A lot of people have been caught on the hop by Paul Galvin's decision to retire but his former manager Jack O'Connor is not one of them.

"I'm not surprised that Paul has taken this decision to retire," O'Connor writes in today's Irish Examiner.

"It's always in the head of a player to quit while you are ahead. It's that burning pride within the elite. They don't want to be embarrassed in their last game.

"Paul played well in his last championship game for Kerry, he scored two points against Dublin last year at a time when Kerry were motoring well."

Galvin threatened to quit gaelic football five years ago but, luckily for Kerry, O'Connor was successful in convincing him to keep going.

"It was back in June 2009 and Paul was distraught after he had been sent off after 25 minutes in a Munster semi-final loss to Cork after a 'tangle' with, yes, you got it: Noel O'Leary.

"Won't we miss seeing the two of them together! We were poor that day in Páirc Uí Chaoimh but losing Paul so early was a huge blow.

"After the game Paul was convinced he had been wronged and I remember later on that year that he had it out - not in an aggressive way - with referee Pat McEnaney. He felt as if an injustice had been served that day.

"Life as a footballer was tough for Paul around that time: there was the dragging match with the Armagh water-carrier in 2006; then, in 2008, came the incident with the referee and the notebook, against Clare in Killarney.

"He was the then captain of the Kerry team and it ruined what should have been a memorable year for him. Controversy lingered.

"Anyway, back to June 2009: I decided that we needed to have a rendezvous.

"Paul really wanted to pack it all in. I was worried so I arranged for the two of us to meet in the Horseshoe restaurant in Kenmare. We were out of the glare of most and we just talked; had a meal; a few pints and three months later he was Footballer of the Year." Tweet

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