O’Sullivan salutes ‘fantastic’ Kelly

IT was John Kelly’s night at Musgrave Park as he captained Munster in his 154th and final appearance for the province.

It was an emotional occasion, particularly for Kelly, the second most capped Munster player of all time behind Anthony Foley.

Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan described Kelly (17 international caps) as one of the most consistent performers in Irish rugby: “Consistency was the reason that he broke into the national team. He was a true professional who lapped up the challenges put to him. For him it was always about hard work. He also put in the performances for Munster and when he moved up he got the reward in his first cap against Italy when scoring a couple of tries.”