At 36, Conal Keaney is in some of the best form of his hurling career.
During the summer - after being coaxed out of retirement two years on from hanging up his inter-county boots - Keaney was a key player for Dublin.
His hurling year has endured long past Dublin's exit from the championship. At Netwatch Cullen Park on Sunday afternoon, his Ballyboden St. Enda's side will face Ballyhale Shamrocks in the Leinster club hurling final.
What exactly the source of his longevity is, Keaney is unsure.
"Just trying to be as good as you can every day, try and train hard and do as much as you can away from the field," Keaney said at an AIB event.
I haven’t done anything different, I just do the same things year after year
I think that’s a huge part of it [maintaining a healthy lifestyle] but I think you need to have the motivation to want to do it more than anything and if you want to do it, you can do it.
Once your fitness levels are there, it’s all fine but I think you really need to want to do it because when you get older, there’s an awful lot of things that come into it with work, or family or whatever and that takes up a lot of time, if you want it to take up a lot of time or you make time to play hurling. That’s the choices that you make.
What keeps Keaney motivated?
"Winning. I just want to win on Sunday, I want to get on and win more and that’s enough of a motivation.
"I don't know if it’s a buzz, I just want to win on Sunday, I want to win more than anyone. That’s probably the motivation I have to keep it going.
"I don’t want to let anything get in the way of that and if it does, it’ll be removed. I don’t want to be sounding like Conor McGregor but I just want to win.
"I know there’s not too many days left so you do what you can to make sure you’re in a good place for the game on Sunday. If you happen to play well, you play well, great and if you don’t, then you make sure you do your best on the day for someone else to play well."
Ballyboden St Endas’ Conal Keaney is pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Leinster Senior Hurling Championship Final where they face Ballyhale Shamrocks on Sunday, December 2nd at Netwatch Cullen Park.
AIB is in its 28th season sponsoring the GAA Club Championship and will celebrate their 6th season sponsoring the Camogie Association. AIB is delighted to continue to support Senior, Junior and Intermediate Championships across football, hurling, and camogie.
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Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
