“He didn’t perform in the biggest game of the year.”
Joe Canning couldn’t believe that Tony Kelly didn’t make The Sunday Game Team of the Year but Jackie Tyrrell was quick to give a reason.
The absence of Kelly in the Team of the Year is a strange sight given how prolific the Clare forward has been throughout the championship.
The star forward is undoubtedly his county’s main man, and has consistently stepped up to the plate on the biggest occasions, time and time again.
The Sunday Game panel discussed the decision, with Ursula Jacob saying: “The big omission probably in the half-forward line is possibly Tony Kelly.”
Canning has a much stronger stance, and couldn’t believe that the Clare man didn’t make the cut: “I don’t know how Tony Kelly’s gone out of this team to be honest.”
However, Tyrrell was completely unsympathetic and gave a rather blunt answer as to why the sharp shooter wasn’t picked.
“I just think he didn’t perform in the biggest game of the year and it’s as simple as that.
“All-Ireland semi-final second year in a row, Mikey Butler coming for him, he knew it and he just didn’t perform and he’s their go to man.”
https://twitter.com/TheSundayGame/status/1683244262673076224
You could argue that one game should not completely write off your whole campaign, and an interesting stat is that Kelly is the third top scorer from play this year.
Only Eoin Murphy and Conor Whelan are ahead of him on the scoring board, meaning that he outscored all of the other forwards in the selected Team of the Year.
Of course the stats don’t always mean you end up with the accolades, and although the likes of TJ Reid didn’t contribute as much from play this year, he was the overall top scorer with some clinical and important frees.
Watch our All-Ireland hurling final review show with Davy Fitzgerald right here
Related links:
- All-Ireland senior hurling final: updates, team-news and talking points
- Limerick take lion’s share of The Sunday Game team of the year, but three other counties feature
- GAA JOE All-Star hurling team 2023
- Henry Shefflin gave a painfully honest interview after Limerick beat Galway
- Conor Whelan explains what All-Ireland hurling final week was like for an inexperienced 18-year-old
- “Are you blaming me for that?!” Diarmaid Byrnes in rare form after Limerick’s big triumph
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