He might have won a third All-Ireland medal in July, but Paul Geaney said ending the 77-year wait of Daingean Uí Chúis' (Dingle) for a Kerry title on Sunday after losing three finals "tops it off".
"Christina, sorry, but it's probably up there one of the best days of my life!" Geaney told RTÉ Sport after beating Austin Stacks, referring to his daughter, who is named after his late mother. "She would be very proud of me as well today.
"This is maybe our ninth major final as a club. This was our fourth county final. We had a Munster final against Castlehaven. We came out the wrong side of penalties. And we had four [Kerry] club finals as well.
"So we felt as a group, we were underachieving a little bit. And we just had a confidence that today was going to be our day. So thanks be to God it happened."
The contribution of captain Geaney, 35 next month, was crucial, as he scored two second-half goals to turn a four-point interval deficit into a four-point victory.
He said the half-time message was: "Calm it down and just pick away and go to 60 [minutes]. We didn't panic. And sometimes when you're out of possession, you can panic and force things.
"The boys [in defence] stood up and fronted up and got us the ball. Some things weren't working. And then Tom [O'Sullivan] launches one from a long way out, which is probably something we used to do when we were in the last couple of minutes of a game. We still had that in the locker and we launched it and ended up in the back of the net. And we got a lot of confidence from that.
"I was going to catch it and I was thinking 'It's very slippy, it's probably going to go through my hands'. When the ball comes in like that, sometimes you just need to guide it. I had a vague idea where the goal was, but I just said I'd just touch it on and see what happens.
"The goalkeeper wasn't going to be set. He nearly got to it still, so I was lucky enough that it crept in the back post.
"It's probably just an old instinct in the body to take a chance and go for the goals. And I got the just rewards there"
"Then, Ned [Ryan] picked up the break and he could have thrown it over the bar. In fairness to him, I called him and he just gave it. I could have tapped it over the bar, but I just felt like, you know, you only get these chances sometimes in your life. I just went for it.
"It's probably just an old instinct in the body to take a chance and go for the goals. And I got the just rewards there. So it was great."
Geaney revealed he had feared he would miss the game after injuring his hamstring in the semi-final. He played with visible strapping yesterday.
"A week ago, I wasn't even sure if I could compete today because I got an injury straight away in the second half of the Mid Kerry game. And it looked like it was curtains for me.
"I just wanted to contribute today. And I was glad that it kind of went my way in the end. Because I've been at the wrong end of this three times before."
Dingle will be back out in Munster against the Limerick champions on 23 November.
