Five star display saw TK seize greatest day

This week’s Clare Champion includes a very special, 16-page souvenir supplement to mark Clare’s success in the All-Ireland Hurling Final. In this supplement we talk to Tony Kelly, Brian Lohan, Shane O’Donnell, John Conlon, Conor Cleary, Cathal Malone, Eibhear Quilligan, Brendan Bugler, Pat O’Donnell, Tommy Corbett, Deirdre Murphy, Davy Fitzgerald and many more. We also have all the colour from before, during and after the game, the excitement from the homecoming events on Monday night and a souvenir team poster. This collector’s item is in the shops now.
Below, Eoin Brennan chats to Clare captain, Tony Kelly.

He was the man of the moment, the man of the hour and undoubtedly the man that left his indelible mark on the marquee hurling decider with an unparalleled All-Ireland Final display before climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand for what was the pinnacle of his illustrious career to date.
After all, no other Clare player past or present has played more minutes (4,353 to be exact) or scored more (16-330) as Kelly is now the seventh highest scorer of all time.
“From a personal point of view, it’s the greatest thing I’ll ever do in GAA.” beamed the Ballyea star immediately afterwards.
“There’s obviously a little bit of luck involved too, you have to be asked to captain the team first of all and you have to have a team and panel good enough to win an All-Ireland.
“Today it’s probably more appreciation than anything.
“Eleven years ago, we were coming off the back of underage success thinking, ‘Jeez, this is mighty. You turn up and you win, or you get to finals year in, year out. When you do that in your first or second year in senior, you think it’s kind of run of the mill.
“The hardship makes you appreciate it then as you get older, definitely. For the seven or eight lads from 2013 it’s mighty for them as well, lads that have stuck the course. I mean we’ve been beaten in five Munster Finals and probably got a bit of stick for not backing up that All-ireland in 2013.
“So even though this is a different team, for the likes of John Conlon, Davy Mc [Inerney], those type of characters and the rest of the seven, that makes it extra sweet.”
One of that maginificent seven was Player of the Year in waiting Shane O’Donnell who saved special mention for Kelly’s immense contribution when needed most on Sunday.
“When Tony gets going, there’s nobody like him.
“It’s just a matter of trying to feed him with as much ball as possible and sometimes just getting out of his way,
“He does things that you don’t think are possible. You just stand back and be in awe.
“Especially the last 10 or 15 minutes, myself and [Conor] Cleary were sitting beside each other on the sideline and we were willing everyone to get the ball to Tony. And it’s not the first time we’ve been in that scenario. He’s just an exceptional player and it’s a privilege to play with him.”
It was an utter privilege to witness his five star display, especially having come back from such a long and arduous ankle injury that ensured that he didn’t start a championship tie until the Muinster Final.
“It was very frustrating at the backend of last year wondering what exactly was wrong and probably wasted August to December not knowing so that was the toughest time,” recalled Kelly.
“But when you finally know and have a targetted date of return, it wasn’t too bad. I was rehabing alongside Ryan Taylor so It was good to have someone to do sessions with while the others are training away.”
So would he be tempted to go the Shane O’Donnell route every year and just prime himself for championship fare from April onwards.
“Ah no, I just kind of like going training. It’s just about enjoying the game.
“I mean the days of getting dogged are kind of over as well as everything now is managed to the nth degree.
“There was no GPS 11 years ago so managers were eye testing going he looks a bit tired and teams could be undercooked or overcooked but nowadays everything is meticulously managed and if you felt yourself that you needed a couple of weeks, a manager would give it to you so it’s completely changed now the way inter-county teams are prepared.
“Less is more sometimes is the philosphy that teams have really bought into.”
Clare certainly couldn’t have given any more as despite final ending injuries for key players Conor Cleary, Shane O’Donnell, Diarmuid Ryan and Mark Rodgers, Kelly had more responsibility than ever to lead their defiant pack. A challenge he only relished.
“The nature of the game was ebbing and flowing so it was more that you wanted to get on the ball more and impact it.
“I felt like we had a lot of wides in that second half and we also relinquished a three point lead in the last seven or eight minutes so it was just about getting on more ball and trying to impact the scoreboard as much as possible really.
“In saying that, we’ve gotten an enormous contribution off our forwards coming on all year and it was the same today but I thought the contribution we got from our backs coming off the bench.
“Darragh Lohan in the full-back line was excellent on Brian Hayes. Cian Galvin came in and I thought he was really composed on the ball which is key because at that stage everything around you is almost manic. So he just didn’t give the ball away and in addition to that,
“Ryan Taylor came on and gave us great energy from the middle of the field so with a panel, different lads on different days have chipped in with huge scores and moments and our panel this year has been really important.
“I suppose the league run this year probably gave us that platform to strengthen the squad. I mean the likes of Conor Leen got great game-time in the league which meant that they could trust him and throw him into the championship.
“So when Conor Cleary went off injured, Darragh Lohan was put in there, having played most of the league and the early part of the championship.
“So I think the league this year, I know we went onto win it, but it was a great platform to give a lot of new lads game-time which has been massive to build up confidence and trust.”
Confidence and an inimitable instinctive magic led to Kelly’s unprecedented goal at the turn of the final quarter that relit the Clare inferno for what would be a compelling crescendo.
“I saw a couple of red bodies in front of me and I just had to kind of avoid them.
“I was going to take my point. Often goals are made by the defender rather than yourself.
“You don’t take the ball thinking, ‘I’m going to score a goal here’. You take what’s in front of you really.
“So when the defender came, I didn’t want to get blocked down so I had to sidestep him. And then another defender came and I had to sidestep again. And once you’re through, you have to have a rattle off the goal. I was fortunate enough that it hit the back of the net. I wasn’t so fortunate in extra-time when Collins made a great save.
“So I’m delighted that that one went in.”
Every Clare supporter was in utter delirium following that goal but it would only be the start of Kelly’s masterclass of defiance that refused to permit anything other than a Banner breakthough.