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Galway Seán Kelly set again for another hectic year

Seán Kelly celebrates after finding the net in the recent league game against Mayo
Seán Kelly celebrates after finding the net in the recent league game against Mayo

On 4 December last, Maigh Cuilinn won their first Connacht SFC club title. That success was the last competitive action for Seán Kelly in 2022. It's fair to say he had a busy year.

It all began with the FBD league, then came Sigerson, before helping Galway win promotion and a Connacht title, all ahead of an All-Ireland final appearance.

The club scene then cranked up, where Maigh Cuilinn won only their second county championship. After provincial heights were scaled, a trip back to Croke Park followed, but Glen proved too good in the All-Ireland semi-final on 8 January.

Three weeks later, Kelly was back wearing the maroon jersey, firing home a goal as Galway and Mayo shared the league points in Castlebar. After that came a one-point loss to Roscommon by the sea in Salthill.

It's days out from the Tuam clash with Tyrone and the Galway skipper, along with Kerry's Seán O'Shea, are at Croke Park for the unveiling of Allianz Insurance as a new sponsor of the All-Ireland senior football championship.

Speaking to RTÉ's Damian Lawlor, Kelly, in spite of the effort he has put in for a number of teams over the last year, says that the "body is the best it has been for a while.. no injuries".

On 2022, he adds that: "It was a successful year, even though we failed in some of those finals."

In relation to Galway's year, he said: "We had a couple of tough battles and obviously there was disappointment at the end. We fell at the last hurdle, but we had a great result against Armagh. We showed character and we really stood up that day. And then came the good win against Derry. We'll look to improve this coming year - find that extra couple of percent to get us over the line."

Despite the loss of Liam Silke and Kieran Molloy, Kelly is confident that the current Galway squad are good enough to make another meaningful push in the months ahead.

"With the amount of games this year it will be twice as important to have depth in our squad. I think we have that now; lads are pushing other lads in training. We're also working on getting a bit more freedom in our attack and to back ourselves to take those shots if they're on."

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