Vincent’s defender Kelly eyes happy return to Croker

WHEN Pat Kelly emerges from the Hogan Stand tunnel on Monday, it will be the first time he has felt the HQ turf under his studs since September 2004 when his first All-Ireland experience was spoiled by Colm Cooper.

John Maughan’s Mayo side had looked the part that summer. New York, Galway and Roscommon were all bundled aside with ease out west. A comprehensive defeat of champions Tyrone in the last eight declared serious intent.

Mayo emerged unscathed from the initial shadow boxing against Kerry in the final but Maughan had already seen enough of the Gooch to relieve 20-year old Dermot Geraghty of the marking duties and replace him with Kelly.

The Kilmaine wing-back had proven before — and since — how effective a defender he is but Cooper was unmarkable that day. Within minutes, he had fielded a high ball, turned and scored the goal that turned the game from a contest into a rout.

Not a happy memory to be reminded of leading up to Monday’s clash with Nemo Rangers but Kelly claims the scars have long since healed.

“He ended up getting man of the match. It’s just one of those things that you have to put behind you. None of us really came out with flying colours that day. I most certainly didn’t but hopefully you get a chance to move on.”

He has been no stranger to Croker since. An unused substitute two years later when Kerry doubled the dosage on Mayo, his day job as a garda in Fitzgibbon Street in the city allows him to patrol Croke Park on most match days.

He played for the Garda club when he was first stationed in the capital but his Kilmaine clubmate Brian Maloney took the same path eastwards a year later and suggested they find a club they could both join.

They knew a handful of faces from the Vincent’s set-up and the club’s location suited. Their mind was made up after watching the 2006 county final against UCD.

Though Vincent’s lost, Kelly and Maloney saw enough to convince them that Mickey Whelan’s side were the right fit. They were young, talented and hungry for a title that had eluded them for almost quarter of a century.

Twelve months later, the club had won its first county championship since 1984 and the timing of the culchies’ arrival was a source of amusement in a club that has traditionally been as staunchly “Dublin” as can be.

“The lads have been laughing alright. You have lads like Pat Gilroy, who has played God knows how many years and won nothing and then myself, Brian and Micheal (O’Shea from Kerry) arrive and win a Dublin and Leinster title in our first year and, please God, an All-Ireland title.”

Kelly’s presence, not to mention his experience, has merged well with a defence that had previously lacked little aside from experience.

Since the county final, they have conceded an average of only 1-9 a game.

On the few occasions where the forwards have required a digout, the backs have obliged. Down a point to Senschalstown in the first round of Leinster, it was Kelly who secured the replay with an equalising point.

He hasn’t featured with Mayo since the 2006 All-Ireland final but his form hasn’t gone unnoticed in his native county. John O’Mahony called a few times last season but Kelly wasn’t able to give the required commitment due to work.

O’Mahony didn’t give up and took it in turns with selector Tommy Lyons to keep in touch and to wish him luck before Vincent’s games in the Leinster campaign and the All-Ireland series. All going well, he intends to hook up with O’Mahony and the Mayo panel after St Patrick’s Day and Mickey Whelan believes the Connacht county will be all the better for his return to arms.

“Pat is a great player but I wouldn’t want to tell John O’Mahony his business. If I was managing a team that had him and Brian Maloney playing for them I personally wouldn’t wash my hands of them.

“They have done a phenomenal job. I know that John came up one day to see them and Maloney didn’t have his best game but he has been in immense form for us and has had a huge influence, as has Pat. Pat tied one game for us when we had a big lead in the first round of the Leinster championship and it was drifting away from us. In another close game in the Dublin championship he tied it for us as well and gave us a replay.”