Hurling has changed, and Tony Kelly has changed with it

"When I watch back the games from 2013, I’m going, ‘Jesus, you played all right in a few of those games.’ But then you’d see yourself getting a ball and driving it 60 yards. And you’re like, ‘Who were you driving the ball to?!’"

Clare Senior Hurling Media Night Ahead Of The All-Ireland Final, Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis, Co. Clare 9/7/2024 Tony Kelly Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Tom Maher

He was still only a teenager then. He’s a thirty-something now.

In the intervening years Tony Kelly saw the game change and in turn changed his own, always believing someday that he’d return to that stage that he adorned in 2013.