Kelly is honoured to manage a county of Tipp’s stature

By Shane Brophy

Kelly is a strong family name in Tipperary, but no family strings were at play for Paul Kelly when he was approached to become the county’s new senior football manager.

Having had a strong CV in the club game in his native Dublin and Kildare, this is the Thomas Davis clubman’s first sojourn into the inter-county game as a manager, having previously worked with Wicklow in a backroom capacity last year. But when the approach came from Tipperary, he was excited by the challenge.

“I love being involved in football,” he began.

“And when Conor (O’Dwyer) called me and asked me if I would be interested in the Tipperary position, without hesitation I said would like to meet himself and Fearghal (McDonnell) and then ultimately and collectively we made it happen.

“I am delighted to be here, there is a lot of talent in Tipperary. Tipperary and Dublin had had the odd battle as we know.

“It is an honour to be engaged with any county with the stature and presence in the GAA of Tipperary.”

He succeeds Tipperary’s most successful manager in David Power, but at a time when expectations in the county are at their lowest since the underage revolution of over a decade ago where the Premier County were beating Kerry and Cork on a regular basis, translated into a senior Munster title and two All-Ireland semi-final appearances. Tipperary were also one kick of a ball away from playing division 1 football but now find themselves back in division 4 for the second time in three years.

With Kelly’s appointment only confirmed in early November, he missed a lot of opportunities to scout players and was forced to lean heavily on Tipperary-based selectors Michael O’Sullivan and Paul Fitzgerald in terms of which players to approach to come into the squad.

“I would have known a couple of the lads through my own sons university career, a couple of the guys would have played in the Sigerson group with him,” Kelly added.

“I know how good they are, and obviously a number of other lads that anybody involved in football at a reasonably elite level would be aware of.

“What we have seen since we have gone in and worked with Michael (O’Sullivan), Paul (Fitzgerald) and the county board would only give you great heart that as we move forward there is plenty of young talent there as was shown against Limerick and Kerry, with quite a number of clubs represented, and quite a lot of new players as well.

“We are trying to slowly build a culture for the group and then hopefully develop that group and make it bigger as time goes on.”

In Paul Kelly’s post-match comments following the McGrath Cup games against Kerry and Limerick, the word “culture” has come up a lot in terms of formulating an ethos he made successful at club level with both his native Thomas Davis, and Naas in Kildare.

“There are a number of facets we are discussing as a group and trying to evolve,” he said.

“Fundamentally it is down to a position of team where together everyone achieves more. The underlying characteristics that bring that team together we are trying to evolve within the group.”

He added: “I have a philosophy on football, I like to play a style of football that players enjoy playing, I enjoy watching, and I hope others enjoy watching.

“But to do that and to mould a style you obviously have to look at the players you have and evolve with them, and at the same time keep an eye on the opposition so from time to time you have to play in different ways so that is what we are trying to bring forward.

“You don’t spend five or six nights a week training not to go out to enjoy it and express yourself, but at the same time none of us can be naïve enough to ignore the current patterns of play so sometimes you will have to play that way and others you can be more adventurous.”

Paul Kelly is not one for putting the cart before the horse and being one of the two teams relegated from division 3 last year, Tipp will be immediately favoured for a quick exit from division 4, as they did in 2022 but sport is not decided on paper.

“Sport can be cruel as much as it can enjoyable so nobody can look beyond more than one game at a time” Kelly said.

“We are only looking at Carlow this weekend and generating a performance, and then seeing where that gets us.”