Serious injury in 2013 changed Kieran Donaghy’s approach to football
A serious groin-hip injury in 2013 forced Kieran Donaghy to significantly alter his approach to Gaelic football, .
Speaking at the Balance Expo in Killarney this afternoon, the Kerry footballer revealed how the injury in 2013 almost forced him to retire. The significant stint on the sideline, which spilt into 2014, radically changed the manner in which he looked after his body.
“It was around 2013 when I realised this body has given me an awful lot and I really need to start looking after it, have to get better at minding it, have more balance about resting it, training it and getting it into the gym.
"I had a bad injury which meant I was close to retiring. That was a real eye-opener because the body wasn’t allowing me to play at the time. That was a real lightbulb moment for me.
“Around that time, I was out in Castleisland every morning at 6am with Ger Keane trying to get this injury right. We were doing this for six to eight months. That showed me the discipline of going to bed earlier, getting up earlier.
"It was around then when I was saying to myself, ‘you’re getting a bit older and yet you’re trying to keep up with these younger fellas’. You have to give yourself every chance.
"If I lived now like I did when I was 23, the year I won my first All-Ireland, I’d be no good to Kerry, I’d be no good to the basketball team either.”
