Now moving freely, Galway talisman Kelly targeting top honours 

MAROON METTLE: Galway's Sean Kelly is back amongst it for his county. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

There were 73 minutes on the clock at Carrick-on-Shannon when Seán Kelly stopped moving freely and instead moved toward the sideline. 

That was June 18, 2023. He didn’t move freely for a long time after that.

Across the 2024 League, the Galway football captain made one start. Across the six remaining fixtures, he came off the bench only twice.

Across their opening seven games of the 2024 championship, he sat out the Westmeath win and was subbed off in four more. Hobbled off 22 minutes into the subsequent All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin. Marked absent for the semi-final disposal of Donegal. Could manage only the last 25 minutes of the decider disappointment. 

A moving-freely Seán Kelly would have been in the thick of it from the off.

Seán Kelly is again moving freely. It’s been a while. The minutes speak for themselves. Galway’s most versatile asset started all seven league games this spring, finished five.

No ankle issue, no hamstring trouble. No more hobbling. No more rehabbing. No more chopped stride. No more having to be minded and managed. No more worrying about his body betraying him.

Whisper it, but Seán Kelly is injury-free. When he says the words himself, he makes sure to reach out his hand to the wooden table in front of him upstairs at the Connacht GAA Centre in Bekan.

“I went through a rough two years where it was just injury after injury, hamstring to ankle, just wanting to get back playing. Decent League campaign just gone, few ups and downs, but just getting injury-free is massive and hopefully can stay like that for the rest of the year, touch wood,” the 27-year-old begins.

“Mentally, you are in a much better place injury-free and training every day. Going out to Loughgeorge [Galway's training base] and having an injury is probably the worst thing about it. It is tough for lads that do have that. 

"Unfortunately, it is part and parcel of the game. You can push yourself and play better being injury-free, so obviously that leads to better enjoyment of the game.” 

The argument is easily made that Kelly was a victim of his own schedule. A victim of his own success. Sigerson Cup glory with NUIG in the spring of 2022. Galway’s subsequent summer run to the All-Ireland final. Moycullen’s subsequent County and Connacht success.

No break, forever busy. Busier than almost everyone else, such is his attritional and all-action style. He never did shortcuts inside the whitewash.

“2022/23, I was injury-free and so was playing a lot of games, so I don't know if that had a thing to do with it, that maybe it was too many games.

“I got the first injury back in 2023 against Armagh, and then Mayo [a week later], injured ankle ligaments. Probably led to injuring my hammer, just recurring hamstring injuries for the last year. You are pushing to a high standard and playing catch-up when coming back from injury, so that can lead to something else.

“Got a good club season last year, game after game, built up resilience. Same has happened now. Seven games played in the League and happy to be on the pitch.” 

Galway begin their championship campaign faraway in Gaelic Park this Sunday. They’re determined it will end at a different Park much closer to home in late July. Pádraic Joyce’s men are just outside the door. 

They’ve twice knocked unsuccessfully in the last three years. The repetition of hurt last summer was particularly unwelcome. The same orange crowd Kelly first got injured against on June 18, 2023. A then welcome balm was the FRC’s suite of new rules. A fresh outlook, fresh hope.

“Well, not at the time, no. At the time, you are like, end of the world. Serious disappointment. It is an opportunity missed. We had a good year, some great results, but when it came to the final, we didn't get over the line. That's the disappointment,” explained the three-in-a-row Connacht winning captain.

“The new rules came in then and it is not like what we played that day. What happened in that game won't have an emphasis on what happens going forward.

“The new rules have freshened it up, it is much more enjoyable to play, and we are saying, can we take advantage of these new rules now, can we have that mean defence, can we get two-pointers? But obviously at the time you think, not again, it is our second time.

“There is disappointment, but you have to go again and hopefully get over the line. That's the plan. But easier said than done.”