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Paul Geaney in action in the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin. Photo by Dermot Crean.
IN the aftermath of Kerry’s defeat to Dublin, one of the incidents that came under scrutiny was the decision by Eamonn Fitzmaurice to withdraw the side’s top scorer with the game level and heading into injury time.
Paul Geaney had hit the Dubs for 1-4 from play and was in the form of his life, but the Dingle man is standing behind his manager and fully backing Fitz for another two years in the hot-seat.
“I’m delighted to see him coming back on board,” said Paul Geaney speaking to The 42.ie after accepting the Opel GAA/GPA Player of the Month award for August yesterday.
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“The players would do anything for Eamonn and vice-versa so it’s good to have him back. He mentioned it in a session that he was staying on and we took it that it was for the year, but it’s great that it’s two years” said the 25-year-old who is taking that late substitution on the chin.
“I suppose I had a bit more to contribute. The only surprise in it was that it was Marc that came on. I was expecting to see a back running off and I was thinking, ‘Why isn’t a back going off here?’ I was looking at Aidan O’Mahony because he went over to Aidan O’Mahony and I was thinking, ‘Is O’Mahony going the long way around here in the Cusack or what’s the story?”.
“I realised then a couple of seconds later it was actually someone else and I was looking over and nobody was moving so I said, ‘It must be me. But none of the boys around me were saying it was me either so it was kind of confusing at the time. I was taken off, it happens like. I didn’t really think about it that much until after the game. He just said it was a tactical change when I came off. And it clearly was a tactical change that he felt needed to be done,” said the Dingle man.
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Paul Geaney thought he had more to give for @Kerry_Official in the All-Ireland Semi-Final>>https://t.co/9hYxijRAwE pic.twitter.com/GFFVwjppbe
— The GAA (@officialgaa) September 9, 2016
Subsequently, in an interview with Dara O Cinneide on Raidió na Gaeltachta, Eamonn Fitzmaurice admitted that it may have been a mistake to call Geaney ashore at such a pivotal moment.
“If Eamonn feels that he wants to state that he made a mistake, fair play – it takes a man to admit a mistake. I don’t think he needed to,” said Geaney. “He gave me the explanation that it was a tactical change and that was enough for me. We all row in behind Eamonn. He’s the manager for a reason.”
