All told, Kelly’s first half was quietly efficient, without the fireworks. They would come later.
It would be excessive to say that Tony Kelly gave his greatest display yet in the All-Ireland final - but it was certainly his most important. His tally of 1-4 was exceptional given that he played the majority of the game at midfield, yet there was something of a slow-burning feel to his influence on the game.
O’Mahony, meanwhile, made another telling contribution in the seventh minute when effecting a hook on David Fitzgerald which caused the Clare wing-forward to miscue a point effort but while the Cork man’s contribution to the game tended to come in bursts, Kelly’s was more steady without being spectacular, until around the midway point of the second half.
Kelly, for his part, picked up a couple of breaks, one of which he fed to his goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan, who placed Fitzgerald for a 22nd minute point, Clare’s fourth on the trot with the momentum of the game flowing very much in their favour now. Sean O’Donoghue was advancing to cut down the shooting angle but Kelly just flipped the ball over him, killed it on his stick when he came around the other side and scooped it past Patrick Collins. Somehow, Downey’s goal had been bettered.
Kelly tagged on two more points in the first half of extra time, the first after a sharp one-two with Aidan McCarthy from a sideline ball. From a narrow angle tight on the Cusack Stand sideline, he split the posts.
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