Kieran Donaghy was on Wednesday’s OTB AM and sent out a call to Kerry fans to deck their houses in green and gold ahead of the All-Ireland final.
Donaghy fondly remembers the days leading up to finals that he was involved in and doesn’t see the same excitement in his native county this time around.
“There was just a build-up in Kerry. It just got you going. There were flags everywhere. The towns were covered in green and gold.
“It just gave me a sense as a player like, 'Jesus, I’m representing more than my team here and my family. I’m representing every single one of these people',” Donaghy explained.
The excitement is seemingly not as palpable in the Kingdom ahead of their upcoming clash with Dublin and Donaghy wants this to change as soon as possible.
“I was driving through Killarney and a few other places last week and you wouldn’t know there was an All-Ireland on. There was no buzz, there were no flags.
“I kind of said, ‘Jesus, our lads are trying to stop this juggernaut that is Dublin going for Five-in-a-row.’ I don’t know if people are afraid and they don’t want to put out their flag or they just haven’t got to it?” Donaghy commented.
The Austin Stacks man was originally annoyed with his fellow Kerrymen, but soon realised he was also at fault for the lack of excitement.
“I was going to put up a tweet and be the biggest hypocrite of all time and say, ‘Lads, get the colours up, the towns are a joke.’ Then I realised I had no flag up outside my own house.
“So I went into Hennebery’s Sports and I bought my own flag... hung up the flag and then I could slate everyone else for not having their flag up.
“It was just a little reminder for myself that hey, this is important for these boys,” Donaghy said.
Kerry’s young guns will come up against the Dubs in Croke Park on September 1st in a bid to stop their rivals achieving the first-ever five-in-a-row.
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