Kieran McGeeney (born 18 October 1971) is an Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

and former player, who currently manages his native county, having previously managed the senior Kildare county team from 2007 until 2013. McGeeney played football with his local club Mullaghbawn Cúchullain's in Armagh and also for Na Fianna club in Dublin. He was a member of the

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

senior football team from 1992 until 2007, captaining the county to the 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, their first and only title.

Playing career

Club

Born at Mullaghbawn,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

, McGeeney was a member of Mullaghbawn's 1995

Armagh Senior Football Championship The Armagh Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Armagh GAA clubs. The Armagh County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association has organised it since 1889. Clann Éireann are the title hol ...

and

Ulster Senior Club Football Championship The Ulster Senior Club Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition played between the top clubs in Ulster GAA. The trophy awarded to the winners is the Seamus McFerran Cup ( ga, Corn Shéamuis Mhic Fearáin). The winners and t ...

winning side. He later moved to Na Fianna on the northside of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. With them he won the 1999 Leinster Senior Club Football Championship and three

Dublin Senior Football Championship The Dublin Senior Football Championship (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the '' Go-Ahead'' Dublin Senior Football Championship) is an annual Gaelic Athletic Association competition between the top Dublin GAA clubs. The winners of th ...

Inter-county

McGeeney captained

to a first All-Ireland SFC title in the team's history in 2002. He won three All Stars Awards (1999, 2000 and 2002) and six

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in early May. The final is ...

medals (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). He also received the 2002

Texaco Footballer of the Year The Texaco Footballer of the Year was a Gaelic football award, created in 1958, that honoured the achievements of a footballer of outstanding excellence. The award was part of the Texaco Sportstars Awards, in which Irish sportspeople from all fi ...

award.

International rules

McGeeney represented Ireland on a number of occasions against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, captaining his country in the 2006 International Rules Series. He led the Irish team who faced Australia in the first test at

Pearse Stadium Pearse Stadium ( ga, Páirc an Phiarsaigh) is the principal GAA stadium in Galway, Ireland. The Galway GAA Gaelic football and hurling teams use the stadium for their home games. The stadium, amongst others in the province of Connacht, is also ...

and in the second test at

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and h ...

. He has currently made twelve appearances for his country, making his debut back in 1998.

Managerial career

McGeeney managed the

Kildare senior football team The Kildare county football team represents Kildare in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Kildare GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ir ...

from 2007 until 2013. He was appointed shortly after retiring as an inter-county player. He led the county to a Leinster final appearance in 2009. The team also reached the 2010 All-Ireland SFC semi-final in 2010, losing narrowly to Down. In 2013, McGeeney managed the Kildare under-21 team to the

Leinster Under-21 Football Championship The Leinster GAA Football Under-20 Championship, known simply as the Leinster Under-20 Championship, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highe ...

title. On 15 July 2012,

Seánie Johnston Seánie Johnston is an Irish Gaelic footballer. A former player with the Cavan county team and Cavan Gaels.Recently Managed Cavan GAA Club Cúchulainn's GFC (Cavan) in the ACFL Division Two for the 2021 season.In 2022,Johnston took up a c ...

made his debut for Kildare in an All-Ireland SFC qualifier against his native Cavan, coming on as a substitute late in the second half and scoring Kildare's final point of the match. The substitution was regarded by many as a genius managerial move by McGeeney whose team were only winning by 16 points at the time. Some commentators recognise this move as the starting point for McGeeney's managerial career which so far includes one under 21 Leinster title. Johnston went on to have an average football career. He was axed after losing a ballot by county delegates by one vote, 29 to 28 in September 2013. In October 2013, McGeeney joined the management team of the Armagh senior football team under

Paul Grimley Paul Grimley is the former manager of the Gaelic football team Armagh county. Grimley arrived at Armagh as Paddy O'Rourke's assistant, and remained in the role for a year before becoming manager following O'Rourke's resignation in July 2012. A ...

. In November 2013, it was announced that McGeeney would be involved with the Tipperary hurling team for

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

as a member of the back room team. McGeeney took over from

as manager of his native Armagh in 2015.

Personal life

He is fond of the MMA fighting. He is also into his jiu jitsu. According to Peter Queally in November 2021: "Kieran McGeeney, this Armagh aelicfootballer, was training there t the Straight Blast Gym in Dublinat the time and he was good at jiu jitsu. At the end of the night I was wrecked and ready to pack up and John avanagh, Straight Blast Gym foundersaid get back on the mat and points at McGeeney. I'll never forget that 10 minutes. It was the most horrific 10 minutes of my life. I cannot describe to you how bad it was. There's one thing I can vividly remember. Kieran was on top of me and I'm not messing, he started putting his hand underneath my rib cage and I am not messing, his hand was inside my body. He was pulling on my ribs. I thought I was going to break my ribs and I was going to tap, but I didn't. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I kind of knew what was going on, even though John didn't say anything, it felt like a big set-up". According to the BBC, "It was just that. Kavanagh had told Kieran McGeeney — a legend in the GAA world — to 'torture' Queally, to see if he was serious about becoming an MMA fighter".

Honours

* In May 2020, the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' named McGeeney as one of the "dozens of brilliant players" who narrowly missed selection for its "Top 20 footballers in Ireland over the past 50 years".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGeeney, Kieran 1971 births Living people All-Ireland-winning captains (football) All Stars Footballers of the Year Armagh inter-county Gaelic footballers Irish international rules football players Mullaghbawn Gaelic footballers Na Fianna Gaelic footballers Tipperary county hurling team Texaco Footballers of the Year Winners of one All-Ireland medal (Gaelic football)