*Abi Kelly.
LADIES FOOTBALL is the hot topic of conversation in West Clare and it is proving to be unavoidable ahead of Thursday’s All-Ireland A PPS final for Abi Kelly.
Midfielder Abi has a sporting schedule that doesn’t allow for much time to chat but when she has been stopped for conversations as of late, it is generally tending to focus on this week’s All-Ireland decider.
Miltown Malbay native Abi told The Clare Echo, “I can’t get into a conversation without someone mentioning the final or even the semi-final, that is the joys of getting into a final this high up. We’re a small school from West Clare and we haven’t been in a final like this in nearly thirty years, when we were last in a final current players had aunts playing so it is worth all the talk”.
Her own aunt Diane Banville was part of the team to last taste success with the school at this level. “It is in the genes to be playing at a high level for sure. We really need to put our top performance on for the day, give everything one hundred percent and just work hard to the ability we can as a team then I definitely think we can bring silverware home,” Abi said.
Diane represented both Miltown and Clare on the ladies football field as did Abi’s father Graham and her uncle Gordon. “I’m playing football since I can remember, it is in the blood,” she noted. “They are all good to support in fairness, my aunt Diane was a superb footballer, I really have big names to live up to”.
Having her Dad Graham involved coaching teams is a big plus, she felt, “He is in with the club for many years and he’s back with the intermediates, it is good to have him there to drive us on between club and county”.
Currently in fifth year, Abi admitted she’s not “too stressed” about the books just yet, the picture could change next year when she begins to knucke down for the Leaving Cert.
According to the seventeen year old, the manner in which St Joseph’s Spanish Point have gone from competing in the C grade to challenging for A honours is remarkable. “It is unreal to think that we were only in C three years ago and the past two years we’ve got to the semi-finals and we’ve lost, if you told us at the start of the year we would be competing in an All-Ireland A final I genuinely don’t think I’d have believed you at all, it feels unreal”.
Last year she won All-Ireland and Munster B titles with Clare, the midfielder hopes to add to the collection in Dr Cullen Park on Thursday afternoon. “I’m so used to the big days, it is unreal to say I’m used to playing in big days because I know some people aren’t fortunate to have played in big finals whereas I’ve had multiple days out like this. Like nothing would really change, you’re still stressed on the day, it doesn’t matter if you are the best team, you need to perform to keep the standards high”.
For their semi-final win over Moate, she found herself in the sin-bin for ten minutes. Though acknowledging the referee was whistle-happy, she remarked, “I should have known myself, I got my third tick at the end of the second half, every emotion that could go through me just went through me in those ten minutes, I was lucky it went to extra time”.
One lesson from the whole episode was that she may not make the best spectator, “I think it is easier for me to play on the pitch than be watching, it is a lot more stressful on the sideline”.
Time watching from the sidelines and free time in general is a rarity for Abi who is currently training with the Irish U18s rugby side and is in the reckoning for a spot in the 6 Nations squad. “I started playing rugby properly in second year when I started with Ennis. After my second year of playing I got brought into a Munster underage set-up and I was getting game-time with that, football was always my number one and I didn’t take too much notice of rugby. Last year was my big year with rugby, I was starting on the wing for Munster, I was constantly scoring and it was unreal to be involved with the Munster set-up which is so good. At the start of September, I got brought into the Irish camp, I’ve been with them since, I’ve been travelling up and down to Dublin for the two-day camps preparing for the 6 Nations”.
She continued, “I originally started rugby to help my football, if you told me I’d be at this high standard and representing my country I would have laughed in your face, the skills are transferrable like ball handling, catching but at the same time they are so different but they do go hand in hand in some aspects”.
When it comes to ladies footballers who have excelled when transitioning to rugby, she doesn’t have to look too far for a role model with Eimear Considine coaching the Spanish Point side. “She is someone I look up to between football and rugby, she is so multi-talented, it is unreal to see her play, it is great to say that I know her so well and that she’s coaching me, if I ever need advice with rugby or football she’d tell me, she is such a nice, lovely person”.
Balancing both sports “definitely is tricky,” Kelly admitted. “I’m constantly having to do gym with it all and I don’t really get a chance to rest between school, football and rugby on top of it. I’ve the game on Saturday and only a few days later an All-Ireland final, it is definitely tough going but it is for the love of it”.
One consequence has been less involvement with Clare’s teams thus far in 2026. “I am in the minor set-up and the intermediates, they are kind of clashing so for the past two games we haven’t been on the teamsheet because we have minor matches, I’m not missing any minor matches, with the All-Ireland coming up we haven’t been training with them, I’m missing an intermediate match because of rugby but I have years for it so it is okay”.
Having played for Ireland in a friendly against England on Sunday, her sole focus is now switched to Thursday. “The atmosphere around the school between everyone is so lovely, everyone is up for it, the whole school is going and I’d say most of West Clare is going to support, we need to perform on the day and hopefully it works out well for us”.
