Eoin Kelly's All-Ireland final acceptance speech 2010

HE didn't script it, it just came blurting out, that line about sinking ships.
About the only time Eoin Kelly put any thought into his All-Ireland-winning speech was the night before the final itself as he rested against the headboard of his bed at home, pen and paper in hand, and set a few ground rules for himself.
One: he was only going to allot a few minutes to this lark.
Two: there was no one in the backroom team that he was going to leave out.
Three: anything after that would be all off the cuff.
When the group met up on Sunday morning, he handed his slip of paper to kitman Johnny 'Hotpoint' Hayes with his list of names and cúpla focal salutation above it. "There, Johnny, will you hang on to that in case we need it afterwards."
Yet after Hotpoint handed it back to him on the steps of the Hogan Stand, out it still gushed. "He came in when this ship was sinking, but by God is this ship sailing today, all the way from Portroe! Our Messiah, our leader, Liam Sheedy!"
Even the most reserved of Tipperary fans revelled in that passage of Kelly's stirring address, not only because it was a succinct acknowledgement of Sheedy's achievement, but because they interpreted it as a subtle yet unmistakable swing of the elbow aimed at Babs Keating who had relentlessly thrown digs at Sheedy throughout Sheedy's tenure and had clashed with Kelly in his own previous stint as team manager.
"I'll tell you the God's honest truth and I'd put my hand on my grandmother's grave, there were no arrows being shot anywhere that day. All I was trying to say was I couldn't compliment the four boys [Sheedy, Michael Ryan, Eamonn O'Shea and Cian O'Neill] enough for what they had done for us. I had no intentions of having a dig at anyone, and I mean that."
Yet, the fact remains, it did come gushing out. Something within him couldn't help itself, painting a vivid contrast between the set-up Sheedy inherited and the one he established. And Kelly will accept, for years there, including - especially including - 2007, Tipp were at nothing when they had the talent to do so much.
Kelly always seemed to be able to set the right tone and say the right thing at the right time, being able to gauge when to lighten the mood too; he's known within the panel to be able to do a mean Pat Shortt impersonation. In public and with the media he desists from treating us to such entertainment, but while he's more guarded and polished than say a Shane McGrath would be, there's something very personable about him. Throughout an interview he'll regularly ask for your view on things, a practice, friends have noticed, he'll carry out in any form of conversation. As one observes, "He'll join your company and it's not a case of 'Look at me', but 'Look, how are you?'" He's similarly unassuming within the team. No longer are Tipp over-dependent on him for scores and while he remains a star, the real star is the team and Kelly is mindful and willing to put in his shift for it. For all his renowned flair, fire is what his game is built on.
"Working up close with him, I couldn't get over the man's ability to scrape for and win dirty hard ball," says Michael Ryan. Like Michael Jordan once he hit his 30s, Kelly has had to evolve through the years and the injuries to offset any slippage in his explosiveness.
"My game has changed because hurling has changed," nods Kelly. "One night in training, Declan Ryan said to us he couldn't get over the hits that are going in these days, even from when he was over the minors in '07, never mind when he was playing. There are more injuries than ever before now and you can see. You look at years like '02, '03, '04, '05, '06; it was nearly one on one, lads tussling for the ball, whereas now there'll be three lads straight away descending upon on you, and you can't get the ball out. The way I've adapted is to get rid of it quicker and bulk up in the gym and take the hits.
"My intensity in training has gone way up. Kilkenny raised the bar and we had to meet it. If you don't bring work-rate you're only fulfilling a fixture. You stick your head in over any wall it's the same thing; Clare and Limerick in the Division Two league final; fellas hunting in packs. You have to train for the hits in training, in 2 v 2 games, 3 v 3 games.
"But I don't mind that. There's nothing as nice as seeing a forward throwing his head in for a block and breaking it down and maybe kicking it on with his feet, and another lad picking it up and putting it over the bar. Those kinds of scores, what they do for the crowd, what they do for the team, is massive altogether."
So is what Eoin Kelly continues to do for Tipperary. With him on board their boat won't be sinking anytime soon.