Kelly only focused on latest Jubilee Cup bid

SHC FINAL

TOM GANNON

Darragh Kelly was man of the match in Ratoath’s SHC semi-final victory over Kilmessan. The dual player has been excelling on the hurling pitch this year and has solidified his role as a leader at centre-back.

Kelly has been a regular for the Ratoath hurlers for quite some time now and he will be hoping he can play a big role in bringing SHC success back to Ratoath for the first time in over 60 years.

Commenting on Ratoath’s route to the final, Kelly makes the point that in the past Ratoath have taken both available paths to the finale and it has never worked out. However, he does suggest that work done by the players during their ‘week off’ may prove to be crucial.

“We have gone both routes in the past. We have had to go the quarter-final route, we’ve done the direct to the semi-final route before as well. In years gone by it hasn’t worked for us either way because we haven’t won it out," said Kelly.

"This year, even though we were still in the football, we took that week off as a hurling week. We took it seriously and we went and played a friendly. We didn’t take the foot off the pedal. Our S&C coach, Ciaran McDonagh, certainly didn’t ease up that week anyways. We’ll see if it pays off in two weeks time.”

Kelly admits that from time to time he is haunted by memories of final defeats in the past. He explains how bumping up against the same teams time and time again hasn’t helped his attempts to bury those memories. However, Kelly is adamant that everyone has their full focus on their individual match ups ahead of this year's final.

“The final defeats of the past are a tricky one. You try to bury them memories, but at the business end of the championship we are coming up against the same teams every year. It just keeps creeping up," he said.

"We know the lads on the other teams really well, we see them out and about. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is, whether to keep trying to bury it or try to use it.

"As players we just have to leave that behind us and focus on ourselves until the final. When you are coming up against players like James Toher and James Murray, you have enough to be worrying about without thinking about the past.”

Kelly has also been involved with the Ratoath footballers that have had so much success over the last five or six years. He explained how he thinks that the earlier-than-usual exit from the SFC has helped the dual stars be better prepared for this year’s hurling showdown.

“The fact that we got knocked out in the quarter-final of the football, probably makes our preparation for this year a bit different than in years gone by. We have longer than we usually would to concentrate on the hurling and that’s something that we haven’t had in the past. In general, that’s a good thing, but we will wait and see.”

Kelly references the fact that Ratoath have always been quite confident heading into previous SHC finals. He explains how nothing has changed in that regard and that they are ready to go to battle on the day.

“Our confidence levels are any different than in years gone by. We are confident in our own ability that we can get over the line and win a senior final, but we said that in years gone by and it didn’t work out. We won't be changing much in terms of how we’ve approached senior finals in the past. We’ll be full of confidence going in and ready to go to battle,” concluded the Ratoath stalwart.