Kelly fires Kildare to Leinster glory but he's not finished there 

It’s hard to keep a good forward quiet, you might do it for one game but the good ones are never kept quiet for long.

A brilliant 1-7 for Ronan Kelly in the Leinster U20 Football Championship quarter-final against Westmeath put a target on his back going into a semi-final against Meath.

The Royals stifled his influence in that tie and kept him to just a point, although that created space for the likes of Jimmy Lynch to create havoc.

It was never likely that the Leaving Cert Ardscoil na Tríonóide student would be held as quiet for a second game in a row.

On Wednesday evening in Parnell Park, he ran riot against Louth and finished with seven points after a sparkling display.

“It's nearly surreal,” he said after the game.

“It's something I've been dreaming about since I was a young lad. I always wanted to win Leinster. We've struggled in the past, getting to finals, losing out in semi-finals and it's just unbelievable,” said Kelly, before reflecting on the job done by the two potent Kildare forwards.

“I kind of expected Jimmy to get man-marked today, so I was hoping that I'd be a bit freer myself. Last week, Jimmy was unbelievable. I was getting tightly picked up and he won it for us.

“Today, nearly the last kick of the game, he stepped up again, kicked the point with his right foot to put us in front and got over the line,” said Kelly.

That Lynch point gave Kildare the lead in the latter stages and after some heroic defending, there was one last break leaving Kelly to score the last point of the game to seal a two point win.

“I kind of knew the game was coming to a close, so I was nearly tempted to go for the goal, but I thought the point was a better option because if they went down to get a two-pointer, at least it would bring us to extra time,” said Kelly.

It’s a tightly knit group as evidenced by the celebrations on the pitch and in the dressing room but Kelly obviously has a special bond with his Athy club mates on the team – Colm Moran and the Keaveny brothers, Cian and Callum.

“There's four of us on the panel and we're best friends. We grew up together in school and played with each other all along, throughout the underage in the club. Especially me and Colm have a tight bond, same with Cian as being part of the senior team with Athy. It's just unbelievable to be out there playing with your best friends, representing the county as well,” said Kelly.

Even amidst the euphoria of the celebrations around him on the Parnell Park pitch, Kelly was level headed enough to insist that he was not happy with “only” being a Leinster champion. That’s the fulfilment of a dream but only one of them and his sights are now set on Tyrone in an All-Ireland semi-final next Wednesday.

“We have Tyrone next and we know they're an unbelievable outfit, so we're going to get a bit of recovery in the next couple of days and kind of get our heads switched back on.

“We don't want to just be remembered as a team that won Leinster, we want to be remembered as a team that won the All-Ireland. That's the main focus for us now, try to see how far we can go. It's a big dream of ours to get to the All-Ireland final. We're taking it one game at a time and we'll see where we get,” said Kelly.