can be quiet in the dressing room but you’re no good quiet out on the field.
“Without crowds at games this year, Kieran has heard boys talking that he wouldn’t have heard before… I’ll go in and try and bring a bit of fun to it and have the craic with the fellas, but I’ll also try to get my messages across and hopefully add something to a very good set-up with ‘Geezer’ the focal point of that.”
Consistency has always been a problem for Armagh in recent years, evidenced by the fact they have never played Division One football under ‘Geezer’.
They’re a team that has probably fouled too readily in the past, and while their decision-making, especially in attacking positions, looked as though it had improved, old problems re-surfaced in their Ulster Championship exit to Donegal last month.
In yesterday’s Irish News, former Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice highlighted one of Armagh’s perceived weaknesses and believes his former team-mate has the football brain to help the Ulstermen.
“I’d say Kieran [Donaghy] will be working with them regards to when Armagh have possession but also when they’re out of possession,” said Fitzmaurice, “Maybe that’s one of the areas they can improve on because in some games they have been quite open."
Donaghy feels many basketball skills are transferrable to Gaelic football – both in a defensive and attacking sense, which can be of significant benefit to this Armagh team.
“There are lots of similarities – ball in hand and having your hands out,” the Kerry man explained. “You look at Marc O Se who had a beautiful way of doing it; Marc would let his man get the ball and most of the time he’d be able to stand his man up.
“He had tremendous balance. So it’s working on footwork, positioning and knowing when to tackle. On a basketball court there are times when you have to contain…And there’s the offensive side of it as well, there is so much that transfers [over to Gaelic football]. I just think Kieran wants a fresh set of eyes and maybe me looking for something that they mightn’t have noticed.
“I’ll obviously be leaning on a lot of what I know from both codes and my time with Kerry. I know what’s transferable and what GAA players are happy to listen about. They won’t want to listen to a lot of the intricacies, but I suppose the advantages of playing both at the highest level will hopefully help in some way.”
Still playing club football with Austin Stacks, Donaghy is treading the path to becoming a manager in his own right.
“I took the role with the Galway hurlers last year, working with their forwards and their movement. That was a huge learning curve for me and I took an awful lot out of that.
“I’d like to try management. I like to challenge myself and have a go, and I’m trying to get to that point.”
