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Gordon Kelly in action for Clare against Kerry back in June. Lorraine O'Sullivan/INPHO
Clare

From Cusack Park to Croke Park - a decade waiting for Clare's football breakthrough

The St Joseph’s Miltown Malbay player is going to relish the chance to play at headquarters.

GO BACK TO 5 February 2006 and Gordon Kelly took his first senior steps with Clare.

It was off-Broadway stuff, a basement league game against Carlow with Clare chiseling out a six-point win in Ennis.

From Cusack Park to a championship day in Croke Park, has taken him over a decade.

Yet today he will finally arrive, sampling an All-Ireland quarter-final against Kerry.

It wasn’t until April 2014 that Kelly jogged out at Croke Park with a Clare team when they lost a Division 4 league final. A troublesome hamstring put him out when Clare won the Division 3 showpiece last April.

But today he is fighting fit and Kelly, who turned 33 last Sunday, has been nothing but patient in his Clare football days waiting for this.

“To play with Clare in a championship game in Croke Park has always been a dream and ambition of mine. We’re really looking forward to it. Everyone’s really enthusiastic.

“Croke Park is a sacred place. It’s great that kids can see our teams playing championship games in Croke Park. It really promotes the sport in our county.”

They’ve done plenty already this summer in the business of promoting Clare football. Last Saturday in Salthill was a landmark day as they got past Roscommon.

“Straight after the game you allow yourself to enjoy it, it was fantastic,” recalls Kelly.

“I remember making my way to the tunnel and looking back and seeing so many Clare people out on the pitch.

“It was a special occasion. At the moment, you’re just rolling from game to game, week to week. There’s a great buzz around the dressing room

“It’s fantastic to be part of the first (Clare) team to get to a quarter-final. But now that we’re in a quarter-final, we’re looking for more than that, it’s a great challenge and a great opportunity to really achieve something that would be fantastic.”

This is Kelly’s 11th senior campaign, a considerable time to invest in the Banner cause.

“11 years, it’s a long time but I really enjoy being part of it. Some years we had our ups and downs. But really it’s fantastic to be able to play inter-county for so long. We’re really happy that things are starting to improve in the county.

“We always had the belief that we had players in the county. Geography doesn’t dictate how good a player is, it’s how they’re developed and how they apply themselves.”

Spearheading the improvement has been Colm Collins, who has pulled different strands together since being ushered into the Banner managerial hotseat.

“I think since Colm came in, he brought a big backroom team. There’s a lot of people there who are working away in the background, that people don’t see but we know the work they’re doing and we really appreciate it.
“Colm really managed to galvanize people around the county. It’s about developing Clare football now.”

Mick Bohan has brought his Dublin and DCU experience to bear for Clare this season while they’ve also been bolstered by youth.

“Mick (Bohan) has come in this year, he’s put a lot of emphasis on skill. He’s big experience and he’s really worked on our forward play. We’re really starting to see the fruits of that contribution.

“It’s great to see the younger players coming through. Especially my own club mates, Eoin Cleary there has been playing fantastic football and Seanie Malone has been coming off the bench, he’s been kicking scores and making a contribution.”

Kelly and his clubmates began 2016 with a pep in their step. At home in Miltown Malbay, hugging the West Clare coast line, football is treated with a feverish intensity.

After 1990 they endured a barren spell in search of a Clare county senior title. Plummeting to the intermediate ranks in 2012 looked set to extend that wait but they regrouped and rebounded and they had the Jack Daly Cup on the sideboard last winter.

“To win the club championship last year was extremely special,” admits Kelly.

“We’d a few bad years, we were relegated to intermediate three years ago. It was the first time in the club’s history.

“In fairness to the people in the club, everyone worked hard. It was really special for all involved. When we were growing up there was no other sport, it’s just football. We love our football.

That passion extends to other pockets of the county too. They head to Dublin today, as the first Clare football team to fetch up on Jones Road for a championship game since the history makers of 1992. The current bunch seek to leave their own mark.

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