No hard feelings for county star Kelly as he leaves Déise fold

Waterford hurler Eoin Kelly is retiring from inter-county hurling but the two-time All-Star will continue to play with his club, Passage.

Yesterday Kelly said: “I’ve given 13 years to Waterford and I’ve been lucky enough to win four Munster titles on the field of play. That’s a pretty good return.

“I recently broke my thumb badly in a club game and that’s also a factor.”

Kelly (30) was controversially omitted from manager Michael Ryan’s squad at the start of this year but returned to score a crucial goal against Clare in the Munster semi-final, one of only two goals Waterford scored in this year’s championship. Kelly, however, was left on the bench when Waterford exited later in the championship at the hands of Cork.

“I want to thank Michael (Ryan) and his management team,” said Kelly yesterday.

“There are no hard feelings. They were doing what they felt was best early on this year and I respected that at the time. I felt I could contribute something and was only too happy to come back and play for Waterford when I was asked.

“I got a goal against Clare in the Munster semi-final, which proved to me that I could still perform at the highest level.”

Kelly also paid tribute to administrators in the south-east.

“They’ve always been a great support to me — and to the entire team, come to that. People don’t realise how tight things are financially for the county board, but they’re doing everything within their power to keep hurling and football going in Waterford, and you have to respect that.

“At one stage earlier in the year we were asked to sign hurleys before a training session — the board were going to raffle them off to raise money to buy set of jerseys for us.

“I know things are tight everywhere and county boards all over the country are feeling the pinch but, in fairness to the lads here, they’re willing to put their shoulders to the wheel to keep things ticking over.”

Kelly won Munster medals in 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2010.

“Without a doubt the first one was the highlight for me in the Waterford jersey. We were underdogs, Tipp, our opponents that day, were All-Ireland champions, but we put in a great performance.

“I’ll never forget that day — the people bouncing up and down on the terraces in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the welcome we got when we came back to Dungarvan. It was disappointing not to pick up an All-Ireland medal along the way, and we probably didn’t do ourselves justice when we got there in 2008, but that’s life.”

Seán Óg O hAilpín was Kelly’s most difficult opponent.

“Over the years I came up against some very tough customers, but Seán Óg was the hardest man to play against. Very fit, very fast, very strong — but a fair man to mark, no dirty stuff. He came to play hard but it was always on the ball.”

Kelly won’t miss another aspect of the inter-county limelight, however.

“One thing that annoyed me a lot over the years was the amount of lies and rumours spread about lads on internet message boards and Facebook and all of that. Scurrilous stuff altogether, out and out lies being told by fellas hiding behind made-up names.

“I often felt the GAA itself could be a lot more proactive in dealing with that kind of thing. I know that it’s hard to track people down on the internet but there are millions of euro generated by the inter-county every game in attendances and sponsorships, and so on.

“Surely the GAA could spare a few bob to protect lads from having their good names taken by heroes who haven’t the guts to put their own names to what they’re writing?

“A lot of the Tipperary lads got slaughtered on message boards since the All-Ireland semi-final. That’s not right.”

Kelly will continue to play for his club Passage.

“When you’re involved at inter-county level you miss out on a lot with the club.

“I’m looking forward to doing my best with the lads next season from start to finish — provided this thumb heals properly, of course!”