By John Harrington

Kerry footballer Paul Geaney admits he was surprised he was substituted by manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice in the All-Ireland Semi-Final against Dublin.

Geaney had been Kerry’s best forward on the day, scoring 1-4 from play, yet he was called ashore in the 67th minute as Fitzmaurice introduced defender Marc Ó Sé.

The Dingle man was yesterday awarded the GAA/GPA Opel Player of the Month for August, and admitted he still felt he had more to give to the cause at the time he was substituted.

“I suppose I had a bit more to contribute yeah,” said Geaney. “I think I said it after the Munster final, I was in the best shape I had been ever in a Kerry jersey this year. I was able for 80 minutes if so called or whatever happened, I was ready for that.

“The only surprise in it was that it was Marc that came on. I was expecting to see a back running off and I was thinking, 'Why isn't a back going off here?'

“I was looking at Aidan O'Mahony because he (Ó Sé) went over to Aidan O'Mahony and I was thinking, 'Is O'Mahony going the long way around here in the Cusack or what's the story?'

“I realised then a couple of seconds later it was actually someone else and I was looking over and nobody was moving so I said, 'It must be me'.

“But none of the boys around me were saying it was me either so it was kind of confusing at the time. That was the only thing that was confusing me. I was taken off, it happens like. I didn't really think about it that much until after the game.”

Fitzmaurice admitted in an interview with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on Wednesday that it “may have been a mistake” to substitute Geaney. The player himself didn’t think it was necessary for his manager to make that admission.

“I was just informed of that earlier,” said Geaney. “Eamonn, if it’s a mistake he feels he made…many’s a game I made mistakes.

“Sometimes, you admit them. We all make mistakes. If Eamonn feels that he wants to state that he made a mistake, fair play – it takes a man to admit a mistake.

“I don’t think he needed to. He gave me the explanation that it was a tactical change and that was enough for me. We all row in behind Eamonn. His decisions are his decisions. He’s the manager for a reason.”

Geaney had to watch from the sidelines in the closing minutes as Dublin dug deep in injury-time to clinch the victory, and admits it was difficult being a spectator.

“Extremely hard,” he said. “Nearly a feeling of 'I want to shoot in here'. When you’re in the form I was in, and see Peter (Crowley) breaking on to it, I’d love to be beside him taking that pass off him and having a shot. The rest of the forwards on the bench were saying I’d love to be in that position. It was tough for everyone in the whole stand who had a Kerry jersey on, a Kerry crest.

“For me it's tougher to take because I thought we were going to have an All-Ireland final afterwards. I was convinced that we were going to win. That's the toughest one for me. After the final whistle in Croke Park that day, the year was finished. For me it felt premature. That was the toughest thing for me to take.”

Geaney was pleased with his own performance on the day and his form over the course of the whole Championship campaign, but that personal satisfaction in no wave salves the pain of the defeat.

“It makes it tougher again because before the game I was saying, 'If I play extremely well, I couldn't see how we were going to lose',” says Geaney.

“Because we had so many other good forwards on there if I was doing my bit then everyone was going to do enough after to get over the line. But that's not the way sport works I suppose. There's 15 fellas in other jerseys pulling the other way and they pulled enough to pull them over the line in the end.

“Regardless of what's written about the game now, it was a game that went down to a break of a ball and one call. If we got one call it maybe could have changed the momentum again, and momentum in sport is a tough one.

“The throw-in in the second-half was a big one. I think momentum was going to go with us for at least that play and we were turned over and Dublin got the momentum and it happened for ten minutes then, it was ten minutes of momentum with Dublin, and they're ruthless when they get that momentum, they crucify you.

“They drew it back to two points or a point and then we went two points up and they drew it back to a draw. I think it was a draw when I was going off and that was late in the game, there was 65 or so minutes gone.

“I think we were primed this year to finish out games and we were in the game. I can't see that anyone could say Kerry didn't have the legs because I think we had the legs, we had the legs from all of it until the end. It was just that they were extremely accurate in front of goal at the very end and they got the chances and we didn't make the chances. So I think that's what it came down to.”

Geaney has huge admiration for this Dublin side and believes Mayo will have their work cut out for them to beat them in the All-Ireland Final next weekend.

"They're a phenomenal team, they play with serious intensity and they do it time after time in every game. So they're the best around at the moment, I suppose. Last year maybe, after the final, I was still thinking we were better than them.

"We didn't produce it on the day but we produced it the last day and they beat us fair and square, so at the moment they're the best team that I've ever played against, I suppose.

"Yeah, Mayo have their work cut out but Mayo are up there. As intensity in games go, the only other game that rates as highly is the game against Mayo in Limerick in 2014.

"Intensity levels in that game were on a par with the last day, if not at some stages over it as well, so Mayo have it in them to beat Dublin.

"In sport it's man against man, Mayo have been there before but it's up to them to try and get over the line against Dublin, the All-Ireland champions, who are the best team at the moment.

"Until Mayo proves that wrong or someone else proves that wrong, Dublin are the best team in the country and everyone else has their work cut out to beat them. Constantly, time after time, they just produce the goods.”

Geaney says all the Kerry players are “delighted” that Eamonn Fitzmaurice is staying on for at least another two years as manager and he believes that the team is “well equipped” to challenge for All-Ireland titles in the coming years.

He knows if they are to win the Sam Maguire Cup next year they’ll likely have to beat Dublin along the way, and admits they won’t be happy until they do so after four straight Championship defeats against their great rivals.

“Beating Dublin? Yeah, well I suppose it's like anything you get the bit between your teeth and you are told something can't be done it's human nature to try and prove it wrong.

“That's where we come into it, that we are the team really to make sure that there's no three in a row, four in a row.

“We’ve only so many years left in our careers as well and I won’t be happy hanging up the boots with one All-Ireland so for us to get another one, we’re going to have to beat either Dublin or Mayo or Tyrone or whoever else is coming, but at the moment it’s Dublin that are leading the pack, they’re the All-Ireland champions and as it is, they’re the ones to beat.”