This article is from page 84 of the 2011-08-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 84 JPG
PATRICK Kelly is rapidly becoming renowned as a man for the big occasion. Still only 23, the Clarecastle native has won two Fitzgibbon Cup medals with different colleges (WIT and NUIG), was part of the 2009 Under 21 squad that captured provincial and national honours and already this year, claimed the Munster Intermediate Player of the Year award for his starring role for the county in the Munster against Limerick in Cusack Park. And on Saturday when leaders were needed most on the ultimate stage, his inspirational interceptions and clearances made him a crowd favourite amongst the loyal Clare support. However, off the field of play, he tends to take these things in his stride.
“I just love going out playing hurling whether it is with Clarecastle, Clare or my college it doesn’t matter and I think when you have a determination and a group of players that are so determined, you can win anything if you put your mind to it.
“That’s what we did at the start of the year, we put our focus on beating Cork, went on to beat Limerick and I think it was great to play Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final because it improved us for today. I think if we had gone straight into a final like Kilkenny today, we might have been a bit off the pace and I’d say if Kilkenny had a couple of games under their belt, it would have been a different story. But I’m not going to be here giving excuses, we have the cup now.”
While his task of guarding Clare’s last line is an onerous one at times, Kelly had total confidence in his team-mates to provide the scores at the other end.
“All year the goals have come at vital times. I know, even in the fullback line, we have let in a couple of soft goals but credit to the forwards, when the goals have gone in at our end, they have retaliated by putting in some great goals themselves. The forwards have been great. Once they get the ball, their shooting was just superb. Against Galway, they went out and scored 1-10 without reply and I’ve never heard of that before in hurling so great credit has to go to them.
So did he think that when Paul O’Flynn thundered in from the wing to give the Cats a 1-1 to 0-0 lead that it was Galway all over again?
“No we didn’t panic. Being down at the Town end in the first half, the sun was very bad and for the first 20 minutes, myself and my man were just putting up our hurleys because you couldn’t see any ball. In particular the puck-outs were a nightmare because you couldn’t see anything. The Kilkenny lad scored the goal well but you can’t panic. It’s only the first five minutes and okay they scored 1-1 but we came right back at them and got a grip in the middle of the field. Shane Golden and Ronan Keane are great workhorses in the centre. If you told them to jump, they would only ask how high.
“But look, we’ll take beating Kilkenny in an All-Ireland final anyday of the week. They love their hurling and it’s hard to come by medals in Clare so it’s great that we have two cups coming home this year.”
The first of many if Kelly’s track record is anything to go by.