Galvin has no plans to go back to Kerry now he’s on his bike

“No, I’m on my bike now, literally,” says Paul Galvin, before beginning to place every possible meaning onto those words. Because no, he won’t be reconsidering his retirement – not even in light of the crippling injury loss of Colm “Gooch” Cooper. Although that’s not saying he might have considered things differently had Cooper’s injury occurred before Galvin decided to retire.

And because he thinks some of the fun has gone out of football and sees no reason to keep attending Kerry's games, at least for the time being. And because he certainly has no ambitions to go into management in Kerry or anywhere else. Not yet, anyway.

Few regrets
And he won't be looking back with any great regrets, except that when you play in seven All-Ireland finals and lose three, you'll always wonder could you have won more. And because no, he doesn't think Kerry will be as badly off without Cooper as some fear.

And because yes, he already sees himself getting detached from football, putting all his thoughts and energy into other interests, mainly his work in social media advertising and getting on his bike in May for the An Post Cycling Series. And because yes the time to retire was absolutely right, from every perspective.

“And I would see myself getting a bit detached from football, yeah,” he says. “It’s not an intention. But I just don’t think about it any more or think about it as much. Whereas when I was in there it was all I used to think about.

“I’m away a lot now. I had meetings in London last week, meetings in Dublin this week. I’m in New York for a few weeks in March and I’m away in April. I wish Kerry the best and I’ll still follow them. But I think about other things now, and keep busy doing other things.”

Because he has in every sense already moved on – his decision to retire on the opening weekend of the Allianz Football League not nearly as sudden as it seemed at the time: Galvin (34) had decided to retire at the end of last summer before Kerry manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice temporarily tempted him back with the prospect of a switch into centre back.

Most comfortable
"It did excite me and it was going well there," says Galvin. "Half back position is where I kind of always felt most comfortable for some reason. But I was doing so much travelling and that takes some of the enjoyment out of it. I'm also based in Dublin now. Though physically I was in good nick over the winter and from that point of view I could have kept going."

Then, the week before their opening league game against Dublin, Kerry played Dr Crokes in a challenge: Galvin played at centre back (on Daithí Casey), and ended up getting a black card. There and then he knew his time was up. “That was the moment,” he says. “And I actually told Eamonn on the Monday . . . I don’t think I was emotional about it, really. It’s only a tough thing to do until you make the decision. Once you make that decision, it’s fine. It’s been fine since . . .”

Work is taking up all his time. “It has basically become full-time,” he says. His business involves selling online advertising through his social media for haircare and clothing brands.

“I had a small presence online and it kept growing and growing,” he says. “I just took a punt, really. I make a decent living, better than what I earned teaching. And I think it’s something other GAA players could be doing as well . . .”

It’s work Galvin clearly enjoys, where he finds the fun now that he feels went missing from the football field, even the Kerry dressing room. “Yeah, a little bit of the fun went out of it. Things like the gum shield rule I found tricky. I played a couple of games and ended up just throwing them on the ground.

“I just couldn’t get my wind, couldn’t talk to fellas. Things like that might seem small and silly, but then the black card thing as well was probably another little thing that you say to yourself, ‘This could be tricky’.

“And for years, the fellas I was dealing with in the dressing room, the likes of Darragh and Tomás Ó Sé, and Tadhg Kennelly . . . You’re talking about really big characters, raucous kind of guys. Every day they would be looking for some bit of mischief, some bit of craic around the place. Those guys don’t come along all the time . . . They’re rare enough in the game. I would have done a good bit of laughing out with those fellas.

"Now I think you probably have a different type of craic . . . So it does change. That's not to say it changed for the worse. It just changes. That's life. That's the evolution of a team. But the dressing-room definitely changed."

No regrets
None of this, however, means he might still be playing with Kerry had Cooper's cruciate injury – sustained in the AIB club semi-finals earlier this month – happened, say, before Christmas. "It probably would have made it harder for me to retire," Galvin admits.

"But I don't know. I suppose if I'm being very honest, it might have, yeah. But for me, I was just trying to give it time and that was proving very hard. I just felt that I'd come up short, in terms of trying to do all the things I was doing. But I don't think there's any need for me to reconsider, really."

Paul Galvin on . . .

The loss of Colm "Gooch" Cooper:
"I wouldn't be as down in the mouth about it as people have been. It's obviously a blow. You're talking about probably the best player to have ever played the game. But I still think Kerry are in a good place. It's just up to someone else to step up, or maybe for Kerry to play a different way. But Kerry are still going to be knocking around come late August or early September."
The prospects of Cooper coming back as strong:
"Mentally, he's probably the toughest player I ever played with. There's a lot of pride as well. The other thing about him is he's got very strong legs, which is very important for that kind of injury. He's very strong quad and thigh muscles and his legs in general were always very strong.

"And the last guy who would be feeling sorry for himself or too down about it will be Colm. He'd be of the view 'Kerry have to get on with it and I've to get on with it . . . ' "

On the high points of his career:
"Well the 2004 All-Ireland, I suppose. That one will be always special. It is always special when you break through for the first time. And when you are young as well it is a bit more fun."

And the low points :
"The losses. Losing the All-Irelands. Any of the All-Irelands we lost are low points."