The Do’s and Don’ts of Donaghy

He may be 34 but Kieran Donaghy's skills still loom large for Kerry GAA after all these years. Going back to 2006, let's remember that he began his career starting in The Underdogs on TG4, remember them?

In his first season he won the 2006 All Ireland, an All Star and Footballer of the year. But didn’t all begin so smoothly, having endured a false start to his Kingdom career as a midfielder with Darragh O Sé, he returned after suspension against Longford in a qualifier as a reconstructed full forward and with his brilliant soft hands, footwork and superb set up play, the rest is history. Yerra, he can score too!

Star’s performance against Galway in the quarter final a couple of weeks back had pundits purring about his positioning, footwork and distribution. A winter on the hardboards playing basketball was paying dividends they reckoned.

So how do you deal with a problem like Kieran Donaghy?

Man mark him? If Star is close to goal he's a threat, a handful and a joy to watch. Easier said than done. When his club Austin Stacks lost to Slaughtneil a few years back Donaghy gave the Derry kingpin’s experienced marker Chrissy McKeague all the bother he needed in the air and on the deck.

Do you starve him of possession? If you can press the ball delivery further away from goal it means the chances of kicking in the ball he thrives on are reduced. In theory. Kerry have their fair share of ball players who are programmed to look for him on the edge of the square. Geaney’s no slouch either lurking in beside.

Match height with height? The problem with that solution is not every team has a six foot five defender sitting around waiting to mark him. Besides Donaghy not only rules the airwaves but when he comes to ground his distribution is fantastic.

Break the ball away from him? This requires the ploy of playing a man in front to win the ball that Donaghy breaks. Tyrone have done it to good effect with Colm Cavanagh, but on the last occasion Kerry still won the game.

Steven McDonnell, the Armagh ace told the GAA Hour on sportsjoe.ie the best man he had seen cope with Donaghy was Tyrone’s Conor Gormley in a Railway Cup match:

"Donaghy was causing Ulster all sorts of problems - in the air, winning ball, laying balls off and taking his own scores - and a change had to be made. Brian McEniff put Conor Gormley back in. Gormley allowed Kieran Donaghy to catch every single ball but once he hit the ground, he dispossessed him. He got his timing perfect, took the ball off him and, from that, that was the platform for Ulster to kick on and win the game."

Donaghy’s former teammate Mike Quirke writing in the Examiner puts his 2017 form down in part to a successful winter on the basketball court:

“As soon as the basketball season concluded with Tralee, Donaghy waltzed over to Killarney and in one training session showed Eamon Fitzmaurice enough to book his place as the last sub on the panel for the National League final against Dublin in Croke Park...

And against Cork in the Munster final and particularly during the first half against Galway last Sunday, it was obvious why Fitzmaurice wanted to get him involved straight away.

Donaghy’s movement to be able to create separation from his marker, or two markers on occasions, was brilliant. He has seemingly transferred that basketball agility onto the football pitch with him.”

So how do you solve a problem like Kieran Donaghy? Well if Stephen Rochford and Mayo have the answer they could well find themselves back in the All Ireland Final.