*Paddy Purcell and Stephen Kelly celebrate. Photograph: Joe Buckley
COMETH THE HOUR, cometh the man or so said Stephen Kelly as he stepped up with the winning penalty to see Newmarket Celtic crowned FAI Junior Cup champions for the first time in their history.
Approaching the final ten minutes of normal time with Celtic tied 1-1 with St Michael’s, a smell of deep heat wafted from the Newmarket dugout, it could mean only one thing, the introduction of Stephen Kelly was imminent, “an all too familiar smell to us,” the towering centre-half remarked when it was put to him.
When brought into the fray, he added stability and huge power to his headers to divert any danger that came his way.
Having struggled with injuries, Kelly only returned to the Celtic fold after Christmas and played his first game of the season in March. Less than two months later, he would have a decisive role to play in creating history for the Clare club.
“It’s eight or ten weeks since I’m back, it was a big call by Paddy really to bring me back in around the group, I was never supposed to play, it was only for a bit of experience and bit of presence around the dressing room to help out a few of the younger lads but they trusted me and I’m just so happy for the lads that they got over the line and that I could contribute some bit to them and what they had already achieved by the time I came back in,” Stephen told The Clare Echo.
Nerves are never associated with the confident Kelly, therefore it was not surprising that Purcell and his management team trusted him with spot kick number five. “Never in doubt as I always say,” he quipped of getting the nod.
He added, “When you’re hitting the last penalty, it’s all the glory and you get the opportunity to be the hero, if you miss a penalty it doesn’t matter, you just step up and hit it, there’s no blame, there was a little bit more pressure with that penalty than one I’ve hit before but I always try to be a cool character”.
Their success sees them become the first Clare club to win the title and they join many esteemed clubs in tasting such glory. “Hayzo touched on it in his speech, we’ve so much respect for St Michael’s, their players, their management and how they operate, they set the standard and everyone else has to catch them, we’re happy to be sitting at the top table with them now, hopefully we can continue this and see where it brings us”.
A Munster Junior Cup is the next silverware on offer when they face Regional Utd in the decider and they must grab this chance, he stressed. “Opportunities like this don’t come around too often so the lads will regroup, we’ve to be selfish and go for both”.
For now, the focus is on absorbing their latest success, something that will take time to fully appreciate. “It hasn’t settled, meeting everyone around the pitch is great, it will be next week or the week after when everything dies down that you will just go ‘that was pretty unbelievable’”.
