Sean Kelly wishes Ryan O'Donoghue incident was not caught on camera

RED-HANDED: Ryan O'Donoghue of Mayo, second from left, kicks out at the ankle of Galway's Seán Kelly, 3, before the start of the second half during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Preliminary Quarter final. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Galway captain Sean Kelly wishes the incident between himself and Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue in June's All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final derby wasn't caught on camera and highlighted.

Mayo forward O'Donoghue made contact with Kelly's ankle during a flashpoint at the beginning of the second-half of that encounter, which Mayo eventually won by a point.

Galway full-back Kelly, an All-Star nominee, struggled with a high profile ankle injury ahead of the game and, looking back, acknowledged that he probably shouldn't have played.

Pundit Tomas O Se highlighted the incident on TV, claiming that O'Donoghue looked down towards Kelly's ankle and made contact though he stopped short of labelling it deliberate.

O Se claimed O'Donoghue 'probably' has a case to answer though Kelly said he'd have preferred if the incident wasn't highlighted and added that he wasn't entirely blameless himself.

Kelly was speaking at an event to promote the HOPE4LIAM campaign, a fundraiser set up to support 20-year-old Moycullen clubmate Liam Davoren, brother of Galway panellist Ger, who suffered life-altering injuries in an accident in October.

"Unfortunately it got caught on camera which probably, for me, I would have preferred if nothing was seen of it and we could all just carry on," said Kelly of the episode involving O'Donoghue. 

"Obviously the media liked getting hold of it. It's one of those things. In fairness, I didn't get caught doing whatever I did. I'm not going to be pointing any fingers or blaming anyone. Unfortunately, as I said, it got caught on camera but it didn't make it (the injury) worse or whatever. It didn't bother me that much at the time. I was like, 'Come here to me, I'll get you back' but obviously the game went on and I kind of forgot about it."

Kelly described it as a frustrating ending to Galway's season as the 2022 All-Ireland finalists and back-to-back Connacht champions lost their last two games, to Armagh and Mayo.

University of Galway student Kelly suffered the ankle injury initially in the Armagh game and was a big doubt to start against Mayo.

"Maybe looking back on it now, I probably shouldn't have played but it's one of those things that as a player you want to play all these games," he said. "As the week continued, I kept getting better and better but obviously I wasn't fully there. Maybe it was just...that game came a bit too soon. It's one of those injuries I'm still carrying at the moment. Will I ever be 100% with it? I don't know."

The versatile 26-year-old also missed out on last month's county final appearance with Moycullen due to a separate hamstring issue.

Now, just weeks out from the start of the Sigerson Cup and competitive games with Galway, he may have to ease his way back to activity.

"If the body's not right, I won't be able to play so I'm not fully sure how it'll all fall into place after Christmas," he said of third level activity. 

"I've played enough college football now so I'm not sure. As I said, if the body's right...Maurice Sheridan is good like that and he wouldn't want to flog any lads too much. We'll see."

Kelly looks set to be joined in the Galway defence in 2024 by Corofin duo Liam Silke and Kieran Molloy. Silke took 2023 out to travel while Molloy was laid up for a spell with a cruciate injury. 

Another defender, Sean Mulkerrin, is back to full fitness following a serious knee injury in 2022. Defensively, Galway should be considerably stronger as a result.

"You could look at it like that," said Kelly. "We had a decent defensive record last year but with those three lads back again it's something we can even improve on hopefully. Some of them are great attackers as well and can join in our attacks. Liam Silke with Corofin this year had a lot of scoring opportunities."

But a question mark hangs over the availability of another Moycullen man, Peter Cooke. He works with a US company and only returned to county activity last season.

"He's been away with work, I'd say that is where that came from," said Kelly of reports of Cooke's potential absence. "In fairness to Peter, when he commits, he's fully in. Whatever way it falls, I'll understand."

Sean Kelly was speaking to promote the HOPE4LIAM campaign. HOPE4LIAM was set up by the Maigh Cuilinn community to support 20-year-old Liam Davoren on his road to recovery after he suffered life-altering injuries in October. To donate visit www.hope4liam.com