by Edward Newman
The Irish Examiner
Friday, 13th September 2002

The feel for competitive sport never deserted Ian Kelleher even when he took up residence in New Zealand last Ocotber. The intention was to stay in the Land of the Long White Cloud for a year. But a longing for another county title kept tugging.

He spent his time domiciled on a farm outside Christchurch, helping milk 800 cows and as friendships accumulated, Ian was persuaded by the locals to try his hand at rugby. Even then he could draw parallels between a New Zealander's passion for rugby and an Irishman's thirst for Gaelic games.

"I played a bit of rugby out in New Zealand. It was fairly rough as you can imagine. But the Newtown hurling prepared me for it."

And green fields in Ireland were where his mind wandered up the full-back berth on the local rugby team. Then there were the e-mails from home reporting on Newtown's progress in the Cork County championship.

"Every week I used to check out the Newtown website to see how they were getting on. And I worked up a real appetite for hurling, and cut my holidays short to come back for it. The boys were doing well and I got calls from home to come back for it. The boys were doing well and I got calls from home to come home and it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

The word from his closest mate, Pat Mulcahy, was that the parish could do with his services. He arrived back relatively fit from his stint with the oval ball. The first touch was rusty but Ger Cunningham, the fitness coach from UL, had a programme set out for him. As he admitted after the match against Erins Own: "I started that game but came off half way knackered tired."

Since returning, Kelleher has re-established his place on the team, and as one of the more senior players his presence is a considerable boost to the young starts springing up around him.

"I'm one of the oldest on the team now. It was a great boost for the older fellows to have me coming back for them. But it's really great to come back from New Zealand because you wouldn't get hype out there as you do here. You just look around the village and you see something special."

Coming home was one decision, the other has been to finish up with hurling this year. He finds it time consuming and feels he has given as much as possible to the game now.

"I've won a new senior medal in 2000. And, if I get a second medal, that is as high as I will reach in my career, I know I'll never play for the Cork seniors. And you've got to be a realist in this game and I've made a decision to retire at the top of my career."

"I've got to think about a career now and I would love to finish on a high note. It's not getting any easier coming out here playing. I'm 27 now, I've played alot and I think at this stage I'm on my last legs."

But he'll still conjure up the energy when he takes his customary midfield position this Sunday. Facing him will be the formidable Blackrock duet of Adrian Coughlan and Paul Tierney.

"I've heard alot about the Blackrock midfield. They've big guys and they're well able to score from 70 yards. They don't carry the ball a lot but they are good strikers of the ball."

And although he may be making an exit soon, he has fulfilled an ambition of playing senior hurling in arenas like Pairc Ui Chaoimh. "When I was playing hurling it was always a chore playing junior and then intermediate, but since making the real breakthroughs, playing with the senior squad has been really uplifting. The game on Sunday is what you train for and it's what you work towards. Even walking out onto Pairc Ui Chaoimh is what you live for. When I was in New Zealand this is what I missed most. And to walk out onto Pairc Ui Chaoimh will be enough for me."