'He is just a legend' - captain Kelly hails Lohan's influence

The Banner skipper says the All-Ireland winning manager cleaned things up behind the scenes since he took the job.

MAGIC MOMENTS: Clare manager Brian Lohan holding the Liam MacCarthy cup. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Hurling is their religion in Clare, Brian Lohan their God. So went Tony Kelly’s declaration from halfway up the Hogan Stand after All-Ireland final victory over Cork. It will, in years and decades ahead, become the immortal declaration from his acceptance speech.

A short while after, and now sat underneath the Hogan Stand, the winning captain was asked to expand on his booming remarks.

There were two threads to his point. The outstanding one was that Clare did not have their shit together pre-Lohan. That began to change with his appointment in October 2019.

“Since he has come in, everything has been for the betterment of Clare,” Kelly began.

“From a behind the scenes standpoint, we were probably in the media pre-covid for not having our shit together, our centre of excellence was always on it. We were never on it for an unbelievable match or performance. It was always, what's going on in Clare, or who is rowing with who. But since he came in, he cleaned up everything behind the scenes.” 

The other strand to his Lohan-is-our-God declaration was that, contrary to his stony and steely sideline demeanour, there's a softness to the Clare manager that the players so appreciate.

“From a players' point of view, he just has us eating out of the palm of his hand. He is probably teak tough in how he comes across in the media, but to us, he would defend you to the hilt. He is tough, but he is a sound man as well behind it all, if you can believe that. He has a softer side to him. He is just a legend.” 

Immortal and legendary status was immediately applied to Kelly’s goal for the ages. A sidestep of Mark Coleman, a dart around Rob Downey, a daring flick over the head of Seán O'Donoghue, and an ice cold off-the-hurley finish.

Could he walk us through how he walked through the red sea?

“Often goals are made by the defender rather than yourself. You don’t take the ball and think ‘I am going to score a goal here'.

“It’s often that you take what is in front of you, so when the defender came, I didn’t want to get blocked down so I had to sidestep him, and then another defender came so I had to sidestep again. And once you’re through, you have to rattle off a goal.

“From a personal point of view, it’s the best thing I will ever do in the GAA,” Kelly added of becoming the fourth man to captain the Banner to the ultimate prize.