Paul Galvin is a busy man.
But don’t tell him that he likes fashion as the Kingdom ace, and multiple All-Ireland winner, hates the word.
The Fingue man played just over 80 minutes for Kerry this season, after announcing a shock return to the Kingdom panel having initially announced his inter-county retirement at the end of the 2013 season.
He did appear as a second half substitute in the All-Ireland loss to Dublin, but speaking on Newstalk’s Off the Ball tonight,the 2009 Footballer of the Year admitted he is unlikely to feature for the Kingdom again.
The wing-forward has recently released a special fashion collection for Dunnes Stores, and admits that due to various work commitments he will have to speak to Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice about his future plans but that another season in green and gold is could be beyond him,
“I haven’t spoken to Eamon, I’d have to talk to the manager.”
“I would say it’s unlikely from a work point of view. I’ve two collections coming out next year, in February and late July/August and that is a priority.”
“I’ll have to have a discussion with Eamonn first.”
Paul Galvin says it's unlikely he'll be back with Kerry next year. #offtheball #kerrygaa
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) November 12, 2015
Galvin revealed the background to his return to the Kerry set-up which included a strength and conditioning program involving dead-lifts to aid his hip problems drawn up by physios at the Santry Sports Clinic.
However, the Kerryman admitted that his time with Kerry was frustrating, as he found endurance training to be at a level he found difficult for his then 34-year-old body to handle,
“It didn’t work out the way I hoped for obviously. I went in in March and I felt in good nick and then we got to the end of the league and I used to dread the wait, the 8-10 week gap until the championship then.”
“And we went into heavy training and lots of long distance and endurance runs of 800m, and 400m and I’m not really built for that.”
“I put myself in that position and it was difficult to say that it didn’t suit me. I was probably aware of what worked for me fitness wise and Santry had me on a program and it’s hard to adhere to that in a group situation. The group are doing things then you can’t keep up with.”
“It was disappointing from that point of view.”
Find the Paul Galvin revelation that he was doing the exact same training as everyone else on the Kerry team very strange. Surely tailor it?
— Cormac O'Malley (@cormacpro) November 12, 2015
Galvin’s return saw him feature just a handful of times for Kerry in their unsuccessful All-Ireland bid.
He admitted that his return was probably not something the Kerry management had anticipated and he found it an unusual situation to be starting most games on the bench having previously been an almost guaranteed starter
I added to the selection headaches for Eamonn and the selectors and it was hard for them to make calls and get calls right
That’s not to say he got it wrong against Tyrone, but I felt some momentum would have helped me along but you couldn’t question him against Tyrone.
His comments would suggest that his Kerry career is now over but the North Kerry man has no regrets about giving inter-county football another go in 2015,
“The point is I put myself in the firing line and when you do that you have to accept the consequences of that at all.”
“It was something I felt I had to do and I feel I reached good levels in training and that transfer to the important days.”
