Offaly groundsman: ‘We only had three days dry in a row from mid-July of last year up until the end of April’

Jim Kelly is the groundsman and chief steward at O’Connor Park, Tullamore. He took time out from mowing the pitch on Thursday evening to chat about preparations for Offaly’s Leinster SHC opener against Galway. Interview by Stephen Barry.

The biggest challenge of the year for Kelly and his team came in March. A double-header Allianz National League quarter-final against Kilkenny and a Football League game against Sligo were postponed due to snowfall and refixed for the next day, bank holiday Monday. Snow drifts across the pitch and in each row of the stand were removed over two days, transforming the white pitch to green in the nick of time.

Q: How did you get the job as groundskeeper in O’Connor Park?