Kelly happy Tipp won’t be facing Ó hAilpín
It means that for the first time in seven championship clashes against Cork, Kelly won’t be coming up against the Na Piarsaigh man.
“I think Seán Óg’s experience alone will be a loss to Cork,” says the All-Ireland winning captain. “I always found playing against him that he was a very, very smart player. He was never fazed. And he was always looking out for other guys, especially younger fellas.
“I can remember the 2006 Munster final. I was corner forward and he spent most of the day sitting back on top of me, supporting Brian Murphy.
“He sacrificed striking a lot of ball to do that. He always came across to me when he was playing as an out and out team player. He’d sacrifice his own game to man-mark a fella.
“I remember watching him against Henry Shefflin in an All-Ireland. He was obviously told not to let Shefflin puck a ball.
“A lot of other guys wouldn’t be keen on a job like that because it would mean they wouldn’t get to hit a lot of ball either but Seán Óg was prepared to do it.
“Then, when he’d get the ball, you could never dispossess him. And sure then his fitness levels alone were almost freakish.”
Last year Cork, with Ó hAilpín keeping Kelly scoreless for the only time in the Tipp man’s 11th championship season, surprised Tipperary in the Munster SHC first-round clash. But, as Kelly has identified, it wasn’t an isolated result but part of a trend which Tipperary are keen to address and halt.
“The last three times we’ve played Cork we haven’t beaten them. That’s our motivation now. Obviously our long-term goal is to get back to the first Sunday of September but our whole focus right now is the first round.
“Because Cork beat us in the league last year by a point, hammered us in the championship by 10 points, and then we turned around in the league this year and only drew with them, so we’re nearly overdue a win against them now.”
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