IT’S JUST UNDER a decade since Tony Kelly conjured up a free-scoring display in the colours of a Clare side when going up against a team from Limerick.
In February 2011 at the Gaelic Grounds he was the star student in the St Flannan’s ranks, shooting 0-14 in a Dr Harty Cup semi-final against Ardscoil Rís. They were three points shy at the final whistle yet Kelly’s input, ten placed balls converted and four scores registered from play, had done much to get the Ennis school so close to victory.
There were familiar names involved in that game, Shane O’Donnell and Seadna Morey amongst Kelly’s team-mates with Declan Hannon and Cian Lynch numbered amongst the opposition.
That cast of characters were all present yesterday as Kelly surpassed that level of scoring heroics. A bigger stage, a lot more at stake and even though he tasted defeat once more, the 26-year-old again pointed the way.
0-17 was a staggering individual tally for a Munster championship outing. He had eight on the board by the first water break, a dozen to his credit by half-time and grabbed another five thereafter despite the game drifiting out of Clare’s reach due to Limerick’s growing dominance.
“We depend on Tony Kelly a lot and he produces it,” admitted a downcast Clare boss Brian Lohan afterwards.
“He’s a once-in-a-generation kind of player. He’s really good.”
It was a landmark display from Kelly. Eight years after his debut, firing home the goal that helped propel Clare past Dublin in a pulsating qualifier in Ennis, this was his 35th senior championship appearance for Clare.
He scaled new scoring heights, this was comfortably the highest total he has recorded. It was only the third time that Kelly had reached a double-digit figure, bagging 0-10 apiece against Cork in the 2017 Munster final and Laois in a qualifier in 2016. The 0-17 tally was greater than the Ballyea club man’s full return over the course of five other seasons.
Being entrusted with taking frees yesterday was clearly a contributory factor, just like it was in reaching the ten mark in those aforementioned games against Cork and Laois. But it is important to properly measure his impact as the 0-8 he posted was also his largest total from play in a championship setting.
And it was all delivered when Clare’s need was greatest in context of their list of absentees and the quality of opponent they were facing.
Clare’s pre-match prospects were not viewed favourably, simply because of the personel losses they had sustained. Two years ago in Clare’s best championship campaign since the All-Ireland glory of 2013, the attacking fight had been carried by Peter Duggan and John Conlon. They were merited All-Star winners by the close of that season but Duggan moved to Australia last winter and the luckless Conlon tore his cruciate in a training session just before GAA activity was suspended last March.
Coupled with Podge Collins focusing on football duties, Niall Deasy and Ian Galvin a pair of useful operators no longer available, and Clare looked to have a dearth of scoring options. The spotlight then shone on Kelly but he lived up to the expectations and coped with the pressure.
Chalking up 0-17 out of Clare’s total of 1-23 was graphic evidence of how he held up his end of the bargain but also the onus that was on him to shine. The rest of the Clare team scored 1-6, their starting forward line shooting 1-3 of that and there was no escaping Clare’s dependence on Kelly to provide inspiration.
“That is a bit disappointing,” admitted Lohan.
“I wouldn’t fault any of the players for their effort and their spirit. We just came up against a real good team.
“We were asking for a little bit more. It just didn’t work out that way. I thought their full-back line were a little bit too comfortable in that second half when they got that five, six point cushion at the start. They could sit deeper.
“They have quality, physically they are very strong And they have good spirit about them as well. We knew that they were good players, a good team so we knew we were up against it.”
If the odds were stacked against Clare, Kelly’s virtuoso showing did most to retain their interest in the game. Figuring out the best position where to successfully utilise his talents has been a dilemma the county have faced with his versatility and capacity to fill a range of spots from 8-15.
Here Lohan used Kelly where they sought to target a vulnerable area for Limerick. John Kiely has been forced to adapt with the loss of two-thirds of his All-Ireland winning inside rearguard. Barry Nash was one of the replacements drafted in, remodelled of late as a defender, but Kelly went in to start at right corner-forward. He caused damage there, he moved out to the wing and cut in to the centre on occasion.
In total he had 21 shots over the course of the game and landing 17 of them made for a superb conversion rate.
Limerick were unable to get a strategy going to pin him down. Perhaps they suffered from a lack of specialist man-markers. Perhaps they were content to trust in their own gameplan and figured outside of Kelly there was no other Clare forward set to cause significant damage. But ultimately Kelly did thrive. His first point from play didn’t arrive until the 14th minute, he had nailed four frees by then, and proceeded to inflict severe pain in snapping over points effortlessly off left and right.
Limerick 0-15 Tony Kelly 0-12 was a half-time statistic that spoke volumes for his contribution. A couple of missed frees early in the second half that were well within his range did blot his copybook but it was only a momentary lapse as he still landed points in phases when he was forced to play deeper against the wind and when Clare were struggling to supress the waves of Limerick attacks.
The Munster exit sends Clare towards the qualifiers. The red-hot form of Kelly is a consolation after this early setback. For the opening Sunday Game Live production of 2020, the man-of-the-match was a simple one requiring little deliberation.
His worth to the team is unquestioned but getting the support game going around him is central to any hopes of getting their season back on track.
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Fair play to Tony Kelly delighted for him ..has a fair amount of critics on this forum but I’d say he more than silenced them yesterday ..now if only a few more of them could have stood up
@Kieran Considine: Kelly is a really talented player but when given the freedom of the park and his team mates looking to find him at every opportunity, of course he’s going to rattle up a score. Limerick knew he wasn’t enough on his own to beat them so weren’t too bothered with marking him. As proven in the club AI a few years ago, Cuala knew that if they kept TK quiet the job was half done. And so it proved. In a 50/50 contest TK will be the difference and therefore requires to be man marked. Yesterday wasn’t 50/50.
@Johnny B: P.S. dont in any take the above as criticism of TK. One of the top 5 hurdles in the country.
@Johnny B: ‘hurlers’
@Johnny B: ah give it a rest. Part of his genius is always being in the right position to take a ball. It’s not like he’s standing around and a ball gets thrown at him. Unbelievable performance
Tony Kelly was absolutely brillant yesterday. Any one who scores 8 points from play in a Munster championship match deserves all the accolades
Hurling is a great sport. However, the sooner the GAA end the farce of playing our national anthem before intercounty games the better. Players, who should know better, show no respect whatever while its being played. Before yesterdays game players from both sides were fidgeting and jumping around and some even going on a walkabout while it was being played. A new low was reached when the referee threw in the ball to start the match before it had finished playing. Even Marty Morrissey commented on that. And all this on the day of the centenary of the deaths of the Cork hunger strikers.
The GAA and these senior intercounty players could learn a lot from the respect shown to our anthem by the Irish rugby and soccer teams.
@Joe Healy: Wrong platform for your comments I think.
This was an article on one player’s individual brilliance in a given match.
Just as a matter of interest on your reference to the death of “Cork” hunger strikers there were forgotten survivors of that particular strike as well the majority of whom were from Limerick and Tipperary.
@Joe Healy: Joe you’d want to get a grip, majority of the Irish soccer team aren’t even born in Ireland and you can be sure have no idea what they anthem means as for the rugby same story some born in the north of a unionist persuasion standing for an anthem that was intended to rally nationalists as they wait for the Ireland’s call.
@Joe Healy: jesus relax
@Nick Condon Sen: yesterday was the centenary of the deaths of Terence MacSwiney and Joe Murphy, both from Cork. There were no other deaths on that day.
@Ave it: and yet they are all prepared to stand to attention while the Irish anthem is being played.
Are you condoning the behaviour of the players in Thurles yesterday?
@Paul Madigan: why should I? The GAA was established to among other things, to promote Irish nationism? There wasn’t much of it on show yesterday.
@Joe Healy: Read my post I was talking about survivors of a particular hunger strike.
I’m well aware of the importance of yesterday in the context of Terence McSwiney and Joe Murphy deaths.
As I said in a previous post the particular article was about the majestic performance of Tony Kelly nothing more nothing less
@Nick Condon Sen: I, as much as anyone else, admired Tony Kelly’s outstanding performance. It’s just a pity that the occasion was, in my eyes, diminished by what went immediately before. Let’s be honest, is it too much trouble to ask the players to stand still for a matter of a minute.
@Joe Healy: Agree 100 percent with you Joe , think the GAA need to consider getting rid of the national anthem before games . Players and fans seem to regard it as an inconvenience with players moving about and fans cheering even before the anthem is over . Either we treat the anthem with respect or we should stop playing it altogether. I have little time for soccer or rugby but at least they do give the national anthem the respect it deserves .
Kelly was outstanding one of the best displays ever in Munster championship
What match did you watch Clare were battered by Limerick outrun, out thought and out played. Jesus you must be a Clareman as any team that has 36 scores deserves better than this. All you saw playing was one man, your bias is truly sickening. If you can’t do an honest match report you should hang up your pen.
@Richard Ryan: This clearly isn’t a match report, it’s a write up on an outstanding individual performance. Limerick were dominant throughout the entire game but Kelly single handedly kept Clare in spitting distance for three quarters. Fair play to him for a great game.
@Richard Ryan: as a Neutral I thought limerick in that second half were outstanding . But I still could appreciate Tony Kelly’s skill throughout . In fact was thinking as watching yesterday he would have been the only one to make limerick team based on that game .
@Richard Ryan: jeez man relax. It was an article on a player of individual brillliance, not a bloody match report. Did you even both to read the thing??
@SomeGuy: Spot on comment.
When I saw this man playing under 14 here in Clare I said to myself ,as did others, that this lad was something special and my word has he realised that potential.
People say if he is closely marked etc he is not effective but personally I think he can cope with man marking and he has had plenty of it to contend with in local club games over the last few years !!
As a dyed in the wool Limerick supporter I have to say this man and Limericks performance in 2nd half lit up what otherwise was in reality a pretty dull evening’s sport.
Hurling without crowds is bloody souless and eerie imho.
A throw in without a bit crowd reaction seems slightly unreal.
But we are where we are and lucky to be here.
@Richard Ryan: In fairness the article was about one player’s individual brilliance and he was majestic.
It’s not a match report per say.
But sure nothing like a bit edgy Clare Limerick rivalry!!
Keep the faith.
Outstanding performance yesterday. On his day he’s one of the best around but he has gone missing in the past. Clare are over reliant on him though.
Brilliant player. Clare’s problem is they have very little quality elsewhere.