WE WERE DRAWN first out of the bowl. The rules clearly state that the first team drawn out has a home venue… That’s exactly where we’re going to be on Saturday night. We’ll be in St Conleth’s Park, we’re gonna be togged out, we’re gonna be ready to go.
That’s our home venue. We earned it by winning the last two matches on the road and that’s not going to be taken away from us.
- Former Kildare manager Cian O’Neill speaking on RTÉ in 2018
****
Niall Kelly looks up at the mural being painted in Newbridge, full of worry that it won’t be finished in time. He’s been working on bringing this project to life all week.
Coming up with a concept. Linking up with a creative agency for the design. Briefing them on what Kelly and his marketing colleagues at Brady Ham want. Getting the designs back and instantly knowing that this could be a hit. Finding a suitable location for the display. Approaching the owner of a shop in Newbridge to inquire if they can use the gable end of his house.
“You can do it,” was his response, “But it has to be down once the year is over.”
The man also wants some match tickets to sweeten the deal, which is no problem. The negotiations run smoothly.
But this has been a challenging week for Kelly. On the one hand, he has his job with Brady Ham who are the sponsors of Kildare GAA. The mural they’ve been working on aims to pay homage to the Kildare footballers who are fighting for their right to have home advantage in an All-Ireland qualifier.
And on the other hand, Kelly is one of those Kildare footballers, preparing for an All-Ireland qualifier under the glare of public attention. A tricky line to walk.
This is his fifth season with the Kildare seniors. He plays his club football for Athy but has been living in Newbridge for the past while.
His worlds have been merging all week and now they’re about to collide. As he stands in front of the unfinished mural on the gable end of that shop owner’s house, time is running out for Kelly.
And Mayo are coming to Newbridge later today.
The Kildare team before the game in St Conleth's Park. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
****
These are the kind of memories that Kelly has the time to really appreciate now that he has retired from Kildare. He announced his decision in December, bringing the curtain down on a career which began with a debut in 2013 when Kieran McGeeney was in charge. His last involvement with Kildare was the Tailteann Cup final last year where his side edged out a thriller against Limerick.
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He also leaves with a Leinster U21 medal from 2013 along with two Leinster senior final appearances in 2017 and 2021. Club football has been going well for Kelly too, winning a senior county title last season on the way to reaching the Leinster final.
But that one June week in 2018 is an important memory too. It was about more than football.
And for Kelly, it started with a text message telling him that Kildare had drawn Mayo in Round 3 of the old-style All-Ireland qualifiers.
The mood in the county was good. Qualifier wins over Derry and Longford had restored the faith of their fans after a disappointing defeat to Carlow in the Leinster SFC. It was Carlow’s first provincial win over the Lilywhites since 1953 and one of the milestone events of that famous ‘Carlow Rising’ era.
But for Kelly, it was “one of the low moments in my career”.
With some winning momentum behind them, Kildare were about to face the 2016 and 2017 All-Ireland finalists. And per the competition rules of that time, Kildare were entitled to home advantage as they had been drawn first.
However, the GAA’s CCCC expressed health and safety concerns in relation to Kildare’s home ground at St Conleth’s Park. As a result, the game was fixed for Croke Park as part of a double-header with Cavan v Tyrone on Saturday, 30 June.
A famous stand-off followed as Kildare refused to submit. The controversy was immortalised by the term ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’.
And guiding the Kildare players through the fog was their manager at the time, Cian O’Neill. He brought their cause to national recognition and drew widespread support by doing so. He made their position clear during a powerful interview with RTÉ.
Former Kildare manager Cian O'Neill. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
As quoted above, he looked down the camera, spoke directly to the decision-makers in Croke Park and told them that Kildare would not be moved.
“Cian handled it so well,” Kelly says, looking back on it all now. “On the Tuesday when we were back in training, which would have been the night after he did the interview on RTÉ, it was very much tunnel vision looking ahead to a match in Newbridge that Saturday evening.
“He didn’t allow us to be distracted with all the noise outside. He knew I worked with them [Brady Ham] but I’m not sure he knew that I was as distracted outside of the game.”
The mural was completed in time for the Saturday evening throw-in. Just as the crowds were arriving. And despite the odds, Kildare defeated Mayo to bring that challenging week to a stunning climax. Kelly played his part too, coming on in the 55th minute to score a point from play to help secure a 0-21 to 0-19 victory.
People power can be an amazing force.
The scenes at full-time. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Fans poured out onto the pitch at the final whistle, a triumphant display of white under the midsummer sun.
“It was a great ending to to what was a bit of a crazy week. It was frantic both from a football perspective and then in work trying to organise things around the match, so it was tough to keep my my head in check.”
****
From the highs of that win to the low of a long-term injury in 2020. Ending Athy’s nine-year wait for a senior county title in 2020 is a bittersweet memory for Kelly. He had scored three points in that victory against Moorefield before being forced off in the 42nd minute.
The pain he felt was somewhere between a broken ankle and the feeling of someone kicking him from behind. By the following Tuesday morning, he was undergoing surgery for a torn Achilles.
“Just ended up on on the ground in agonising pain,” he says taking up the story. “I was just carried off to the sideline and that was obviously during Covid, so there were only about 200 people at the match.
“That was tough but maybe the fact that it was during Covid almost eased the pain a little bit because it wasn’t like things were at full tilt back in the county set-up.”
The recovery was long and arduous but Kelly returned to the Kildare squad in 2021 for Jack O’Connor’s final year at the helm. The championship structure was still being run on a knockout basis due to the ongoing pandemic, as Kildare managed to reach the Leinster final.
However, their season ended after losing out to Dublin by 0-20 to 1-9.
Glenn Ryan took over as Kildare manager the following season but Kelly felt this would be a good time to step away from the inter-county scene. His career break lasted for two years.
And now that his departure from Kildare is more permanent, he can refer to that time as a reminder that life is still possible without inter-county football.
“I’ll definitely be able to find something to do with myself,” Kelly adds. “I’m only two months after I’ve actually made the decision, so I might say something different in a few more months when the weather gets better.
“I’m not sure if it was like a little bit of after going through all the recovery from the injury the previous year, and maybe a little mentally drained, I just decided to to step away, [and] maybe recharge the batteries a bit.
“I am lucky in terms of club football, [that] we’ve a good setup and are playing at a pretty good level. So, even for those two years stepping back to the club, it still didn’t feel like I was completely stepping away from football.”
Niall Kelly in action for Kildare. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
Kelly played under six different Kildare managers throughout his career, coming back in for the last season of Glenn Ryan’s stretch in 2024. Last year’s Tailteann Cup success was achieved under Brian Flanagan.
Jason Ryan was also at the wheel during Kelly’s career too, and last month, he managed the Ballygunner hurlers to a senior club All-Ireland title.
Cian O’Neill and Jack O’Connor have joined forces to guide the Kerry footballers to All-Ireland glory, while Kieran McGeeney returned to his home county to deliver the Sam Maguire for Armagh in 2024.
Kelly learned different lessons about football from all six mentors.
He was a young fan during the bulk of Kildare’s wonder years under McGeeney. He watched his county contest the All-Ireland semi-final in 2010, and back-to-back All-Ireland quarter-finals in 2011 and 2012. There were two other quarter-final appearances under McGeeney in 2008 and 2009.
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Kelly couldn’t wait for his opportunity to add to that.
Kieran McGeeney after Kildare's 2010 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Down. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
“I remember crying in the stand after the semi-final in 2010, and just hoping someday that I’d get the chance. I was lucky enough then a couple of years later on the Kildare U21 team. Kieran McGeeney was managing that team as well, so he was kind of getting lads in for training games.
“I was over the moon when he gave me my debut back at the start of 2013. It was out of the blue a little bit because I wasn’t in the senior panel from the start of the year. I was so grateful that he gave me the chance.”
However, Kelly’s breakthrough season ended in the All-Ireland qualifiers and coincided with a tumultuous period which ultimately resulted in club delegates voting for the end of McGeeney’s reign. For a player only just starting to make his way at the elite grade, it was uncomfortable for Kelly to be at the centre of it all.
“All I knew was loyalty to Kieran because he’d given me my chance and I didn’t know the the whole background or anything really about the famous vote at the time. I remember sitting in a meeting, chatting to players about it and not really having a view, just kind of like, ‘I just want to play football here.’ It was a bit surreal.”
****
There was a temptation to go again in 2026. Kelly was humming for Athy throughout their run to the Leinster final against Dublin’s Ballyboden, producing standout performances that augured well for Kildare. His 10 points in the Leinster semi-final against Portarlington was particularly noteworthy as was contribution in the county semi-final against Sarsfields where he scored the winner from an injury-time free.
“But when you go back down into an inter-county set-up, it’s another step up,” Kelly says, explaining how he came to his decision to retire. Family life, of course, was another factor along with work.
Niall Kelly pictured with his partner Eimear and their daughter Ruby after winning the 2025 Kildare SFC final. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
Kildare have lost three other experienced players to retirement this season. Kelly’s clubmate David Hyland is a huge loss in the backs while Mick O’Grady and Daniel Flynn will also be missed.
But Kelly has no concerns about the team’s prospects in 2026. He’s excited to see what the young players can go on to achieve having won an U20 All-Ireland in 2023, as Sam Maguire football comes into focus this year.
Kildare’s league form so far is in a healthy condition too. They remain unbeaten in Division 2 after a draw against Tyrone and a big win over Offaly, with a home tie against Derry coming up later this evening.
Kelly can walk away knowing that he has left a memorable legacy in a Kildare shirt. The Newbridge or Nowhere mural is still there. The owner of the house never did enforce that deal they made to take it down at the end of the 2018 season.
A monument to Kildare’s stand for what’s right. An everlasting memory of a time when Kelly’s worlds collided in the best possible way.
“It’s unreal and hopefully it stays forever more.”
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Landmark win: Kildare's forward behind the mural that captured the spirit of his county
WE WERE DRAWN first out of the bowl. The rules clearly state that the first team drawn out has a home venue… That’s exactly where we’re going to be on Saturday night. We’ll be in St Conleth’s Park, we’re gonna be togged out, we’re gonna be ready to go.
That’s our home venue. We earned it by winning the last two matches on the road and that’s not going to be taken away from us.
- Former Kildare manager Cian O’Neill speaking on RTÉ in 2018
****
Niall Kelly looks up at the mural being painted in Newbridge, full of worry that it won’t be finished in time. He’s been working on bringing this project to life all week.
Coming up with a concept. Linking up with a creative agency for the design. Briefing them on what Kelly and his marketing colleagues at Brady Ham want. Getting the designs back and instantly knowing that this could be a hit. Finding a suitable location for the display. Approaching the owner of a shop in Newbridge to inquire if they can use the gable end of his house.
“You can do it,” was his response, “But it has to be down once the year is over.”
The man also wants some match tickets to sweeten the deal, which is no problem. The negotiations run smoothly.
But this has been a challenging week for Kelly. On the one hand, he has his job with Brady Ham who are the sponsors of Kildare GAA. The mural they’ve been working on aims to pay homage to the Kildare footballers who are fighting for their right to have home advantage in an All-Ireland qualifier.
And on the other hand, Kelly is one of those Kildare footballers, preparing for an All-Ireland qualifier under the glare of public attention. A tricky line to walk.
This is his fifth season with the Kildare seniors. He plays his club football for Athy but has been living in Newbridge for the past while.
His worlds have been merging all week and now they’re about to collide. As he stands in front of the unfinished mural on the gable end of that shop owner’s house, time is running out for Kelly.
And Mayo are coming to Newbridge later today.
****
These are the kind of memories that Kelly has the time to really appreciate now that he has retired from Kildare. He announced his decision in December, bringing the curtain down on a career which began with a debut in 2013 when Kieran McGeeney was in charge. His last involvement with Kildare was the Tailteann Cup final last year where his side edged out a thriller against Limerick.
He also leaves with a Leinster U21 medal from 2013 along with two Leinster senior final appearances in 2017 and 2021. Club football has been going well for Kelly too, winning a senior county title last season on the way to reaching the Leinster final.
But that one June week in 2018 is an important memory too. It was about more than football.
And for Kelly, it started with a text message telling him that Kildare had drawn Mayo in Round 3 of the old-style All-Ireland qualifiers.
The mood in the county was good. Qualifier wins over Derry and Longford had restored the faith of their fans after a disappointing defeat to Carlow in the Leinster SFC. It was Carlow’s first provincial win over the Lilywhites since 1953 and one of the milestone events of that famous ‘Carlow Rising’ era.
But for Kelly, it was “one of the low moments in my career”.
With some winning momentum behind them, Kildare were about to face the 2016 and 2017 All-Ireland finalists. And per the competition rules of that time, Kildare were entitled to home advantage as they had been drawn first.
However, the GAA’s CCCC expressed health and safety concerns in relation to Kildare’s home ground at St Conleth’s Park. As a result, the game was fixed for Croke Park as part of a double-header with Cavan v Tyrone on Saturday, 30 June.
A famous stand-off followed as Kildare refused to submit. The controversy was immortalised by the term ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’.
And guiding the Kildare players through the fog was their manager at the time, Cian O’Neill. He brought their cause to national recognition and drew widespread support by doing so. He made their position clear during a powerful interview with RTÉ.
As quoted above, he looked down the camera, spoke directly to the decision-makers in Croke Park and told them that Kildare would not be moved.
“Cian handled it so well,” Kelly says, looking back on it all now. “On the Tuesday when we were back in training, which would have been the night after he did the interview on RTÉ, it was very much tunnel vision looking ahead to a match in Newbridge that Saturday evening.
“He didn’t allow us to be distracted with all the noise outside. He knew I worked with them [Brady Ham] but I’m not sure he knew that I was as distracted outside of the game.”
The mural was completed in time for the Saturday evening throw-in. Just as the crowds were arriving. And despite the odds, Kildare defeated Mayo to bring that challenging week to a stunning climax. Kelly played his part too, coming on in the 55th minute to score a point from play to help secure a 0-21 to 0-19 victory.
People power can be an amazing force.
Fans poured out onto the pitch at the final whistle, a triumphant display of white under the midsummer sun.
“It was a great ending to to what was a bit of a crazy week. It was frantic both from a football perspective and then in work trying to organise things around the match, so it was tough to keep my my head in check.”
****
From the highs of that win to the low of a long-term injury in 2020. Ending Athy’s nine-year wait for a senior county title in 2020 is a bittersweet memory for Kelly. He had scored three points in that victory against Moorefield before being forced off in the 42nd minute.
The pain he felt was somewhere between a broken ankle and the feeling of someone kicking him from behind. By the following Tuesday morning, he was undergoing surgery for a torn Achilles.
“Just ended up on on the ground in agonising pain,” he says taking up the story. “I was just carried off to the sideline and that was obviously during Covid, so there were only about 200 people at the match.
“That was tough but maybe the fact that it was during Covid almost eased the pain a little bit because it wasn’t like things were at full tilt back in the county set-up.”
The recovery was long and arduous but Kelly returned to the Kildare squad in 2021 for Jack O’Connor’s final year at the helm. The championship structure was still being run on a knockout basis due to the ongoing pandemic, as Kildare managed to reach the Leinster final.
However, their season ended after losing out to Dublin by 0-20 to 1-9.
Glenn Ryan took over as Kildare manager the following season but Kelly felt this would be a good time to step away from the inter-county scene. His career break lasted for two years.
And now that his departure from Kildare is more permanent, he can refer to that time as a reminder that life is still possible without inter-county football.
“I’ll definitely be able to find something to do with myself,” Kelly adds. “I’m only two months after I’ve actually made the decision, so I might say something different in a few more months when the weather gets better.
“I’m not sure if it was like a little bit of after going through all the recovery from the injury the previous year, and maybe a little mentally drained, I just decided to to step away, [and] maybe recharge the batteries a bit.
“I am lucky in terms of club football, [that] we’ve a good setup and are playing at a pretty good level. So, even for those two years stepping back to the club, it still didn’t feel like I was completely stepping away from football.”
Kelly played under six different Kildare managers throughout his career, coming back in for the last season of Glenn Ryan’s stretch in 2024. Last year’s Tailteann Cup success was achieved under Brian Flanagan.
Jason Ryan was also at the wheel during Kelly’s career too, and last month, he managed the Ballygunner hurlers to a senior club All-Ireland title.
Cian O’Neill and Jack O’Connor have joined forces to guide the Kerry footballers to All-Ireland glory, while Kieran McGeeney returned to his home county to deliver the Sam Maguire for Armagh in 2024.
Kelly learned different lessons about football from all six mentors.
He was a young fan during the bulk of Kildare’s wonder years under McGeeney. He watched his county contest the All-Ireland semi-final in 2010, and back-to-back All-Ireland quarter-finals in 2011 and 2012. There were two other quarter-final appearances under McGeeney in 2008 and 2009.
Kelly couldn’t wait for his opportunity to add to that.
“I remember crying in the stand after the semi-final in 2010, and just hoping someday that I’d get the chance. I was lucky enough then a couple of years later on the Kildare U21 team. Kieran McGeeney was managing that team as well, so he was kind of getting lads in for training games.
“I was over the moon when he gave me my debut back at the start of 2013. It was out of the blue a little bit because I wasn’t in the senior panel from the start of the year. I was so grateful that he gave me the chance.”
However, Kelly’s breakthrough season ended in the All-Ireland qualifiers and coincided with a tumultuous period which ultimately resulted in club delegates voting for the end of McGeeney’s reign. For a player only just starting to make his way at the elite grade, it was uncomfortable for Kelly to be at the centre of it all.
“All I knew was loyalty to Kieran because he’d given me my chance and I didn’t know the the whole background or anything really about the famous vote at the time. I remember sitting in a meeting, chatting to players about it and not really having a view, just kind of like, ‘I just want to play football here.’ It was a bit surreal.”
****
There was a temptation to go again in 2026. Kelly was humming for Athy throughout their run to the Leinster final against Dublin’s Ballyboden, producing standout performances that augured well for Kildare. His 10 points in the Leinster semi-final against Portarlington was particularly noteworthy as was contribution in the county semi-final against Sarsfields where he scored the winner from an injury-time free.
“But when you go back down into an inter-county set-up, it’s another step up,” Kelly says, explaining how he came to his decision to retire. Family life, of course, was another factor along with work.
Kildare have lost three other experienced players to retirement this season. Kelly’s clubmate David Hyland is a huge loss in the backs while Mick O’Grady and Daniel Flynn will also be missed.
But Kelly has no concerns about the team’s prospects in 2026. He’s excited to see what the young players can go on to achieve having won an U20 All-Ireland in 2023, as Sam Maguire football comes into focus this year.
Kildare’s league form so far is in a healthy condition too. They remain unbeaten in Division 2 after a draw against Tyrone and a big win over Offaly, with a home tie against Derry coming up later this evening.
Kelly can walk away knowing that he has left a memorable legacy in a Kildare shirt. The Newbridge or Nowhere mural is still there. The owner of the house never did enforce that deal they made to take it down at the end of the 2018 season.
A monument to Kildare’s stand for what’s right. An everlasting memory of a time when Kelly’s worlds collided in the best possible way.
“It’s unreal and hopefully it stays forever more.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Division 2 Football League GAA Gaelic Football Kildare GAA newbridge or nowhere Niall Kelly