Eoin Kelly (Waterford hurler)

{{Infobox Gaelic games player

| code= Hurling

| sport = Hurling

| image =

| name = Eoin Kelly

| irish = Eoin Ó Ceallaigh

| fullname = Eoin Kelly

| feet =6

|inches=2

| nickname =

| county = Waterford

| province = Munster

| club = Passage

| clposition = Forward

| clubs = Mount Sion
Passage

| clyears = 1999-2006
2007-present

| clapps(points) =

| clcounty = 5

| clprovince= 1

| clallireland =

| counties = Waterford

| icposition = Full-forward

| icyears = 2001-2012

| icapps(points) = 46 (14-190)

| icprovince = 4

| icallireland = 0

| nhl = 1

| allstars =2

| clupdate=

| icupdate= 22:59, 31 August 2012

| birth_date={{Birth date and age|1982|9|24|df=yes}}

| birth_place=Waterford, Ireland

}}

Eoin Kelly (born 24 September 1982) is an Irish hurler who played as a full-forward at senior level for the waterford county team. He joined the team in 2001 and was a regular member of the starting fifteen until his retirement in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/deise-star-kelly-calls-it-a-day-565131.html|title=Déise star Kelly calls it a day|publisher=Irish Examiner|date=31 August 2012|access-date=31 August 2012}}

Kelly is one of Waterford's top championship scorers of all-time. He has won four Munster winners' medals and one National League winners' medal. He ended up as an All-Ireland runner-up on one occasion.

At club level Kelly is a Munster medalist with Mount Sion. In addition to this he has also won five county club championship medals. He currently plays club hurling with Passage.

Kelly has a number of personal achievements. He has won two All-Star awards and was included on the GPA Gaelic Team of the Year in 2008. That same year he was one of three nominees for Hurler of the Year.{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/football/2008/0930/238881-playeroftheyear/|title=GAA Player of the Year nominees revealed|publisher=RTÉ Sport|date=30 September 2008|access-date=31 August 2012}}

Playing career

=Club=

Kelly plays his club hurling with Passage, however, it was with the Mount Sion club in Waterford city that he enjoyed his greatest success.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

In 1999 Kelly was still a minor when he lined out in his first county club championship. As reigning champions Mount Sion surrendered their title to Ballygunner.

The club were back the following year to exact revenge. A 1-20 to 0-9 defeat of Ballygunner gave Kelly a first county championship medal.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/browne-leads-his-mount-back-to-top-366803.html|title=Browne leads his Mount back to top|publisher=Irish Independent|access-date=2 August 2012|date=4 September 2000|first=Matt|last=Dickinson}}

Mount Sion surrendered their club title in 2001, however, Kelly's side were back in the final again in 2002. A 1-19 to 2-14 defeat of Ballygunner secured the championship once again.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/mcgrath-masters-lead-sion-to-promised-land-288280.html|title=McGrath masters lead Sion to promised land|publisher=Irish Independent|access-date=2 August 2012|date=7 October 2000|first=Paddy|last=Hickey}} It was the first of three county final victories in-a-row over Ballygunner.{{cite news|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/Waterford/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=29876|title=McGrath goal sets a record|publisher=Hogan Stand website|access-date=2 August 2012|date=9 November 2003}}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/marvellous-mounts-three-on-the-bounce-a-sion-of-their-recent-times-149200.html|title=Marvellous Mount's three on the bounce a Sion of their recent times|publisher=Irish Independent|access-date=2 August 2012|date=11 October 2004|first=Shane|last=Scanlan}}

In 2002 Kelly won a Munster club medal as Mount Sion defeated Sixmilebridge to take the title.{{cite news|url=http://www.hoganstand.com/Waterford/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=29926|title=Mount Sion are champs of Munster|publisher=Hogan Stand website|access-date=2 August 2012|date=2 December 2002}} The club was defeated in the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final.

Four club titles in-a-row proved beyond Mount Sion, however, the club bounced back in 2006 with Kelly winning a fifth county championship medal following a seven-point defeat of Ballygunner.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/mcgraths-fire-sion-to-victory-over-gunners-74620.html|title=McGraths fire Sion to victory over Gunners|publisher=Irish Independent|access-date=2 August 2012|date=23 October 2006|first=Adrian|last=Flanagan}}

By 2007 Kelly was playing with Passage. In his debut year with the team he captured a county intermediate championship medal following a 2-16 to 1-13 defeat of Dungarvan.{{cite news|url=http://www.munster-express.ie/sports/gaa-hurling/passage-the-victors-in-epic-intermediate-final/|title=Passage the victors in epic intermediate final|publisher=The Munster Express|access-date=31 August 2012|date=29 November 2007}}

=Inter-county=

Kelly joined the Waterford senior team during the 2001 National Hurling when he started in a group stage game against Derry, however, he played no part in the subsequent championship.

The following year Kelly made his championship debut in a Munster semi-final victory over Cork. He later claimed his first Munster winners' medal as Waterford defeated Tipperary by 2-23 to 3-12 to claim the provincial crown for the first time in thirty-nine years.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/waterford-wonders-whip-tipp-with-awesome-display-298042.html|title=Waterford wonders whip Tipp with awesome display|publisher=Irish Independent|access-date=2 August 2012|date=1 July 2002|first=Martin|last=Breheny}}

After surrendering the Munster title to Cork in 2003, Kelly's side were back in the provincial showpiece for a third successive year in 2004. In the Munster final, Waterford defeated Cork for the first time in forty-five years to take the title by 3-16 to 1-21.

In 2007 Kelly added a National Hurling League medal to his collection when Waterford defeated Kilkenny by 0-20 to 0-18 in the final.{{cite news|url=http://www.munster-express.ie/sports/gaa-hurling/waterford-end-44-year-faminewith-national-league-title/|title=Waterford end 44-year faminewith National League title|publisher=Munster Express|access-date=2 August 2012|date=4 May 2007|first=Martin|last=Breheny}} He later claimed a third Munster winners' medal as Waterford defeated Limerick by 3-17 to 1-14 in the provincial decider.{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/dynamic-dan-adds-some-extra-dash-for-the-dise-995588.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904121742/http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/dynamic-dan-adds-some-extra-dash-for-the-dise-995588.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 September 2012 |title=Dynamic Dan adds some extra dash for the Déise |publisher=Irish Independent |access-date=2 August 2012 |date=9 July 2007 |first=Martin |last=Breheny }} While Waterford were viewed as possibly going on and winning the All-Ireland title for the first time in almost half a century, Limerick ambushed Kelly's side in the All-Ireland semi-final.

2008 began poorly for Waterford as the team lost their opening game to Clare as well as their manager Justin McCarthy. In spite of this poor start Kelly's side reached the All-Ireland final for the first time in forty-five years. Kilkenny provided the opposition and went on to defeat Waterford by 3-30 to 1-13 to claim a third All-Ireland title in-a-row.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/hurling/2008/0907/237822-kilkenny_waterford/|title=RTÉ Sport: Kilkenny 3-30 Waterford 1-13|publisher=RTÉ Sport|access-date=2 August 2012|date=8 September 2008}}

Kelly lined out in a sixth Munster final in 2010 with Cork providing the opposition. A 2-15 apiece draw was the result on that occasion, however, Waterford went on to win the replay after an extra-time goal by Dan Shanahan. It was a fourth Munster winners' medal for Kelly, a record that he shares with five other Waterford players.

At the start of 2012 Kelly was dropped from the Waterford panel by new manager Michael Ryan. It was claimed that his fitness and commitment to the squad did not meet the requirements of the new management team.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2012/0103/kellye_waterford.html |title=Kelly dropped from Waterford squad |date=3 January 2012 |work=RTÉ Sport |access-date=5 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108090625/http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2012/0103/kellye_waterford.html |archive-date= 8 January 2012 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2012/0105/kellye.html |title=Ryan says Kelly was dropped over fitness |date=5 January 2012 |work=RTÉ Sport |access-date=5 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109073737/http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2012/0105/kellye.html |archive-date= 9 January 2012 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/waterford-drop-kelly-2978895.html|title=Waterford drop Kelly|date=4 January 2012|work=Irish Independent|access-date=5 January 2012}} After a period in exile Kelly returned to the panel for the latter stages of the National League.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/hurling/2012/0320/313139-kelly-is-back-in-the-waterford-fold/|title=Kelly and Mullane return to training with Waterford|publisher=RTÉ Sport|access-date=1 September 2012|date=20 March 2012}} The year eventually ended without any silverware for Waterford and Kelly decided to retire from inter-county hurling.

=Inter-provincial=

Kelly was a regular on the Munster team during numerous campaigns in the Interprovincial Championship. He captured two winners' medals in this competition.{{cite news|url=http://munster.gaa.ie/history/railway-cup-hurling/|title=Railway Cup Hurling|publisher=Munster GAA website|access-date=1 September 2012}}

Career statistics

rowspan="2"\|Team !rowspan="2"\|Year !colspan="3"\|National League !colspan="2"\|Munster !colspan="2"\|All-Ireland !colspan="2"\|Total
class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
Division	Apps	Score	Apps	Score	Apps	Score	Apps	Score
rowspan="12"\|Waterford \|2001 \|rowspan="1"\|Division 1B \|3	0-01	0	0-00	0	0-00	3	0-01
2002 \|rowspan="7"\|Division 1A \|2	0-01	2	0-03	1	0-04	5	0-08
2003 \|4	3-10	4	0-07	1	0-00	9	3-17
2004 \|6	0-10	3	1-11	1	0-01	10	1-22
2005 \|8	2-37	1	0-06	4	0-06	13	2-49
2006 \|5	0-15	0	0-00	4	1-10	9	1-25
2007 \|8	1-61	2	1-09	3	0-11	13	2-81
2008 \|6	2-29	0	0-00	5	7-43	11	9-72
2009 \|rowspan="3"\|Division 1 \|6	2-30	3	1-25	2	1-21	11	4-76
2010 \|5	4-47	3	1-22	1	0-05	9	5-74
2011 \|3	0-00	2	0-00	2	0-04	7	0-04
2012 \|rowspan="1"\|Division 1A \|2	0-01	2	1-01	0	0-00	4	1-01
colspan="3"\|Total \|58\|\|14-242\|\|22\|\|5-84\|\|24\|\|9-76\|\|104\|\|28-402