It used to grate on Paul Geaney when people kept pointing out his age.
Metaphorically looking over his shoulder for "the new shiny thing coming."
Once you hit 30, that tends to be the way. ‘Retirement Paul, it’s over that way. Off you go and let a few of the young lads in.’ For the record, he is 34 now.
Geaney made his Kerry debut in 2011, playing in one league game, but only featured once more in league and championship over the next two seasons, before making his big breakthrough in 2014, as the Kingdom landed an All-Ireland title.
This is his 15th season - this 12th as a regular - and with the form he’s in there’s no reason why the Dingle publican might not go on for a bit longer again.
That poise in front of goal that saw him net Kerry’s goal in the 2023 All-Ireland final defeat by Dublin, is the kind of quality that few possess under immense pressure at the highest level.
Jack O’Connor has always been a fan and continues to be one. “People are very keen to be pointing out my age all the time,” says Geaney.
“It used to grate on me there a small bit but I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably just the human condition - to be looking at age and kind of say, ‘When’s the end? What’s the new shiny thing coming?’
“It’s been more like, how can I be least disruptive to my family of three kids - and work as well. So I’ve been taking it one season at a time because of that.
“That’s kind of been the way the last two or three years. It’s been more because of work and life commitments than because of my age.
“I am just lucky that my body is in a good place. But I have also got better over the years at looking after my body as well. So that’s gonna help too.”
Double All Star Geaney says that because of those work and family commitments, football is no longer everything to him.
“It was my whole life really when I was younger,” he explains. “It was about me performing and that was the be all and end all.
"I suppose your whole week then depended on what the result was at the weekend, or how you played, and that’s just not the case any more.
“(You’re) just unsure at the start of the year how things are going to pan out for the year. Are you going to be on the team? Are you going to be coming in as a sub? Are you going to be seeing any game time at all?
“I suppose a couple of years ago I just came to peace with it. That I’ll give it everything and whatever happens then will happen and that’s been brilliant too for me.
“That’s basically been it. It’s just not the be all and end all as such any more. Obviously I love it and I’ll give it everything and play for as long as I can.
“I’ll probably be involved then afterwards in some capacity. It’s just a change in perspective which I think has been hugely agreeable.”
Geaney reckons his new mindset was “probably a biological change in my brain or something.”
He explains: “Maybe after you get to a certain stage, your brain matures a little bit more. People maybe mature at different rates.
“Maybe around 30/31, I started to settle down and get more content with myself and a bit more laid back in my own skin.
“Maybe I was a bit more edgy, needing everything to be done yesterday and less patient. The kids definitely give you a bit of perspective.
“My second child was born in '22, the year of the second All-Ireland. Paul Óg then arrived last year so I couldn't put it all down to the kids, but they definitely give you a different perspective then on it all.
“You see them growing as well and you're appreciating everything a bit more. My oldest fella is 8 now and it's kind of like 'where has that 8 years gone?'
“I want to appreciate the eight years of my second and third child's life a bit more rather than just going from Sunday to Tuesday, to Thursday to Sunday, which is probably what that period of my life was.
“Just going from day to day and probably looking too far into the horizon rather than looking at the ground in front of me.”
Geaney is savouring every moment and now enjoys parts of the inter-county gig he would once have been moaning about.
“I’d be thinking about having to travel up to Derry for the weekend and in the past you’d be giving out about the trip,” he continued.
"We left here for the Derry game at ten o’clock on a Saturday morning and we didn’t get home until twelve o’clock on the Sunday evening.
“So that’s two whole days we were gone. You have a business (bar) there as well. That’s the peak time during the winter - Saturday and Sunday. You are gone from that.
“A couple of years ago you’d have kind of half been saying, ‘Is this for me?’ and giving out about the long journeys. Now I just can’t wait to travel to Derry, just can’t wait to travel to Galway - and be in the bubble again.
"I just enjoy the experience of it as it comes.”
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