John O’Dowd

NOEL Kennelly was the ultimate child prodigy. On the Listowel Emmets senior team at 15 years of age. A Kerry minor for two years. A Kerry under-21 for a phenomenal four campaigns, including All-Ireland glory in 1998. Winning his first All-Ireland senior medal in 2000 aged just 20.

For the Listowel Emmets man twenty years ago, the footballing world was his oyster. But, in a salutary lesson for any up and coming sporting talents today, not withstanding the massive improvements in player welfare and medical science, there is always that danger of being pushed to the well too often with such a young and still developing body.

Kennelly knows all about the highs of glory days in Croke Park wearing the green and gold jersey, but he is also fully aware of the injury problems that bedevilled his career, eventually culminating in an early conclusion to his inter-county life with Kerry when he was only 25.

Let’s start with the good days first. His breakthrough year of 2000, where Páidí Ó Sé’s men ended up involved in four titanic battles with Armagh and Galway before Sam Maguire found its way home to Kerry.

“In hindsight, looking back on it now, my age probably helped me that time. The younger you are, these things don’t faze you,” he said.

“There’s no expectations, you just go out and play the game. You don’t have any pressure on you, you’re 20 years of age, you try and make things go well. The older you get, the more pressure that you put on yourself to perform. You always think that this could be your last day out. You don’t know what’s coming down the track.

“It was a strange year. I don’t think we played Cork in Munster. We played Clare in the Munster Final and then it was straight into the semi-final. They were rebuilding Croke Park at the time, the Hogan Stand side.

“The two games against Armagh could have went either way, any day. Maurice [Fitz] came on and buried a goal the first day and kicked the equaliser I think. He rescued us.

“Then the final, the first day, we were out the gap but Galway came back and, if I remember right, Derek Savage took a shot off his right leg, when he would be naturally left-footed, and all he had to do was pop the ball out to Padraic Joyce and he would have put it over the bar, and Galway would be All-Ireland champions.

“The second day out, we just got on top of them and got over the line. I was taken off early in that game, about 25 or 30 minutes, my man had scored a goal. Declan Meehan, he was quick and fast, and maybe my naivety came into it.

“Drawn games and replays can be very different. That’s where I think I got found out. I reckoned I had his number the first day and I thought I would have his number the second day, but he just brought a different element to it, and I wasn’t expecting it.

“At 20 years of age, that’s what probably happened. I learned afterwards that what works the first day is not necessarily going to work the second day.”

Did being taken off in the first half lead to mixed emotions that night, despite Kerry’s victory?

“Not really, being honest. To win an All-Ireland medal, we were training twelve months for this, we had gone through the muck and the shit and the whole lot. I had played every game.

“I wasn’t fully fit either, I was carrying a bit of a hamstring at the time. I probably wouldn’t have lasted the game anyway. I probably would have liked to have played on. I got a point after he scored his goal, and I was trying to come around back into it, but no, the joy of winning your first All-Ireland senior medal would overshadow everything.”

Fast forward to 2002 and Osteitis Pubis – a painful chronic overuse condition affecting the pubic symphysis and surrounding soft tissues. It is characterised by lower abdominal and pelvic pain.

“It was the day of Ireland and Spain in the World Cup and I played the Munster Final against Cork in Killarney. I couldn’t actually kick the ball that day with the pain. I handpassed every ball that day, didn’t perform and got dropped for the replay.

“I came on in the replay, did alright, we lost to Cork, played a couple of qualifier games and then the whole thing broke down. I couldn’t train. I wasn’t right for the rest of 2002.

“I eventually had to go to Australia for an operation, got that sorted in January 2003, got back playing club football in the