If Longstone’s remarkable survival could cinematically be compared to The Great Escape, Friday’s game, as a standalone box office hit, would be more readily likened to Kelly’s Heroes.
If the comedy war film starring Clint Eastwood as Private Kelly left an irregular group of soldiers content at the end of a dangerous mission, so too did Longstone’s win leave an admittedly more regular group equally happy at the successful completion of an unlikely, if not quite as dangerous, quest for survival in Division Two—and Longstone had their own inspiring Kelly leading the band too.
Ryan Kelly has worn the Red for 23 senior seasons—an incredible service indeed—and at the end of the game, the delight was palpable as he couldn’t stop smiling. Reflecting after the match, Kelly said, “We are just glad to get over the line more than anything. Four weeks ago, after the July break, everybody wrote us off, but we knuckled down, got together as a group. We knew what was in this group and nobody is going to take it away from us tonight.”
The full forward spoke about how the group took inspiration from the wider conversation surrounding their league campaign up until a few weeks ago—one that suggested they were doomed for relegation. He credited a “nothing to lose” mindset with helping them turn the corner.
Kelly also had a special word of praise for the youthful contingent in the Stone squad who brought energy and determination throughout the league campaign. “All season, especially the second half of the season, Paudi Cunningham, Dara Cotter, Niall Burden—all the young fellas really stood up and were counted.”
At the start of the season, Longstone opened a fabulous new playing pitch, but at senior level over the last few home games, they returned to using the old, smaller field—and results improved. Ryan felt the more compact surroundings, and perhaps the tighter playing surface, were beneficial in Friday’s crucial match against Drumgath.
“Look, we have unbelievable facilities around here now,” Kelly said, “and we just wanted to bring it onto a tight field tonight and bring a real siege mentality—we knew deep down we were going to get over the line.”
Having lost their Senior Championship status following a play-off defeat to Castlewellan last year, Longstone now enter the Intermediate Championship as one of the front runners. However, Ryan isn’t getting carried away. His experience showed as he made it clear their approach to chasing the WJ Farrell Cup will be grounded in taking things step by step.
“We just knuckle down now over the next two weeks. We are taking it one game at a time and we are looking at Darragh Cross in Newcastle on the 23rd of August—we aren’t looking any further than that.”
If Ryan Kelly was proud of the rest of the team on Friday night—legitimately considered his heroes on the evening—then it is equally true that Kelly himself is a hero in the eyes of many in the Stone. His service to the club, his attitude, footballing instincts, and scoring power have made him a fan favourite for many, many seasons. No doubt, the Stone faithful will be looking forward to seeing him in championship action again in the coming weeks.
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