Johnny was one of the good guys, generous of heart and spirit.
He came to Tuam in 1970 when, on the death of my mother, himself and Nellie came home from London to look after my grandfather, my siblings and I. He never questioned the move or expected thanks, such was the man.
"Small Ball," as he will always be known, affectionately, quickly intergrated into the sporting life of the town and played football with the 'Stars' and soccer with Tuam town. It was a proud day for me when Johnny and I brought two Hibernian Cup replicas "up the Curragh" after winning the Hibernian Cup - Johnny got a great kick out of beating his fellow Galway city lads at soccer.
But as the name (small ball) implies, hurling was Johnny's passion, he ate, drank and slept hurling, especially Galway hurling. Tuam not being a stronghold of hurling, as Micheal O Muircheartaigh might say. Nevertheless, Johnny teamed up with Pakie Walsh to ensure there was some kind of hurling presence in the town, from which the famous phrase "14 of husses and Johnny Kilkelly" came.
Johnny preached the gospel of hurling day in, day out, around the football town of Tuam, initially with little success. However, the Galway hurling teams were beginning to make strides and he found a few converts. One of his favourites was one evening when coming down the Dublin road on our way home from Croke Park, "The Master" waved the car down to enquire about the match, a hurling match! Talk about "Paul on the road to Damascus". Well, that's the way Johnny looked at it anyway: his greatest convert
When Johnny used to visit us in Cork he liked nothing better than to chat with the locals about ... guess what? A conversation he loved to recall was of one evening when himself and a friend of mine were discussing the hurling 'greats' from the high stool. After a fair few names were dropped and sliotars pucked he noticed that Christy Ring was not mentioned and on bringing this to my friend's attention, Haulier replied "Johnny, my good man, we were speaking about mere mortals!"
I hope that , today, Johnny sits with the immortals.
On September 6th, 2013, Galway hurling lost one of its greatest supporters and I lost a good friend.
Beidh tú i mo gcuimhne go deo
- Brian Morgan, Cork

Tuam Herald, 10th October 2013 Tweet

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