“Dublin hurling was my life and being able to give something back now is brilliant”- Peter Kelly chats all things Dublin hurling

After a decade of stellar service in the Dublin jersey, Peter Kelly felt he had no option but to step away in 2018 when a succession of injuries took their toll.

However, the commanding full back left hurling fans with a host of memories in a career that saw the Dubs deliver previously elusive silverware.  Now involved with the Dublin U20s, I caught up with the Lucan Sarsfields man to chat all things Dublin hurling.

Peter’s Dublin career actually had its origins in college hurling as he explains.

“In 2008 I was a fresher in DIT and I suppose colleges back then was your pathway into a Dublin team if you weren’t making it in from the minors.  I played Fitzgibbon and was picked up there.  Midway through the campaign, around Spring time, I was called into Tommy Naughton's League team. 

“It was a great experience to be coming in to a team with some Dublin stalwarts like Kevin Flynn, Kevin Ryan, Smiley O’Reilly and Ronan Fallon.  They were men compared to me but they were people who had soldiered for Dublin for a long time and it was a great learning experience for me.”

It wasn’t a bad time to be coming in to the Dublin set up with a strong Ballyboden team dominating the club scene and the arrival of Anthony Daly as manager in late 2008 for the following season.  The breakthrough wasn’t immediate however and even the seminal breakthrough 2011 League campaign needed a bit of luck as Peter recalled.

“It was a good League campaign in general.  I remember we ended up getting to the League final with a win down in Cork in the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the final round.  I think Cork missed a point at the end that would have changed things – we wouldn’t have made the League final.  Who knows what would have happened after if we didn’t get that success. 

“So sometimes it takes small margins to break the ceiling and luckily it fell our way that time.  Obviously in the 2011 final itself we took our opportunity - maybe Kilkenny thought it might be your typical Dublin team that might roll over.  That wasn’t what happened on the day and it obviously started something.” 

It certainly did.  Dublin’s first League title since 1939 gave the squad a taste of success and they were obviously hungry for more.  However there were a few setbacks in 2012 – including League relegation when losing by a single point to both Cork and Kilkenny and drawing with Tipperary. 

The Championship wasn’t much better with Kilkenny dishing out a Leinster semi-final hammering en route to a sixth Liam McCarthy win in seven years.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger but Peter feels that the non-stop games in 2013 was a huge factor in the team’s historic success.

“If you remember back the 2013 Leinster final was our fifth game on the bounce after drawing with Wexford and beating them in the replay, then drawing with Kilkenny and beating them in the replay. So I think by the time the fifth game rolled around we felt unbeatable because we had come through so many battles.  Obviously to come through the Portlaoise one, where apparently no team had ever beaten Kilkenny in a replay, made us feel a bit invincible.  I think at that stage we just knew that we were going to perform the next day.

“Every hurler loves playing games and we were getting to play proper Championship games every week so your Tuesday and Thursday training sessions were just a puck around and you were fresh for the weekend.  I think a hurler’s biggest nightmare is the long lead in to a game whereas we were just bouncing from week to week and we had momentum and it was a great time to be part of it all.”

Kelly and his team mates produced a performance fitting for a final in the provincial decider.  They comprehensively defeated Galway by 12 points, ensuring the Bob O’Keeffe Cup stayed in the capital for the first time since 1961. The stuff of memories.

“There’s a picture in the club of myself, Johnny (McCaffrey) and Chris (Crummey) lifting the Cup then and now Chris and John Bellew are among the experienced players on the Dublin team.  It’s great sharing those moments with your Dublin team mates but it is very special to share them with your club mates and club as well.”

On the club front, I put it to Peter that Lucan Sarsfields recent experiences seemed quite similar to Na Fianna with a lot of underage success but a degree of heartache at senior level in trying to land the big one.  So can the west Dublin club emulate the Glasnevin men?

“The Dublin Hurling Championship is incredibly competitive and there’s an upset most years in terms of the big team versus the next tier.  Lucan in the past have been semi-finalists most years but in my time we didn’t come through with the underage success that the current group has.  There are consistent Minor winning teams coming through, consistent winning U21 teams coming through and lads are being added to the Senior setup.

“That probably goes back to the work that’s happened ten years ago with various club coaches and underage team and that’s coming to fruition now.  It doesn’t guarantee you senior success but it certainly gives you a better opportunity for success if you have quality players coming through, which Lucan have.  But until we get over the line it’ll still be hanging over us.”

Kelly is very excited at the progress being made in the game in Dublin in recent years.  He puts it down to a serious amount of work behind the scenes in our schools and clubs, and instilling a love for the game in our juveniles.

‘You can’t underestimate the amount of work that’s going in behind the scenes. It’s at school level when you’re getting the coaches in there and the County Board are sending in the GPOs.  That’s when you’re really getting the kids falling in love with the game and getting them to stick with it. There are lads from the likes of Commercials, Scoil Uí Chonaill, Round Towers Lusk on the U20s team.  There’s a massive spread from across the county and this can only be a good thing.”

“Hurling is a real skills game and you need to work at it.  The 10,000 hours theory certainly applies to hurling more than other sports I would say.  And to develop that skill you do need to love the game.  You’re going to pick up that hurl because you want to do it yourself, not be told to.

“I also think a lot of these young lads may have picked up a hurl on the back of what happened in 2011 and 2013 with their parents bringing them in on their shoulders to Croke Park.  You can’t underestimate what success does for the next generation.  It gives your 9 and 10 year olds a reason to pick up a hurl and head out to the side wall when they see the likes of Chris Crummey and Donal Burke and Cian O’Sullivan doing it on the big stage. That’s what you’re always chasing, handing over hurling to the next generation with it in a better place.”

Of course Cian O’Sullivan did it on the big stage last year for sure and joined Peter in a select group of Dublin hurlers who have been awarded an All Star.  Did he enjoy that accolade?

“Yes but it doesn’t rank above my Leinster or League medals and there’s also always that frustration in that I felt more lads from 2013 should have got one.  Even last year I think some lads were unlucky not to get one – I’d say John Bellew wasn’t far off it. But it’s a nice thing to look back on from a personal point of view and I‘m sure Cian will be proud of his as well - but team achievements will always trump it.”

Kelly is also hopeful that Cian and the rest of the current senior crop can make their mark this year.  As in 2013 it’s all about building momentum and Peter feels the team will do that.

“I think they will build a nice bit of momentum through the League and that will set them up and they’ll be ready for the Championship.  I think Leinster final appearances and going on to win one would be massive in terms of the next step.  We’ve had a couple of final appearances in recent times but no win since 2013 and it was a long time before that.  So that just shows how incredibly hard Leinster is to win but that would be a huge step forward for the team. Then that would set you up into an All Ireland semi-final and who knows what could happen after that.”

Peter finished playing at Junior level last year and hadn’t really considered his next move – until the phone rang asking him to get involved with the Dublin U20 management team.

“I’d say when I was a player I didn’t think I’d ever be involved in coaching.  I didn’t see it as a pathway or a direction I was going to take.  Various people like Dotsy (David O’Callaghan) or Niall Corcoran or Johnny (McCaffrey) have a background in coaching so that was going to be their passion anyway. But when the phone call comes it’s a different story then!  If the circumstances are right then very few people would say no to something they love so much.

“Dublin hurling was my life and being able to give something back now and enjoying it from the other side of the line is a brilliant experience, and hopefully some silverware reinforces that experience. There’s a good batch of lads there and we got good experience last year so I’m hopeful for 2026.”

Seeing Peter Kelly in the Number 3 shirt for Dublin was always reassuring.  You knew that for 70 minutes he would strain every inch of his body for the Dublin cause.  That he would leave it out there.  He always did.

If Peter can have a fraction of the impact he had on the pitch in his involvement with the U20s then he is right to be hopeful.  We all are.  Good luck to him and the lads.