Kieran Donaghy

Kieran Donaghy (born 1 March 1983) is an Irish Gaelic footballer. He plays inter-county for Kerry and club football for Austin Stacks in Tralee. Donaghy has won four All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals, eight Munster Championships and a National League title with Kerry, and is the recipient of two All Stars Awards.

A full forward, Donaghy serves as an effective target man, using his height, catching ability and scoring technique to good effect.

Inter-county

2005

Donaghy's emergence in 2006 was regarded as a 'rags to riches story'. In 2004, before he made his breakthrough on the Kerry senior side, Donaghy took part in the GAA reality TV show Underdogs on TG4. He played in a one-off game against Kerry while on the show.^[1]He made his Kerry debut against Dublin in 2005 and won a Munster Senior Football Championship medal with the county that year. Donaghy previously played basketball for Tralee Tigers since a young age and represented his country at a number of underage levels.

2006

Donaghy began the 2006 NFL season as a midfield partner for Darragh Ó Sé and Kerry were crowned NFL champions. Donaghy began the Championship in the same position, as Kerry reached the Munster Championship final against old rivals Cork. Donaghy was sent off for two bookable offenses and he was banned for the subsequent replay, from which Cork emerged victorious. A round later in the Qualifiers against Longford, Donaghy was moved to the full forward position. It proved a very successful switch as he set up three goals, a number of points and scored a point himself. Against Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final, he scored a goal. Following alleged provocation that he was "only a basketball player" he goaded Armagh goalkeeper Paul Hearty in his celebrations after the goal - but later acknowledged his indiscretion. Kerry beat Cork in the semi-final and met Mayo in the All-Ireland final. Donaghy played a pivotal role in Kerry's winning by 4-15 to 3-05. He scored a 1-02 and set up another goal in the match. He later won an All Star award and was included in the GPA Team of the Year. He was named All Stars Footballer of the Year, GPA Footballer of the Year, Texaco Footballer of the Year and was hailed as the new Bomber Liston. He denied this, saying: "It's very flattering to be compared to him, but I'd need to play in a good few All-Ireland finals to be in the same league as him".

2007

Kerry won the 2007 Munster Championship, beating Cork in the final by two points. Donaghy set up Kerry's goal for Colm Cooper and got the score that put them ahead late in the game. Kerry then scraped past Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final, to set up a semi-final clash with Dublin. After talisman Darragh Ó Sé went off injured, Donaghy was moved to midfield and did well against the much vaunted Ciarán Whelan. Kerry met Cork in the All-Ireland final, winning by 3-13 to 1-9 with Donaghy scoring two goals.^[2]

2008

During the 2008 NFL game against Mayo, Donaghy made a "middle finger" gesture to their fans who allegedly were throwing coins on to the field. He was punished with a one match suspension for the incident.^[3] He apologised for the incident as follows: "During the latter stages of the game and in the heat of the moment, I used an inappropriate gesture towards the crowd. I apologise unreservedly to spectators and all sports fans alike for any offence that I may have caused by this action." Kerry reached the 2008 NFL final, but were beaten by Derry. Then Cork beat Kerry in the 2008 Munster final. Kerry still managed to reach the All-Ireland final but came undone against Tyrone who won the game by four points.^[4] Donaghy managed a second All Star that year.^[5]

2009

On 11 July 2009, Donaghy was injured when he landed awkwardly during Kerry's victory over Longford in the football qualifiers. He left the ground on crutches. Scan results showed that he had suffered a broken bone in his foot and would likely to miss the rest of the 2009 Championship.^[6] Kerry went on to win the All-Ireland that year, beating Cork in the final.

2010

Kerry lost at the quarter final stage for the first time since the creation of the back-door system, losing to Down 1-10 to 1-16.

2011

Kerry lost to Dublin in the 2011 All-Ireland final by a single point. In a tight game Donaghy kicked the equalising point late on before Stephen Cluxton kicked the winner in injury time.

2012

In the 2012 Championship Kerry fell to Donegal in the most unexpected of circumstances - an All-Ireland quarter-final in early August.^[7]

2013

Kerry would lose to old rivals Dublin in an epic semi-final in 2013. Injury would take its toll on Donaghy through-out the 2013 season and he would spend the majority of the season as an impact sub.

2014

In 2014 Donaghy went on to play a pivotal role in Kerry's 37th All-Ireland Football Championship. In the semi-final vs Mayo, he came on as a substitute in the closing minutes of a game that was felt by many to be beyond saving and was vital in assisting a goal that led to a draw. In the subsequent replay he scored a vital goal which helped Kerry to win a place in the Final. In the final against Donegal , after a tight 51 mins Donaghy capitalised on a Paul Durcan mistake on a kick out to put Kerry up 2-05 to 0-07. Kerry were able to hold on despite late pressure to achieve their 37th All-Ireland, with much of the credit going to the revived Donaghy. His post match interview became famous for the catchphrase "What do you think of that Joe Brolly?"

Following his club's victory in the 2014 Kerry Championship he was named Kerry Captain for 2015. He later went on to win the Munster Club championship with Austin Stacks.

2015

Kerry would reach the final again in 2015 losing to Dublin with Donaghy coming off the bench in the second half.

2016

Donaghy would take part in the 2016 semi-final losing to Dublin. Donaghy released his auto biography "What Do You Think of That" on October 20th 2016.

Other

Donaghy won the Kerry Under 21 Football Championship with Tralee District in 2001, Austin Stacks in 2002 and lost the final with Stacks the in 2003.^[1]

He played in losing County Senior Championship Finals in 2001, 2010 and 2013 with Austin Stacks.

Donaghy has represented Ireland in the International Rules Series in 2006 and 2008.

Donaghy has played for Munster in the Railway Cup.

In 2005, Donaghy won a National Cup title with the Tralee Tigers and was named the player of the year,^[1] despite missing much of the season due to football commitments. In 2016, he joined the Tralee Warriors for their first season in the Super League.^[8]

Personal life

In January 2013, he married long-term girlfriend Hilary Stephenson in Waterville, County Kerry.^[9] He then went on honeymoon to America where he attended the Super Bowl.^[10]

Kieran joined PST Sport in 2015 as Sales Manager for the fastest growing artificial grass company in Ireland.

References

External links

• Kieran Donaghy's match by match profile
• cul4kidz profile
• Sunday Tribune interview with Donaghy
• Official Kerry GAA website
• PST Sport