‘We grabbed it with both hands’ – Tony Kelly

It’s a measure of the standards that Tony Kelly has set in his 13 years as a senior inter-county hurler and of his star quality that despite being subdued for the first 45 minutes of the All-Ireland semi-final that he still ended up as one of the game’s most influential players.
Doing the maths tells this story – no Clare player ended up with more than him from play as he top-scored jointly with David Reidy who had a huge game in the 61 minutes of game time that he got.
And for the Ballyea colossus, who has slipped into the veteran classes almost unnoticed, his three-point burst down the long home straight of this All-Ireland was a crucial part of the power-play that ultimately swamped Kilkenny and left them shellshocked at the end.
And you could say that this comeback was really kickstarted by Kelly, with his opening point being the first response to the Billy Ryan goal, which at the time looked like a killer score for the Cats.
“There was enough time on the clock when we did concede that goal,” he said. “It was a very good effort in the second half and the boys coming on to finish it were excellent.
“The impact we got from the bench was massive. Ryan (Taylor) got on a lot of ball; Ian (Galvin) got on a lot of ball; Shan (Aron Shanagher) as well.
“It was crunch time for us in that second half, when we got close the game was there for the taking and we grabbed it with both hands. We were just delighted to get over this semi-final hurdle,” he added.
The display by the 2013 Hurler of the Year and four-time All-Star when the need was at its greatest was one of the key factors in finally tipping the balance in Clare’s favour as they exorcised the demons of previous years at this semi-final stage.
“There was a lot made of that outside the camp,” he admitted, before parking past performances and concentrating on the here and now.
“When you get down to this stage of the competition, every team is top class and top quality,” he said.
“For ourselves, to beat them for confidence within our own group was great. We knew we were good enough but there’s no point knowing you’re good enough unless you go out and prove it. We did in the second-half and it’s great to be in the final.”