Geezer - one word LEGEND

[Orangemac]

McGeeney goes higher and higher in my estimation.

In the face of stupid journalism and obvious heartbreak he did not overplay the incidents that went against his team and went out of his way to emphasise how well Down played singling out individuals for praise.

Much is made of him not smiling much, spending £20 a day on fruit etc but he is a winner and has a touch of class about him. Compare his reaction to Jack O'Connor after Down beat Kerry,who had less to whine about.

On the field for Armagh he left everything out on the field everytime and despite some initial cynicism about rough house tactics he seems to have won over the Lillywhites ( was speaking to few Kildare fans in the Clonliffe inn yesterday and they are not letting us have him any time soon). The players cannot speak highly enough of him either.

Always remember reading that Cormac McAnallens father told how McGeeney wrote a 3/4 page letter to them when Cormac died.

Class act.

[rosnarun]

or ypu could call him a whinging loser after yesterday. moaning about downs goal and not mentioning the 10 steps for his employers team

[pintsofguinness]

Nobody could eat 20 quids worth of fruit a day!

[Jinxy]

Nobody could eat 20 quids worth of fruit a day!

Why would anyone even want to?

[Orangemac]

Sorry exaggerated a bit. It was 17.50 a day.

http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2005/jul/10/eastern-mysticism-and-northern-spirit/

[Donnellys Hollow]

or ypu could call him a whinging loser after yesterday. moaning about downs goal and not mentioning the 10 steps for his employers team

That's a bit rich coming from a Mayo man considering the amount of Mayo folk still whinging about Pat McEneaney in 1996!

I think we are privileged to have McGeeney in Kildare. The improvement he has brought in Kildare is remarkable. Before 2008, we had only ever won three qualifiers (Donegal '01, Cavan '06, Roscommon '07) and were regularly beaten by all our near neighbours. He has led us to three quarter-finals, a semi-final, and we have never lost a qualifier under his management.

He has got things wrong too but he has always held his hands up. He admitted after losing to Wicklow in '08 that he was wrong to try and impose a Northern defensive style in Kildare because it was not our natural game. I think he got things wrong in the league this year and this resulted in the inevitable poor performance against Louth but he learned from it and made the necessary changes calling up the likes of Peter Kelly, Eoghan O'Flaherty and Tomás O'Connor to the panel. His admission that he made a mistake taking off Paudie O'Neill in the Louth game was also refreshingly honest. I still mightn't agree with him on one or two players but that's always going to be the case no matter who is in charge. We'll all rate lads differently and see different qualities in different players. It is only a minor gripe really.

The Kildare players would go through a brick wall for him and their dedication and togetherness is phenomenal. McGeeney got them to raise €3,000 each last Autumn and to a man, they all did it. This money paid for a holiday to the States and fitted out a gym in the K-Club for the team. Compare this to certain other county teams who throw the toys out of the pram when they feel that their county board doesn't provide enough for them!

Alan Smith went as far as describing McGeeney as being like a second father to him in a feature in the Tribune a few weeks ago: http://www.tribune.ie/article/2010/aug/01/the-goal-smith/

I hope that Pádraig Ashe and the rest of KCB get the ball rolling in the next few days and reappoint Kieran now that his three year term is up.

[PatDaly]

Great thread. McGeeney oozes class and he's the ultimate role model for young people learning to play our great games.

[Barney]

It's people like McGeeney that makes you proud to be a GAA man.

Legend is the word.

[JUst retired]

I know Kieran from working with him in Armagh under age football. What you see is what you get. There is not a County in Ireland would not take him as their manager. I wish he would come back to Armagh sooner rather than later. In my eyes Legend does`nt come close.

[LilySavage]

Whats that clown talking about when seeing he was whinging about the Down 'goal'? What was he meant to say? He was unbelievably gracious post-match.

[under the bar]

Compare his reaction to Jack O'Connor after Down beat Kerry,who had less to whine about.

Bad comparison.  Jack O'Connor is simply a bitter little man with a chip on his shoulder about Northern teams.   In 2005 when Tyrone made his team look like wee boys he refused to be interviewed pitch-side.

[cornafean]

Sorry exaggerated a bit. It was 17.50 a day.

http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2005/jul/10/eastern-mysticism-and-northern-spirit/

His €17.50 probably gets him an apple and 2 plums in his local Centra or Spar. He needs to shop in Lidl.

[Dinny Breen]

I hope that Pádraig Ashe and the rest of KCB get the ball rolling in the next few days and reappoint Kieran now that his three year term is up.

Absolutely, slightly worried about this quote I read yesterday though

McGeeney will consider his own position saying "I do have to sit down and think about that, things like that are difficult, me and the administrators don't always see eye-to eye"

It's common knowledge in Kildare that Ashe and McGeeney don't see eye to eye, McGeeney was appointed by a different chairman. But hopefully they can work through their differences, we have some very good young footballers coming through and training 2/3 years with McGeeney can only be good for them and the county..

[under the bar]

His €17.50 probably gets him an apple and 2 plums in his local Centra or Spar. He needs to shop in Lidl.

Surely Armagh county board should be supplying thim with free apples to keep him sweet! 

[seafoid]

Surely one word for Geezer would be more like "intense". Or "relentless".