Paul Geaney’s attitude towards pressure is exactly what every young footballer needs to hear

There’s a famous old saying.

It’s not about wondering if you’re good enough, it’s about being curious to find out how good you are.

We all have doubts about our ability from time to time, some more so than others but to be the best you have to believe you are the best.

Kerry’s Paul Geaney no doubt believes that he’s the best forward when he gets onto the pitch, he has to if he wants to be successful.

The Kerry forward was on the latest episode of the GAA Hour and spoke about how he deals with pressure:

“I don’t feel too much pressure, what I want to do is I want to achieve during my career, I want to achieve as much as I can and become the best player that I can be and hopefully help Kerry teams win All-Irelands and win as much as we can because we’re only here for a short while. There’s only a ten year career in some guys and less for others,” Geaney said. 

“I was 23 breaking into the squad so it’s probably going to be less for me, especially looking at those four minor teams that are after coming through and what’s coming after that so the pressure will be on me to keep performing for Kerry and that’s the pressure that’s on me.

“There’s no real pressure but anywhere you look in Kerry there are All-Ireland medals so that’s something to aspire to but I wouldn’t see it as major pressure, I would like to finish up myself with one or two medals.”

It’s interesting to hear what Geaney says, he doesn’t buy into the concept of the expectations of a county weighing on his shoulders but rather just has an overriding desire to win as much as he can.

And maybe people need to start taking a leaf out of his book, instead of feeling under pressure to perform focus on just trying to get the best out of yourself, the lines blur somewhere between the two but the Dingle man seems to have the balance right.

The one-time All-Star also gave his take on if he believes Kieran Donaghy will return to the fold in 2018:

“It’s important that every fella is in the right place if they’re putting on the Kerry jersey it’s down to the individuals if fellas are going to give their lives to Kerry football because that’s what it requires and Kieran has always done that so Kieran will make his own decision in a couple of months and it doesn’t matter what anyone else says in the public. It’s down to Kieran and Eamonn Fitzmaurice to make that decision.

“I’d love to see Kieran coming back and everyone on the panel would love to see him back next year to give it another go.”

You can listen to the full interview below from 46’30 

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