Bigger stage to suit outstanding minor

Last July, word got out that Tipperary hurling manager Nicky English had called up a minor player to join the senior panel. Few people needed an introduction. Eoin Kelly already had the reputation to make him the obvious candidate.

Kelly had started on the minor panel at 15 and during his four-year service he had helped the county win two Munster titles. At 17, he was on the Tipperary under-21 side that won the Munster title. And last year he was the key figure as St Kieran's, Kilkenny won the All-Ireland Colleges hurling title.

No great surprise then that English wanted to have the services of this young player. No great surprise either that when Tipperary were locked with Galway in the closing stages of the All-Ireland quarter-final, English looked to Kelly to try to help break the opposition.

Still a few weeks short of his 19th birthday, Kelly has no hesitation in choosing the colleges victory as the highlight of the last year. "We had lost to St Flannan's the year before," he says, "and the chance to play them again couldn't come around fast enough. Overall, though, I would say the last year was a little disappointing on the club and county scene, except of course that I made the senior panel for the first time."

The season before he had got used to bringing home some silverware to Tipperary - failing to win the All-Ireland minor title at the final stage. And while in the summer just past Tipperary made early exits in both the minor and under-21 championship, the place on the senior panel offers some consolation.

"I had got the call to join training the week before the Munster final against Cork, more or less to make up the numbers. And I was certainly surprised to be brought on for the quarter-final against Galway. I didn't really have time to get nervous about it."

He came in at a crucial time. With 10 minutes remaining, Tipperary were still level. Then Galway pulled two points ahead. From the restart, Eugene O'Neill squared a ball for Kelly and with nearly his first touch, he lobbed the point which left the minimum between them. But Galway claimed the decisive score and went on to the All-Ireland semi-final.

"That was an experience which hopefully will stand to me. I remember the first time I trained with the senior panel I was a little bit daunted, and you start looking around the place a little bit. But you just get on with the job."

He was already familiar with a number of players around him. Mullinahone clubmates John Leahy and Brian O'Meara had long been idols of his, and he also knew fellow under-21 players John Carroll and Eugene O'Neill. But Leahy had always been the one player he would try to imitate.

His family have also been a big influence on his game. His father has long been involved with Mullinahone and has managed various teams, and it was there that the young Kelly first earned county final honours with the club's under-12 side.

When he was first called into the Tipperary minor panel he played in goal, but he was soon moved out the field, and is now equally comfortable in either the full-forward or half-forward line. He can tune his radar to the goalposts from any angle, and sublime could have been a word invented to describe his hurling stroke.

"Well I like to have a crack, and I like to score. But that's just an instinct that any forward will have. I mean if you don't score then you're not doing your job right. And you have to believe in yourself. There is a lot of great talent around the county now, and you're only as good as your last game, no doubt about it."

In the year ahead he hopes to make further progress with the senior panel. He also has three years ahead with the under-21 side, with the ambition there to win at least one Munster and All-Ireland title. Kelly ended last year on a winning note by helping Mullinahone claim the intermediate county football title two weeks before Christmas. "That was a nice bonus after we got knocked out of the hurling championship. But it was only a distraction. I'm definitely concentrating full-time on the hurling."