TONY KELLY ADMITS “it’s hard to put your finger on” what went wrong for Clare in their disappointing All-Ireland semi-final loss, but says his desire for Liam MacCarthy glory is stronger than ever.
Kelly and co. bowed out of the 2022 race after a heavy semi-final defeat to Kilkenny on Saturday. It finished 2-26 to 0-20 at Croke Park, Brian Cody’s Cats powering past their hapless opponents to book an decider date with Limerick.
Three-time All-Star Kelly was held scoreless from play, Kilkenny youngster Mikey Butler producing a terrific display in quietening the Banner’s star man.
“Obviously we were below par on Saturday,” Kelly told reporters as he was named PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for June in hurling today. “It’s hard to put your finger on it right now as to why.
“We haven’t really dissected it as a team yet, we probably won’t do so until we meet back up for next year, whenever that is. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for us — obviously a lot did go wrong. In terms of accumulating everything that went wrong and seeing where everything did go wrong and how we could have addressed it won’t happen until later down the road.”
Delving deeper into possible contributing factors — John Conlan ruled out through injury and the nature of the condensed season and tight turnaround — the 2013 Hurler of the Year continued:
“It’s probably hindsight when you look back. Look, we know the round-robin series, we’ve played in it ’18 and ’19 and this, the first year back after Covid, it is obviously a tough championship, if you do pick up injuries, you have to adapt to it.
“Obviously John was a loss for us at the weekend, but you just have to adapt to it. If you look at Limerick losing the likes of Cian Lynch and Peter Casey and being able to adapt and still perform at a very high level, that’s what you expect. Did this championship being condensed contribute to that? Maybe it had, but I wouldn’t say it’s the overall reason as to why we were below par at the weekend.”
The 28-year-old returns to the club scene with Ballyea this week, happy to get back on the horse and refocus the mind.
“I suppose you could dwell on it too long but the main thing for us is we’ve just got to try and get better — individually, collectively, we all have to get better in every facet of the game really.
“There’s no point in feeling sorry for yourself or dwelling on it too much, you have to get straight back up and get back into it with your club, brush yourself down and look forward to a new inter-county season even though it’s probably a good few months away. That’s the nature of it. We’ve had crushing defeats before, and you’ve just got to try and get better and keep going.”
Kelly does take some time to reflect on the Banner’s year as a whole, though.
While he does so in a largely positive light, he wouldn’t consider it a success.
“There has been progression this year in terms of our performance levels for the majority of the year and getting back to a Munster final for the first time since 2018, and a semi-final, so there has been progression and that’s down to the savage work that the players, and obviously Brian [Lohan] and the management, are doing.
“There’s obvious progression there. You probably don’t look back [on the good days] when you don’t win a piece of silverware. You don’t look back unless you’ve something concrete to show for your efforts really.
Tony Kelly's outstanding sideline for @GaaClare sends the Munster Final to extra-time. pic.twitter.com/zlrzDSrkhY
— The GAA (@officialgaa) June 5, 2022
He later stresses that point, adding: “I wouldn’t call it a success. You can have a barometer or a measuring stick on success, it depends what you call it. I think success is when you actually win a Munster championship or win an All-Ireland. I think it’s progression, in terms of we’ve improved on where we were last year.”
While that monumental 2013 All-Ireland win is a but a distant memory now, it serves as motivation for Kelly to hit those heights once again.
“Every hurler in the country is chasing it, and only 33 or 34 can get at it every year. But I suppose that’s the challenge that you like. You like trying to get better, you like trying to improve yourself again and try and have another cut off it next year. That’s just the nature of hurling.
“It’s like a drug, you just become addicted to trying to get to an All-Ireland and win an All-Ireland. We’re no different in Clare, we’re trying to get back there. I suppose that 2013 team, I think there’s only five or six lads left from that panel. We have a completely new group. You’re basically trying to chase that feeling, to be totally honest. At the minute, we just have to get better and improve and have a cut off trying to get that again next year.”
It’s fair to say the desire is as strong as ever, so?
“It actually gets stronger,” Kelly concludes. “The more you go without it, it gets stronger.”
