Front: David Kissane, Patrick O'Riordan and John Doran
Back: George McNamara, Tom Fitzmaurice, Danny Sinnott and Tom Kelly (RIP).
Tom Kelly, A Personal Tribute
By David Kissane
“It was a fair year for primroses, a better one for hay and a woeful year for funerals” John B Keane said in his short story You’re On Next Sunday. This could describe 2020. With Covid added. There have been a fair few funerals in the Ardfert Kilmoyley parish this year. One of these was last Thursday.
The first time I met Tom Kelly was in McCowen’s in Tralee. “What can I do for you?” he asked from behind his counter, a twinkle in his eye. “I’m looking for a shovel” I answered. “A shovel is a dangerous thing!” he responded with a smile before handing over a shiny Spear and Jackson. My first ever shovel and my first encounter with a man who was to become a colleague and friend in St Brendan’s AC, Ardfert Kilmoyley Community Games and St Brendan’s Hurling Club. When I told him the shovel was to be the first step in building a house in Ardfert, he became more interested. Living in Tubrid at the time and married to an O’Riordan was enough to gain the trust of Tom. And that lasted until I walked beside his coffin with a huge crowd to accompany him to his final field of dreams last Thursday.
The Kelly family were well represented on the first St Brendan’s AC committee in 1987 and were central to the graft that is necessary to construct an athletic club. Tom was elected PRO at the inaugural meeting in The Tyne Bar (now Kate Browne’s). He didn’t bother doing the weekly notes for The Kerryman to be handed in to Tadhg Kennedy on a Sunday evening. “You’re a teacher, you can do the notes this week!” he told me in his persuasive way. I ended up doing them every week! But Tom fulfilled the PRO role in the wider sense. Massive networking skills, a way with people, a keen intuitive mind and a positive rogue when he knew it would benefit the club.
The club was fieldless when it was formed. A number of options were being tossed about for a short while.
Then Tom worked his magic and the Community Council had acquired the use of Walnut Grove Field very quickly. I accompanied him as secretary of the Community Council to meet Dick Spring in Tralee and before long St Brendan’s AC had the use of the field. We had a 300m grass track to be marked out with six flags (three for each bend) which the Kelly family provided, a whistle (which Tom used as a wand) and a dream…all you need to get started. Oh, and a hundred eager youngsters whom Tom shepherded at the twice-weekly training sessions. In that field ordinary evenings became extraordinary. The athletes loved his módh díreach! They became dizzy with ambition and self-value. If an athlete wasn’t using the full range of ability, Tom would immediately make it known! You knew where you stood and how you competed. It was clear and positive.
Field evenings were held in the new premises to raise funds. Runs, jumps, throws and walks along with a whole range of novelty events. Wellington throw, three-legged race, balloon race. Peggy Geary and Tom in charge. Electric evenings. The voices of children could be heard at Tubrid Cross. One time there was a long puck competition that Tom organised (his love of hurling was primal) and there was a queue the length of Station road to take part. Another time a soccer match between the juvenile athletes and the coaches…Tom suggested we come on the field with sticks and wellingtons and to pretend we were injured. John Cleary (a relation of the Kelly family who always seemed to know when there was an event about to happen) on the camera…his photo of the massive St Brendan’s AC group in Walnut Grove Field in 1989 is still a club treasure. Tom Kelly organised that.
When I last talked to Tom Kelly in the Palliative Care Unit in UHK he talked of evenings like that with warmth. He recalled the crowded buses we took to sports, championships and Macra Field Evenings. One evening on the way to Moyvane sports we stopped in Listowel for a few minutes to check why the bus floor was rubbing off the ground. It had 95 athletes on board. Plus parents and officials. “Drive a bit slower!” Tom told the driver.
Then there was his ability to multi-task. His hurling nous played a part in being involved in the introduction of rounders to Ardfert Kilmoyley Community Games in 1988. Any athlete who was interested was encouraged to try it out. A new set of expressions were heard in Walnut Grove Field. One good, one bad. You should have run. You have to run. Home base. First base. Denis Horgan sponsored a set of tops and county finals were won. Tom’s love of (correcting) referees was experienced to the full in the Munster championships one year when a number of dubious decisions were made. The ref was a better ref after his reffing that day! Tom Kelly could dart like a scythe through summer grass. I was to discover that he had a cultured temper when it came to getting a fair deal from officialdom no matter what sport was involved. It was part of his psyche and his success.
Resourcefulness was one of his many skills. He could source materials and athletes from diverse quarters. Many athletes joined the club through his connectivity and interpersonal brilliance. He introduced the famous Casey hurling brothers to our road runs in the dark of winter nights and had them competing in St Brendan’s AC singlets before long.
One of the most delightful occasions in Tom Kelly’s career occurred in Listowel in 1987. His love of drama inspired the setting up of a variety team for Community Games. “You will write a show for the young things!” he says to me. He was wonder-working again. Minds were put together. It happened to be the centenary of Australia or something and Mary Sinnott suggested an Australian theme. No Google or internet in those days so a big search for the words of Waltzing Matilda. God there were strange words in the chorus. Somebody found a cassette of the Clancy Brothers singing “For South Australia I am bourne” and bits and pieces. Susan Geary, Tara O’Callaghan, Derek McCarthy, Áine McKenna and a team of other athletes including Tom’s daughter Lorraine turned into stage performers. None of the coaches could sing or dance but that didn’t seem to matter. “We’re flying” Tom assured us. The county final was against Ballydonoghue who were coached by Micheál Carr and had won numerous national honours. People sympathised with us before the final. Thanks for coming anyway. Maybe next year. And the winners are: Ardfert Kilmoyley! Tom Kelly jumped a new high jump record that night! The celebrations in The Tyne Bar were unheralded. Diarmaid Lawlor gave the most magical speech. We were going to Mosney. We did. We didn’t win there but had a whale of a weekend with parents and supporters booking out every accommodation available.
Tom didn’t stop there with the drama. He encouraged this writer (!) to find a play suitable for Scór. We rehearsed every night on the stage in Ardfert Community Centre where showbands had performed in the 1960s in what was then the Hilton Ballroom. We weren’t quite sure what the theme of the play was but that doesn’t matter, Tom said. The big night came. There was a scene in the play where an old woman (Tom dressed up) was to take a hanky out of her bag at a poignant moment before she cried as part of the tragedy. I was to watch her doing this to build up the dramatic quality. But instead of a hanky, Tom pulled out an old knickers from the bag and held it up for the audience to see! I mumbled something that someone who had not chosen his destination would mumble. The judges said afterwards that the play was interesting, but that it lacked direction! Well, if you’re going to lose, lose with humour!
One of Tom’s favourite sayings was “Well, my point is…” and he had an opinion on all things that mattered. All good organisers have. When I told him that I was thinking of letting my name go forward for the role of Munster PRO in the 1990s, he looked me in the eye and said “We need you here!” Unstraight question. Straight answer.
When we both handed over our roles in St Brendan’s AC and Ardfert Kilmoyley Community Games to a younger generation after ten frenzied years, Tom persuaded me to take up the role of physical trainer with St Brendan’s senior hurlers. When I informed him that was a great honour but that I wasn’t from a hurling background, all he said was “You’ll be grand!” His advice (always quietly delivered at an opportune moment after training) was incise and loaded. I saw another aspect of the diamond that was Tom Kelly during the three years we shared with Na Breandánaigh: his reading of the game, “we are not that far away from the top”, his observation of referees, his incredible energy, extraordinary enthusiasm…
There are hosts of memories of Tom Kelly. Selling dance tickets at the far side of Kilmoyley on dark nights on roads I had never before travelled. Immediately recognised he was. “We have to make a few bob for the club”. Standing at church gate collections in all sorts of weather. Walking up Station Road with him in 1988 on a Sunday night after a few pints in Ardfert, listening to his dreams for the clubs he was in. Stopping at Tubrid Cross another twenty minutes under the stars to plan training for the week. Suggesting on a Sunday of the county athletics championships that I go back to Banna and get a few athletes who not turned up because they were vital for points. I did and they were. His praise and encouragement for all the athletes he nurtured. His admiration of athletes like Eamonn Ferris after an athlete performance at Clounalour Open Sports. His telling an athlete who had finished second last that her points made the difference to St Brendan’s that day. Telling an athlete in cross country that if he caught the runner ahead we would win the team race. The athlete did and Tom said in the next lap he would have to catch the next athlete ahead! His interaction with his friend Danny Sinnott over a few drinks. Tom was the first Ardfertman that Mary Sinnott met when she came to live in Liscahane. Mary Kelly with her native Gaeilge and her beautiful blas and her management of the project teams in national finals. Lorraine Kelly acting on stage and her beautiful walking style in races. Catriona Kelly’s loyal involvement in sport and Alan Kelly raising the cup as Kerry minor hurling captain. Damien Kelly in goals and in the forward line for the Brendan’s. Tom’s brothers Bill and John and sisters Mary and Peggy all working for the athletic club and Community Games. Stories tell other stories as long as they are told.
Somewhere on the eternal grass track Tom Kelly stands with his whistle poised to start another race. The evening sun shines and there are birds singing all round. Eternity itself is listening. There is expectation and joy. These are days without end. Cancer can take away all one’s physical abilities, but it cannot take away one’s soul.
By David Kissane
“It was a fair year for primroses, a better one for hay and a woeful year for funerals” John B Keane said in his short story You’re On Next Sunday. This could describe 2020. With Covid added. There have been a fair few funerals in the Ardfert Kilmoyley parish this year. One of these was last Thursday.
The first time I met Tom Kelly was in McCowen’s in Tralee. “What can I do for you?” he asked from behind his counter, a twinkle in his eye. “I’m looking for a shovel” I answered. “A shovel is a dangerous thing!” he responded with a smile before handing over a shiny Spear and Jackson. My first ever shovel and my first encounter with a man who was to become a colleague and friend in St Brendan’s AC, Ardfert Kilmoyley Community Games and St Brendan’s Hurling Club. When I told him the shovel was to be the first step in building a house in Ardfert, he became more interested. Living in Tubrid at the time and married to an O’Riordan was enough to gain the trust of Tom. And that lasted until I walked beside his coffin with a huge crowd to accompany him to his final field of dreams last Thursday.
The Kelly family were well represented on the first St Brendan’s AC committee in 1987 and were central to the graft that is necessary to construct an athletic club. Tom was elected PRO at the inaugural meeting in The Tyne Bar (now Kate Browne’s). He didn’t bother doing the weekly notes for The Kerryman to be handed in to Tadhg Kennedy on a Sunday evening. “You’re a teacher, you can do the notes this week!” he told me in his persuasive way. I ended up doing them every week! But Tom fulfilled the PRO role in the wider sense. Massive networking skills, a way with people, a keen intuitive mind and a positive rogue when he knew it would benefit the club.
The club was fieldless when it was formed. A number of options were being tossed about for a short while.
Then Tom worked his magic and the Community Council had acquired the use of Walnut Grove Field very quickly. I accompanied him as secretary of the Community Council to meet Dick Spring in Tralee and before long St Brendan’s AC had the use of the field. We had a 300m grass track to be marked out with six flags (three for each bend) which the Kelly family provided, a whistle (which Tom used as a wand) and a dream…all you need to get started. Oh, and a hundred eager youngsters whom Tom shepherded at the twice-weekly training sessions. In that field ordinary evenings became extraordinary. The athletes loved his módh díreach! They became dizzy with ambition and self-value. If an athlete wasn’t using the full range of ability, Tom would immediately make it known! You knew where you stood and how you competed. It was clear and positive.
Field evenings were held in the new premises to raise funds. Runs, jumps, throws and walks along with a whole range of novelty events. Wellington throw, three-legged race, balloon race. Peggy Geary and Tom in charge. Electric evenings. The voices of children could be heard at Tubrid Cross. One time there was a long puck competition that Tom organised (his love of hurling was primal) and there was a queue the length of Station road to take part. Another time a soccer match between the juvenile athletes and the coaches…Tom suggested we come on the field with sticks and wellingtons and to pretend we were injured. John Cleary (a relation of the Kelly family who always seemed to know when there was an event about to happen) on the camera…his photo of the massive St Brendan’s AC group in Walnut Grove Field in 1989 is still a club treasure. Tom Kelly organised that.
When I last talked to Tom Kelly in the Palliative Care Unit in UHK he talked of evenings like that with warmth. He recalled the crowded buses we took to sports, championships and Macra Field Evenings. One evening on the way to Moyvane sports we stopped in Listowel for a few minutes to check why the bus floor was rubbing off the ground. It had 95 athletes on board. Plus parents and officials. “Drive a bit slower!” Tom told the driver.
Then there was his ability to multi-task. His hurling nous played a part in being involved in the introduction of rounders to Ardfert Kilmoyley Community Games in 1988. Any athlete who was interested was encouraged to try it out. A new set of expressions were heard in Walnut Grove Field. One good, one bad. You should have run. You have to run. Home base. First base. Denis Horgan sponsored a set of tops and county finals were won. Tom’s love of (correcting) referees was experienced to the full in the Munster championships one year when a number of dubious decisions were made. The ref was a better ref after his reffing that day! Tom Kelly could dart like a scythe through summer grass. I was to discover that he had a cultured temper when it came to getting a fair deal from officialdom no matter what sport was involved. It was part of his psyche and his success.
Resourcefulness was one of his many skills. He could source materials and athletes from diverse quarters. Many athletes joined the club through his connectivity and interpersonal brilliance. He introduced the famous Casey hurling brothers to our road runs in the dark of winter nights and had them competing in St Brendan’s AC singlets before long.
One of the most delightful occasions in Tom Kelly’s career occurred in Listowel in 1987. His love of drama inspired the setting up of a variety team for Community Games. “You will write a show for the young things!” he says to me. He was wonder-working again. Minds were put together. It happened to be the centenary of Australia or something and Mary Sinnott suggested an Australian theme. No Google or internet in those days so a big search for the words of Waltzing Matilda. God there were strange words in the chorus. Somebody found a cassette of the Clancy Brothers singing “For South Australia I am bourne” and bits and pieces. Susan Geary, Tara O’Callaghan, Derek McCarthy, Áine McKenna and a team of other athletes including Tom’s daughter Lorraine turned into stage performers. None of the coaches could sing or dance but that didn’t seem to matter. “We’re flying” Tom assured us. The county final was against Ballydonoghue who were coached by Micheál Carr and had won numerous national honours. People sympathised with us before the final. Thanks for coming anyway. Maybe next year. And the winners are: Ardfert Kilmoyley! Tom Kelly jumped a new high jump record that night! The celebrations in The Tyne Bar were unheralded. Diarmaid Lawlor gave the most magical speech. We were going to Mosney. We did. We didn’t win there but had a whale of a weekend with parents and supporters booking out every accommodation available.
Tom didn’t stop there with the drama. He encouraged this writer (!) to find a play suitable for Scór. We rehearsed every night on the stage in Ardfert Community Centre where showbands had performed in the 1960s in what was then the Hilton Ballroom. We weren’t quite sure what the theme of the play was but that doesn’t matter, Tom said. The big night came. There was a scene in the play where an old woman (Tom dressed up) was to take a hanky out of her bag at a poignant moment before she cried as part of the tragedy. I was to watch her doing this to build up the dramatic quality. But instead of a hanky, Tom pulled out an old knickers from the bag and held it up for the audience to see! I mumbled something that someone who had not chosen his destination would mumble. The judges said afterwards that the play was interesting, but that it lacked direction! Well, if you’re going to lose, lose with humour!
One of Tom’s favourite sayings was “Well, my point is…” and he had an opinion on all things that mattered. All good organisers have. When I told him that I was thinking of letting my name go forward for the role of Munster PRO in the 1990s, he looked me in the eye and said “We need you here!” Unstraight question. Straight answer.
When we both handed over our roles in St Brendan’s AC and Ardfert Kilmoyley Community Games to a younger generation after ten frenzied years, Tom persuaded me to take up the role of physical trainer with St Brendan’s senior hurlers. When I informed him that was a great honour but that I wasn’t from a hurling background, all he said was “You’ll be grand!” His advice (always quietly delivered at an opportune moment after training) was incise and loaded. I saw another aspect of the diamond that was Tom Kelly during the three years we shared with Na Breandánaigh: his reading of the game, “we are not that far away from the top”, his observation of referees, his incredible energy, extraordinary enthusiasm…
There are hosts of memories of Tom Kelly. Selling dance tickets at the far side of Kilmoyley on dark nights on roads I had never before travelled. Immediately recognised he was. “We have to make a few bob for the club”. Standing at church gate collections in all sorts of weather. Walking up Station Road with him in 1988 on a Sunday night after a few pints in Ardfert, listening to his dreams for the clubs he was in. Stopping at Tubrid Cross another twenty minutes under the stars to plan training for the week. Suggesting on a Sunday of the county athletics championships that I go back to Banna and get a few athletes who not turned up because they were vital for points. I did and they were. His praise and encouragement for all the athletes he nurtured. His admiration of athletes like Eamonn Ferris after an athlete performance at Clounalour Open Sports. His telling an athlete who had finished second last that her points made the difference to St Brendan’s that day. Telling an athlete in cross country that if he caught the runner ahead we would win the team race. The athlete did and Tom said in the next lap he would have to catch the next athlete ahead! His interaction with his friend Danny Sinnott over a few drinks. Tom was the first Ardfertman that Mary Sinnott met when she came to live in Liscahane. Mary Kelly with her native Gaeilge and her beautiful blas and her management of the project teams in national finals. Lorraine Kelly acting on stage and her beautiful walking style in races. Catriona Kelly’s loyal involvement in sport and Alan Kelly raising the cup as Kerry minor hurling captain. Damien Kelly in goals and in the forward line for the Brendan’s. Tom’s brothers Bill and John and sisters Mary and Peggy all working for the athletic club and Community Games. Stories tell other stories as long as they are told.
Somewhere on the eternal grass track Tom Kelly stands with his whistle poised to start another race. The evening sun shines and there are birds singing all round. Eternity itself is listening. There is expectation and joy. These are days without end. Cancer can take away all one’s physical abilities, but it cannot take away one’s soul.
