Frustrated Kelly can only watch and wait

PITY poor Paul Kelly this week, one of those unfortunate players forced by cursed injury to the sidelines on the big day, trying to maintain a positive outlook as all around him the momentum gathers, the pressure grows, the adrenaline flows, and he is stuck in neutral.

Another Munster senior hurling championship begins, another magical meeting of Tipperary and Cork, and Paul – though he should be at the heart of the action – can only watch.

“The leg, the leg, the leg!” he intones, tapping the offending cast with the crutch. “Broke the fibula, my first game back with Mullinahone (after transferring from O’Loughlin Gaels in Kilkenny); I needed surgery, a plate, pins put into it to put it back on track.

“I was back in the hospital a few weeks ago to get the stitches out, back again at the end of the month and hopefully I’ll get good news that day, that I’ll be able to put a bit of weight on it, go back walking at least, maybe a bit of light jogging.”

But, back hurling? “Realistically, middle to end of July. Frustrating alright but when you get injured you just have to look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully it’s going to be a long season, and you’ll have some input.”

Things had been going so well. Seen for many years now as a midfielder/wing-back (he won All Star awards in both those positions), Paul actually began life as a forward, and was featuring well back up there this year in the full-forward line, pushing hard for a championship place.

“Towards the end of the league I got some game-time against Waterford, had a reasonably good first half, the same against Cork, I suppose just put myself back in contention for a starting place, which is not easy, given the panel that’s in Tipp at the moment.”

It helped of course that he knew so well the game of the man alongside him – his younger brother, Eoin, long renowned as one of the most deadly finishers in the game.

“There’s an understanding there from growing up together, always pucking a ball together, different things. He’s such a natural forward, he has the instinct, he’s clever; he gets the ball in his hand, he seems to always do the right thing with it. A player in a better position, there’s no better lad to throw you a pass – the two points I got against Cork, he had a hand in both.

“Noel McGrath has that vision also, an old head on young shoulders, very clever with the ball, with his distribution, not slow to give the pass. That’s something Tipp have been developing in recent years.”

Eoin Kelly, Noel McGrath – they’ll be there this Sunday, in the middle of the cauldron that will be Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and Paul too will be in his track-suited blue-and-gold on the bench, four-square behind them. It won’t be the same though – much better to be out there on the park, influencing things, much as centre-back Conor O’Mahony is sure to be doing.

Funny though – you talk to Conor, standing just a few feet away from Paul, and there’s no sense of ‘There but for the grace of God...’ kind of thinking. When a player is fit, the last thing that enters his head is the idea of injury, serious injury.

Forced to the margins, Kelly knows what he’s missing; for O’Mahony, this isn’t about the big occasion, about intimidating atmosphere in the house of the opposition – this is just business, all pragmatism and practicalities.

“I like playing in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” he says, “And talking to a lot of the Cork lads, they love playing in Thurles. Of course if you come out and see a sea of red, or blue-and-gold, it’s great, but it’s not a huge factor to be playing in either – at the end of the day it’s a field, with four white lines and two sets of goalposts. I don’t mind whether we play at Páirc Uí Chaoimh or Thurles, it is all the one to me.”

It’s the match, you see, just the match; it might be Cork, and all the great stories from the past, but it’s a team to be beaten, that’s all.

“We know it is going to be a huge test for us down there. We are not carrying any baggage with us from 2009 (All-Ireland final loss), we are looking forward to 2010. We’re not worried about any other team, all our attention is on Cork.”

Perfect attitude, for O’Mahony; for others, however, spare a thought, and make allowance if their minds wander a little further down that road.