The final test for Kelly

THE call came as a jolt to his senses. Midweek in late February 2008 and Patrick Kelly was in a pub in Limerick, watching a Champions League game with a few college friends.

Phone beeped and his Ballincollig clubmate John Miskella’s name popped up on the screen.

Cork’s football winter of discontent had only screeched to a halt a few days previously and new boss Conor Counihan, just ushered in, was assembling a pool of talent. Miskella was delegated to inform Kelly he had been selected for a Cork senior trial match in Páirc Uí Rinn the next Friday. With that missive, plans for a night of revelry were ditched.