We’ve got to make moment count — Kelly
IT’S BEEN a long wait, 30 years in fact, but now that Malachy O’Rourke’s impressive Monaghan team have shattered their own glass ceiling, Fintan Kelly wants them to show what they can do on the big stage.
The Farney County’s utility man put in another tireless shift in Salthill last weekend. Although wearing the number 14, he did the heavy lifting further out the field. His hard-working display was something of a redemption for the Clones native, who was sent off when Monaghan and Galway clashed in an attritional League game at Pearse Stadium back in March for kicking out at Gary O’Donnell.
The scenes at the final whistle in Salthill were more akin to an All-Ireland victory with thousands of supporters invading the pitch and players staying on long after the final whistle to savour the moment.
‘It meant a lot to the Monaghan supporters who have followed us through thick and thin,’ Kelly said. ‘They could have walked away after the Fermanagh game but they didn’t. They went straight down to Waterford, they went to Carrick-on-Shannon, they followed us to Navan for the Laois game.
‘They’ve followed us everywhere in a massive crowd and we get a serious buzz from that. It’s great for the supporters but as players we have to come down very quick because we have a massive game on Sunday.
‘After waiting this long to get to an All-Ireland semi-final, there is no point in going up there and not showing up. So, that’s the next thing for us. We have to focus on the challenge on Sunday,’ explained Kelly, who was nominated for an All-Star last year.
Kelly’s versatility makes him one of the most important players in Monaghan’s system. Having started as a wing-back, he has also been used as a corner-back and a wing-forward, as he played last Saturday. Even when playing in defence, he has nailed some significant scores and, when they recorded a famous victory over Dublin at Croke Park in the final League match, it was Kelly who scored the marvellous winning point. Meanwhile, during last summer’s journey to the All-Ireland quarter-final, he scored a goal in three successive Championship games, despite nominally playing as a corner-back.
It is his work ethic, and engine, that make him vital to how Monaghan play. Whenever they turn over the ball, deep in their own half, Kelly is never far away. He personifies the blue-collar values of this impressive side.
And he believes that the downto-earth nature of these Monaghan players could be their trump card as they prepare to meet their neighbours Tyrone in Sunday’s historic All-Ireland semi-final.
‘We are a very grounded bunch,’ he agrees. ‘And there are a lot of leaders in that dressing-room so I will say that they will guide us in the right way. Nobody gets ahead of themselves in this team. And that’s probably a reason why we have got to where we are.’
Kelly insists that Monaghan have learned from every game in the Super 8s. Last Saturday in Salthill, they kept the foot on Galway’s throat, mindful of what happened against Kerry in Clones when David Clifford scored a last-minute goal. ‘We created a cushion against Galway that we didn’t do against Kerry. We got the few scores to go five or six points ahead which was massive for us because we knew what happened against Kerry wasn’t good enough.’
Those crazy couple of minutes at the end of the Super 8s match against Kerry, and the suckerpunch against Fermanagh earlier this summer, are the only two aberrations in a summer which has been defined by steady progress. For the most part, this team has been making the right decisions and playing smart football. They know their strengths and also know their limitations.
‘We took the right decisions all the time against Galway,’ Kelly points out.
‘When we had the wind in the second half, we could have come out and took shots from everywhere and anywhere. But we didn’t. We worked the ball in, made sure that we were in front of their goal. We always took the right option.’