Paddy Kelly And the Laois connection both as a player and manager In another time, another place, Paddy Kelly could be the proud possessor of a handful of All-Ireland Senior medals. He played ten years for Laois and while the midlanders occasionally threatened to break the monopoly of the Kilkenny's, Offaly's and Wexford's they never quite had enough to take the Leinster title and go on and win the McCarthy Cup. Kelly played in the forwards for most of his inter-county career and showed the awareness and skill which would have gained his selection on any of the top teams in Leinster. Reflecting on it now Paddy, however, has few regrets about his career with his native county but he firmly believes Laois had the talent to travel far. "There is no doubt the talent was there in my years with the team. There were some fine players on the Laois team, fine individuals but somehow we just didn't get together as a team or play as a unit. And there always seemed to be an extra psychological barrier for teams to get over. Maybe the belief wasn't there." These days Paddy runs Kellys Cash and Carry and Hardware in Man Street, Rathdowny, a business he set up in 1975. His love for hurling remains as strong as ever only now he takes a much more detached role from the game, far more removed than he was accustomed to for most of his long career. "My involvement now is fairly limited. I am on a committee here in Rathdowney which is reviewing the state of hurling in the club and we are looking at ways to improve it," he explains. Brought up in the sixties in nearby Borris in Ossory Paddy played for the local club at underage level, moving up through the grades until he graduated onto the Senior team. The county selectors were soon making contact and he received the call up for the O'Moore County Minor and Under 21 panels. At 19 Kelly played his first game for the Laois Seniors, coming on as a sub against neighbours Offaly in the National Hurling League. "I was introduced into the game and I remember I was marking Paddy Spellman who was a tricky opponent, a very good player. That was in 1968. There always great rivalry between Offaly and Laois and it was no different then," says Paddy who went on to win an All-Ireland 'B' medal with Laois in 1971. Since winning their last Leinster Senior title in 1949 Laois have flattered to deceive, often causing a shock or two at the early stages of the Championship, only to leave their best form behind them when it came to the big occasion. However, hurling tradition is as strong in the Queens county as most other places. In 1914 and 1915 the midlanders picked up two successive Leinster titles and frequently appeared in the final up to the 1960's As a player Paddy Kelly remembers the times when Laois almost broke the mould and made it into the big time. "In 1972 we made it into the Leinster semi-final and we were only narrowly beaten by Kilkenny who went on to win the All-Ireland. We had a very good team in those days. The same year our own club won the county Championship. Unfortunately it turned out to be the only time I won a Senior title with Borris in Ossory." Kelly had started his career with Laois playing as a defender but soon moved to the forwards in what turned out to be a very successful change for the player and the team. "Playing as a back was great if you could manage to keep your opponent scoreless. But against people like Mick Birmingham or Mick Brennan it was very hard to keep them from getting on the scoreboard at some stage. Playing in the forwards was a lot different yet I loved playing there, I found it much more enjoyable." The years moved on and after one Championship game in the late '70's when Laois lost to Dublin, Kelly decided to call it a day. "I decided I would have to leave it at that. I was approaching thirty, I had a young family and the business was getting bigger. For the previous twelve and fifteen years I had gone two nights a week training and playing a game most Sundays. I had enjoyed my time with Laois though. It was good to get the opportunity to play against some of the top hurlers in the country. My time as a Laois player finished then but I ended up playing with the club for a few more years." To keep himself fit, Paddy later turned to rugby and excelled in the game appearing eight times for the Leinster Junior team during his early and mid thirties. Throughout his hurling career, he has also shown himself to be a top class athlete winning seventeen county championships as a sprinter. Throughout his long career with Borris in Ossory Paddy enjoyed reasonable success, winning most honours the local scene had to offer, including Under 21, Senior, Junior Championships as well as a Brady Cup medal. He was still appearing in the Borris colours when he embarked on what turned out to be a full and eventful coaching career. The Rathdowney based businessman enjoyed the challenge of taking over a team and moulding them into a strong unit, breathing life into tactics and expressing his ideas on how hurling should be played. There was nothing to replace the buzz of playing but coaching and training teams came a very, very close second. "When I gave up playing I started training the Borris in Ossory Minor team, then the Under 21s and after that the Seniors. It was something I enjoyed." It was also a job Paddy clearly had an aptitude for and he had a high success rate. Having shown he could hack it at club level as a coach he was asked to take over the Laois Under 21s and later the Seniors. "I had started coaching in the first place as a way of compensation for not playing but it took off from there and one thing just led to another. I stayed for two years as the Under 21 manager and after that I was asked to take the Laois Senior team." The Borris in Ossary man stayed in charge of the Seniors for just over two and a half years, leading them into two Championship campaigns. "In 1989 we defeated a Dublin team who were highly regarded and expected to go far. Some people were saying they could go on to win the Leinster that year. We then defeated Antrim and Tipperary in tournament games and they later played in the All-Ireland final. Once again we just failed to perform on the day", he recalls. As a coach Paddy learned a great deal about himself and the game. "I had always maintained there are two types of player, the class player who has all the skills and the hard grafter who will keep running all day long. My ideal combination would be to have two hard grafters and a skillful player on each line but if course this is not always possible. It is difficult to find the right combination and if it ever came down to having to choose between one or the other I would go for the hard grafter. He would be I think, more useful to the team in the long run. I have seen too many skillful players who promised a lot but who failed to deliver on the big occasion." Having played hurling at the highest level and coached teams in just about every grade Kelly is well aware of the importance of a strong mental attitude and firm believer in ones own ability. "In the end an awful lot depends on the mental attitude of an individual and the team as a unit. A game can be very like psychological warfare between you and your opponent and any team I am over I like to see lads who don't shy away from a challenge and who are able to deal with any situation," adds Paddy who recently spent a successful spell coaching in the US. In recent years Paddy has seen the introducing and scrapping of various rules designed to "improve" hurling. But he has developed a hearty scepticism towards these changes and feels the less interference the better. "When I was manager of the Laois team I saw new rules brought in for the League which were changed again for Championship and chopping and changing often served to confuse the players. The game need very little changes as it is," he says. As regards coaching the former Laois boss would like to see a shift in emphasis. "There seems to be too much concentration on a player fitness and not enough on skills. Fitness is important but it is not everything, especially at youth and school level. To do any job properly you have to master the basic skills first. It is the same with hurling. There also needs to be more hurling games in each county. If you play other sports like soccer, you would be guaranteed a match every weekend during the season but it is not like that in the GAA. Fixtures also should be adhered to except in exceptional circumstances." Married to Cindy with three children Ray, Sandra and Patrick, Paddy Kelly has a rich pedigree in hurling. His uncle also played for Laois, Leinster and represented Ireland in the Tailteann Games. Paddy himself has a long and eventful career to look back on. A career any player from Kilkenny, Offaly or Wexford would be proud of. Written by the Hogan Stand Magazine. 16th Oct 1994 Tweet

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