PAUL GALVIN SAYS he came close to calling an end to his colourful intercounty career last year.
The Kerry forward was hampered by injury throughout the 2011 season and, after the previous year was cut short by suspension, admits the frustration of another campaign on the sidelines, saw him consider retirement.
“Last year was really difficult,” he said in an interview with Setanta’s iTalkSport yesterday. “As tough as 2010 was, last year was even more difficult and I did really consider whether I would play on.
“I had a couple of conversations with [Kerry manager] Jack [O’Connor] about it and I was really close to going.”
But the Finuge man explained the reasons he decided to continue his rehabilitation from hip surgery and subsequent injuries.
“It was that moment where I said, ‘You know what it’s not about setting goals, it’s not about winning X, Y and Z anymore’. How can it be if you have done it a couple of times?
“I just felt, especially with the younger lads – and I think we have really, really good young fellas in Kerry at the minute that are really hungry – I felt I could help them. I felt I could just throw off the shackles a little bit and forget about goals and just go and play, see how much I could improve my game and see how good I could become.
“Try and give back to the fellas who have helped me and played with me and stood by me at times as well. I felt that was important.”
