We should expect more of ourselves says St Clare's captain Jack Kelly

Expectations are one thing that can often overwhelm a sports person, let alone a young footballer but displaying a maturity beyond his years, Jack Kelly fully believes his St Clare’s CS Manorhamilton team can go the whole way in Saturday’s Masita All-Ireland PPS Senior C Championship Final in Tuam.

Up against Ennistymon CBS in Saturday’s Final, Jack meets the question of can St Clare’s lift the Dr Eamonn O’Sullivan Cup by asking why shouldn’t they expect to? “It's a special team and at the start of the year, we knew we had something special. Did we think we'd be in an Ireland final? Probably not, but did the Clare boys think they'd be in an Ireland final? 

“I suppose that might be the problem with us, with Leitrim people, we don't expect to be in positions like this and at the end of the day,  we probably should expect more of one another. That's what I've taken away mostly is that  if Leitrim teams work hard, we can get to these positions.

“Do we think we win? I think if we work as hard as we can work and play as well as we've played now in the last two games, we'll be there, thereabouts, come the last five minutes, and I tell you, if we're in that position again, we know how to win games.”

Belief is a central core of Jack’s comments as he talks about the impact of reaching the final: “The community's buzzing - the clubs coming together is really the special thing for me, you can see that there's no divide, there's no nothing. It's one, it's one whole team, one whole unit.

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“It's relaxed, there's no real pressure on us - the only pressure that's being put on is by ourselves because at the end of the day, we're a Leitrim team going into this. I guarantee you, Ennistymon are not looking at us properly. Although we're in an All-Ireland final, they'll still think they're just a Leitrim team so I don't really think anyone's expecting us to win but ourselves, 100%, I believe that.

“There's a certain few that believe in us, but mostly we believe in each other and that's the main thing  going into this game, that we believe in one another because if we play like we played the last day, we will win next Saturday.”

In fact, you sense that Jack and his teammates are  enjoying the occasion: “We can't wait, we're just enjoying moments like this. You don't very often get moments where you're being interviewed in school, so we're just enjoying the build-up to it and everyone's looking forward to it. It can be hard in school to keep up but obviously teachers are helping us out and that's the main thing. Teachers are looking after us, the principal, vice-principal, everyone - we're one unit here and you can really see that in the weeks building up to the final.”

The mundane need to keep up with the school work is keeping everyone grounded ahead of the final: “It's just another match at the end of the day - we are enjoying every moment of this,  coming into the school, the flags up everywhere, it's a great experience but what's helping us is that we are actually in school, so we can't be thinking too much about the game.

“A few of us in the sixth year, we still have to be working hard, doing our bit of studying. So that's the main burden, it's keeping our mind off it but at the end of the day, we have a job to do Saturday and we're fully focused on doing that.”

As the team’s  leading light, expectations are high each time he takes to the field but Jack prefers to stress the team rather than the individual: “I wouldn't say  any pressure has been put  on me, it's a complete team effort and it's great to have a team like that, where, even if I don't play well, the boys around me are still going to play good.

“The only reason the scores are coming is because the boys down at the other end of the field, Senan and Jack Attard either side of me, Bailey, obviously. They had way better games than me the last day - I know I got a few points but there were only a few ones at the start, and them boys really helped me to get them scores.

“Without them, I wouldn't have got  as many scores as I did. We need to be able to share the scoring around and I think we've done that really well. It's great to have a team that's able to do that.”

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Jack has also drawn inspiration from the performances of the Leitrim Schools, Glencar Manorhamilton and St Patrick’s Dromahair minor teams over the past year: “Obviously the A Schools is a huge level and I suppose we kind of realised in that semi-final against Claremorris, that's the level they're at with their school and we needed to get there. It's helped us coming back, the six of us, but over the last six or seven months, we have been playing at a high level.

“The Dromahair boys were in the B Connacht and the Manor boys were in the A Connacht final so it was nothing really new to us. To be playing at this Connacht level, we're just delighted to be coming from special clubs, a special school, that we’re in a position like this, to be playing in an Ireland final.”