THEY’VE BEEN THE best of times and the worst of times for Richie Kelleher.
The Glen Rovers manager lost his job two years ago, is on the hunt for fresh employment, but hurling has managed to keep him sane in the interim.
An extremely passionate and likeable guy, Kelleher described victory for the Glen in Sunday’s Cork senior hurling final as “just outstanding” and for the man himself, it’s no more than he deserves after immersing himself in the managerial role over the past two years.
Kelleher made it known originally that he wanted the post, the players were happy and he got down to business.
Around this time last year, Rovers suffered a crushing defeat to Sarsfields in the Leeside showpiece, 16 points the difference between the sides at full-time.
12 months later, revenge was sweet as Kelleher’s men powered to a seven-point victory over Sarsfields at Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday.
They celebrated long into the night and The42 caught up with Kelleher today to reflect on the events of the previous 24 hours.
“It’s brilliant,” he smiled. “We’re a huge club in Cork for the last few years, weren’t meeting the standards required. But this year has been just outstanding.”
For Kelleher, the Glen success is a massive personal fillip, as he’s endured a difficult time on a personal level over the past 24 months.
“I lost my job two years ago, still out of work.
“I put my life into Glen Rovers. I have to drive on, I’m married with three kids but hopefully I’ll get my job and life back on track.
“You have to keep going, don’t look back, keep going forward.
“Last year was a disaster, we all know that, but we had to park it up and drive on.
“We took it game by game.”
Kelleher saw enough in an early season League match against Carrigtwohill to suggest that the demons from last year’s county final defeat had been exorcised.
With typical honesty, he admits responsibility as “one or two switches on the line” contributed to a two-point defeat against Ballymartle in the opening round of the county championship in May.
In round 2, Rovers scored a hard-fought one-point win over Carrigtwohill and they never looked back from there.
“Carrig’ were a seriously battle-hardened team, played a sweeper but we got out of it.
“It snowballed from there, we were back in the championship proper, played Bride Rovers (in round 4) and got over that.
“I always knew we had good players. It was all about believing in themselves, wanting to do anything to win.”
All of that hard work and dedication paid off in spades on Sunday as Rovers claimed a first county senior hurling crown in 26 long years.
And for Kelleher, it meant the world.
“I was working with a catering and hygiene suppliers for 14 years,” he recalls.
“Our department closed down, I could have picked up another job for shit conditions and shit money but I would have been going nowhere.
“I’d prefer to do something different for the same money.
“Things totally changed in the retail business, the whole thing was gone so I took a clean break.
“I’ll keep going and break in somewhere. You’ll have dark days but you have to suck it up, keep going and you will get there.
“I’m trying to break into pharmaceutical sales now, a total change of career path.
“I knew it would take 12 months but now it’s 24.
“The Glen was something to occupy my mind so I put my name forward.
“There’s a great relationship with the players and they were thrilled that I went for it.
“That just kept me alive, kept me going. Having no work can be tough and financially, with the kids, it’s hard but the Glen drove me on.
“It was total focus and I put everything into it.”
Kelleher lives in the area and as the club toasts success, he admits that it’s a “magical” feeling.
“Everything went right,” he beamed. “Before the county final, we were looking for problems.
“There were none so something must go wrong?
“It was plain sailing all the way through, we were primed to deliver a performance for ourselves and I knew we would deliver yesterday. I’m just thrilled that we performed.”
Richie was 15 years of age when Rovers won their previous county title but to this day, he can remember nothing about it.
“I remember my first day at school very clearly but I can’t remember going to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to watch the county final.
“I was definitely there but I can remember nothing about it.”
In the intervening years, Rovers were generally starved of success.
For such a big club, a famine stretching over a quarter of a century was too large a gap.
“We had problems here, in-house problems,” he admits.
“It split the club a little bit but we got very united in the last few years.
“This team has been coming for a while.”
Behind the scenes, Limerick man David Moriarty assisted Kelleher and coach Ian Lynam as they plotted a route to glory.
We profiled Moriarty here on Saturday and Kelleher reveals: “I was given two names, Dave was one of them.
“I met him and he was the man for us – we didn’t meet the second guy.
“He’s a brilliant guy, the players love him and what sums him up was his first or second night.
“He was walking all over the field, pointing to every single player.
“I asked him ‘what were you doing there?’
“It was David getting their names and getting that right. Within three sessions, he had all of their names.
“That showed dedication and even after last year, he spoke after losing. It hurt him.
“We’re thrilled for him because we love him. He’s a Glen man now, he might not admit it, but he is!”
