*Tony Kelly on his way to scoring Clare’s third goal. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
TONY KELLY produced a moment of magic in Sunday’s All-Ireland final when scoring a goal for the ages.
With fifty one minutes on the clock, the Clare captain produced an outrageous piece of skill and wizardry on his way to scoring the third goal for Brian Lohan’s side.
Emerging onto the ball following an opportune pop pass from David Fitzgerald, Kelly first latched onto a sliotar like a steam train thirty five metres from goal.
He glided away from Ciaran Joyce, waltzed beyond Robert Downey, Tim O’Mahony came storming after him and as Seán O’Donoghue approached him, the Ballyea man flicked the sliotar over the defender and still managed to control the ball without making a third catch before demonstrating immense power from his wrists to avoid being hooked and produce a finish that Patrick Collins was unable to stop.
Robert Downey’s excellent first half goal would be a talking point from any final but it was blown out of the water by the astonishing creativity, bravery and genius of the boy from Ballyea.
Recalling the goal, the Clare captain said, “there were a couple of red bodies I had to avoid, often goals are made by the defenders. You don’t take possession of the ball thinking I am going to score a goal.. When the defender came I had to side step him and then another came and I had to do the same and once I was through I had to go for goal. I was fortunate it hit the net, I wasn’t so fortunate in extra time when Collins made a great save. I am delighted it went as in would have been sickened if it didn’t”.
He joked in Ennis that the goal may never have happened were it not for a fumble by David Fitzgerald. “It wouldn’t have come about only for Fitzy had a bad pick-up, a lot of the credit can go to him. It is one of those things when you get the ball, the first thing on your mind is can you get a score, the way things went Cork defenders came out towards me so I had to avoid them, before you know it you’re in front of goal and you’re trying to hit the back of the net. Thankfully we got three great goals which contributed to that one point victory, absolutely thrilled to contribute to a great win”.
Tony Kelly the magician. 🧙♂️
GOAL #3⃣ for @GaaClare #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/sEOEd8PF4y
— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 21, 2024
Centre back John Conlon said the moments of magic are all too common from Kelly. “Tony does that everyday we go out, every night in training we see him do great things, he is the greatest Clare hurler in my opinion to ever come out of the county, it is a testament to the work he puts in on and off the field, fair play to him”.
A deafening noise followed the strike to the net as the crowd applauded a thing of beauty, David Reidy recalled, “Going into the second half and when Tony went on the run, it was David Fitz that passed him the ball, he was about to go for a shot but he dropped it, he had no choice but to pass it, the movement and the skill execution from Tony, the little flick over the head, he couldn’t catch the ball again so he touched it on the hurley, a great finish. I went out covering his position then when he was coming into centre forward, the noise was nearly giving me a headache running back out, it was crazy, it is very hard to describe and I don’t think I’ll experience anything like that again, it is out of this world”.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill
