Offaly's long-serving goalkeeper Padraig Kelly has made his services available to new football manager Richie Connor. It was widely expected that last July's All-Ireland massacre at the hands of Down, when he conceded five goals, would be the Shamrocks' man last game for the Faithful County, but he has confirmed he will returning in 2009. "I'm going back. There's still a lot of lingering pain because of the manner of the two championship defeats we suffered, and that's not going to be easy to get over, but I play because I love it," he said. Kelly, who is one of the last remaining links with Offaly's 1997 Leinster championship winning team, concedes that the new manager may have plans to introduce a younger goalkeeper, but he hopes to be in the picture once he recovers from a serious knee he sustained during a club hurling game in September. He has been working with the Maynooth-based physio, Eamon O Muircheartaigh, and recently resumed light jogging. "It happened on a wet Sunday morning and I rang Eamon on the Monday. At my age, I wasn't going to take any chances, and he looked after me brilliantly. I can still feel it twisting and turning, and it's a work in progress," he added. Tweet

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