“There’s 24-hour debate in Moycullen on what Seán Kelly might and might not do,” confirms Paul Clancy, double All-Ireland medallist with Galway and now former chairman of Kelly’s club.
“Seán, I suppose the nature of his game, being injured on and off over the last number of years, he had a great run there for about 18 months where he was injury free and playing for us in the club and then playing for Galway.
“He’s just been unfortunate with the run of injuries that he’s had. What do you do? He’d be a huge addition to us if he can play. But with all the injuries that Galway have had, people have stepped up.”
Kelly didn’t so much as tog for the All-Ireland semi-final but such is the quality of his output when fit, it’s hard to envisage management not taking a chance and putting him on the bench for Sunday at the very least. It would add to the feeling of depth on the Galway bench, something they very clearly lacked in 2022, when they last made an All-Ireland final.
Of the 11 subs on the Galway bench for their championship opener against Mayo that year, eight of them had never played senior championship.
“When you are a spectator sometimes you look to that, ‘if we are going to win an All-Ireland we are going to need everybody,’” says Clancy.
“But I think from watching Galway against Derry and against Mayo in the Connacht final, you could really sense it was starting to roll that day and some of the lads weren’t playing that time, they were kind of injured or coming on and so a lot of the other players stepped up.
“When you analyse it they have been coming in and out all year and they are still winning games. That is why we are going in with a lot of confidence that they can, depending on how the injuries are, it is just the next people up and we can win it at the weekend as well with the 15 or 20 we need to get over the line.”
Clancy notes a change in attitude too in Galway about the team’s required style of play. His own side were among the most attractive All-Ireland winners to watch in living memory, but Clancy stresses that much of that judgment is based around famous scores rather than the complete picture of the games they played.
“It would be great if we can kind of turn the page on that 2001 team now and have a new crop of footballers who can win an All-Ireland for Galway and have their brand of football represented.”
