Reid Kelly stresses Glenswilly’s focus ahead of U-21 final with Four Masters

Glenswilly half-forward Reid Kelly was determined to stress that despite knocking out the reigning U-21 county champions Gaoth Dobhair at the semi-final stages on Sunday, his side still has more to do if they are to win the county championship this weekend. 

The Glen men put in a stellar performance on Sunday as they stopped the Gaeltacht side who were on course to claiming a third U-21 title in-a-row coming out of Milford with a 1-9 to 0-11 point win. 

The game could’ve swung either way until Oisin McGrenra’s 47th-minute goal put the Glenswilly men back in front despite heavy pressure from the reigning champions. 

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Kelly was also one of the standout men on the day top top-scoring for his side with four points, but it was his final two scores in the last five minutes of the game that really spurred his side on and inspired them to victory. 

We’re delighted with the win and we’re delighted with the performance as well,” the 19-year-old said after Sunday’s match.  

“We put in a lot of hard work throughout the year at training and you can see that it all pays off on a day like this. We’re happy with the win and I think we deserved it on the day.” 

Kelly was quick to praise the entire squad and their effort for the full hour in what was a highly physical game, a trait that has been associated with this Glenswilly side all season.  

But for the ATU student, the really positive was his team’s calmness and composure on the ball in the dying minutes when Gaoth Dobhair was desperate for scores, something they’ve clearly learned from last year’s final when they fell in the dying phases of the match to Gaoth Dobhair. 

“We never panicked because we know the players that we have are comfortable on the ball and when you get to the late stages of the game, I feel we have the players that are good enough to get us over the line, and we saw that on the day,” Kelly said. 

“It’s nice to get the scores late on, it gave us a bit of breathing room. I don’t know where they came from, it was just getting the last few runs out of me, but I’m just happy that they went over the bar and it got us to a county final at the end of the day.” 

Glenswilly will now face a Four Masters team brimming with confidence following their easy semi-final win over Naomh Conaill on Sunday.  

It will be their first appearance in a U-21 decider since 2001, and while Glenswilly may have the upper hand having beaten the Donegal Town men earlier this season in the championship, Kelly is aware that like last year, it’s all about what happens on the day and the past is irrelevant at that point. 

“We played Four Masters a number of weeks ago in the U-21 competition,” he said. “They’re a very good side, but it’s going to be all on the day. We will obviously believe in ourselves, we’ll be up for it, we’ll be ready, and hopefully, we’ll get over the line again and get one better from last year. 

“I think we’ve learned so much from last year’s final when we lost to Gaoth Dobhair. We felt hard done by that day, but we got them back today and hopefully, we can do one better next weekend and beat Four Masters.”