An Cosantóir

35 LT PAUL KEHOE, 3 INF BN how the local population saw us. So we locked ourselves down very quickly and brought in special measures. Masks are normal now but we wore masks pretty much straight away because it was a symbol that we were doing everything we could not to bring it into the villages. They eventually arrived home to a very changed scenario nine months later. "When we left everything was wide open and normal but when we came back there was social distancing, people were wearing masks and there were less people on the road. We landed in Dublin airport and it was a ghost town with only us walking through the airport." Combining an Army life – including those overseas postings – with top-level, inter-county hurling was tricky but Paul managed to deftly combine the two. As it turned out, his first tour to Chad in 2009, his platoon commander was none other than Stephen Malumphy, the then Waterford captain! Like so many of his comrades, Paul was affected by COVID in terms of getting home from his posting in Lebanon early last year which did help with his GAA calendar. He was due to come home in May which meant he would miss pre-season training, the league and the first two rounds of the Leinster Championship. "The restrictions kicked in by March so we realised our leave was not going to happen and we didn't know when it would," he recalls. He eventually arrived back in July, two months later than originally scheduled. Paul got stuck in to training straight away and although, as he readily admits, his club form at the time wasn't great, once he donned the famous black and amber, his hurling quality quickly returned and he starred again for Kilkenny. But even then he was looking ahead and realised his playing career was nearing an end. "I'd a fair idea that this might be my last season but I hadn't told anyone. It was a tough decision to come to but one I had to make on my own." A foggy night in Croke Park was where he made up his mind. "We were losing a 10 or 11 point lead and when they were looking into the stand, it wasn't me they were looking for. So when the match was over, I just said 'right, that's it'". As to Kilkenny's chances of repeating the kind of success he enjoyed with the team, Paul is optimistic but admits that it is Limerick who are setting the standards these days. "They are the ones to beat but Kilkenny have some very good players and I think we will do well, but it will be tight." But Paul hasn't said goodbye to the GAA altogether: he still lines out with his local club Danesfort and has no plans for retirement. v Major Gen Tony McKenna, Lt Paul Murphy and Brig Gen Paddy Flynn during a visit of General Staff to UNIFIL in 2020 v (L to R) Lt Paul Murphy, Sgt John Daly, Sgt Diarmuid O'Dwyer, CQMS Chris Cummins, Comdt Tony Bolger, Capt JP Zammit, Sgt Ken Nagle. 115 Bn UNIFIL

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