“He didn’t lick it off a stone” is a saying that feels particularly apt when telling the story of Loughrea manager Tommy Kelly and the GAA legacy handed down to him by his late father.
That passion was inherited and nurtured from an early age, thanks largely to his late father, Tommy Kelly Senior, a man deeply embedded in the fabric of Galway football. The younger Tommy’s earliest memories of the games and total immersion in the GAA during his youth, were weekend schedules shaped around fixtures and journeys to matches, both football and hurling.
It’s little surprise then after Kelly’s retirement as a player, he would take up inter-county backroom team roles with Dublin and Clare as well as capital club Cuala, before returning home to his native club and winning back-to-back county titles as manager and guiding them to this year’s All-Ireland decider.
A house steeped in GAA
“Dad was a huge GAA man and probably his first love was Gaelic football,” Kelly recalls ahead of upcoming All-Ireland decider. “We used to spend our summers down in Tuam where the Galway footballers were training. Dad was a selector in the ’70s and ’80s and he’d never miss a challenge match or a league game. We were always on the road at GAA matches.
“Dad would never come home from a match without a programme. We’d be looking at who was playing, who was dropped, who was moved around. Dad had a great memory — you could ask him who played in an All-Ireland final in 1942 and he’d tell you.”
Tommy Senior was born in Kildare and played football with Westmeath before moving to Loughrea in the 60s, where he became deeply involved in Galway Gaelic football, to which he gave 40 years of service.
Despite his father’s influence, by simply living in Loughrea, hurling was always likely to be the number one sport. “Hurling was always my first love,” Tommy Junior admits, despite enjoying underage success in both codes. That devotion now sees him preparing Loughrea to face one of the most formidable outfits in the country, Ballygunner.
For Kelly, the significance of the occasion is heightened by experience. He was part of the panel in 2007 when Loughrea first reached an All-Ireland final, before coming up short against Kilkenny’s competition kingpins Ballyhale Shamrocks.
“It was a great honour to be there at the time,” he says. “Everything was new and exciting. I just hope we can bring that bit of experience from our management team this time around and focus more on the match itself — the most important part.”
That focus is underpinned by a squad ethos he is visibly proud of. Kelly is quick to point out that Loughrea’s journey has not been driven solely by those who take the field on match day.
“I want to compliment all the guys from number 37 all the way down,” he says. “There are lads who don’t get the limelight or the credit, but without them we’d have achieved nothing. If a guy isn’t picked or isn’t called off the bench, he’s still coming out with his head up and chest out. They’re driving this.”
The sense of unity extends far beyond the playing pool. In the weeks since their county final success, Loughrea has been gripped by a collective energy, from underage coaches to the youngest supporters.
“It’s one big coming together,” Kelly explains. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the club as together as we are now. We had a couple of training sessions out on the field with the kids after the county final and I think that’s helped massively.
“You’d be walking down the street and a six-year-old would come up and give you a high-five. He knows you and he’s certain I know him as well. It’s fantastic.”
Inspiration has also come from closer to home in recent weeks, with Loughrea native Therese Donohue (née Maher ) winning an All-Ireland club final at the age of 44 with her adopted club Athenry, a feat Kelly describes with genuine admiration.
“Therese is a gem,” he says. “She wasn’t waiting for time to tick by, she was waiting for the next ball. That’s the way she is and all the Mahers are. What she’s done for Galway camogie has been incredible.”
Experience, belief and the ultimate test
All of that energy and goodwill will now be tested by Ballygunner, a club universally regarded as the benchmark in Irish hurling.
“If any hurling person starts naming the best clubs in Ireland, Ballygunner are named straight away,” Kelly says. “It’s a huge challenge and it’s a great challenge. That’s what this is all about.”
As Loughrea prepare to walk out in Croke Park, they will do so carrying generations of history, a community’s belief and a love of the game that, in Tommy Kelly’s case, was passed down rather than discovered. No doubt his father will be looking on with pride on what his son and namesake has achieved since his passing in 2018.
