Seán Kelly's eye on a perfect season finale

The lottery of penalty kicks – the potential sliding doors moment on a heaven or hell season for Galway captain Seán Kelly.

When the Tribesmen and Armagh prepared for spot-kicks to decide their fate in the All-Ireland quarter-final, the Moycullen man couldn't put his hand up for manager Pádraic Joyce.

After a thrilling 70-plus minutes of action, the teams tore into each other heading down the tunnel before extra-time. When they reemerged, referee David Coldrick flashed red cards to Kelly and joint Armagh captain Aidan Nugent.

Both had appeared to be trying to keep the peace in the melee, and sportingly they shook hands as they prepared to watch the rest of the game helplessly from the sidelines.

When the kicks into the Davin End were concluded it was Kelly rather than Nugent left with the chance of redemption. Lose and his 2022 season would have been remembered for that red card [ultimately rescinded], but now on Sunday he has the chance to ascend the Hogan steps and become the first Galway captain to lift Sam since Gary Fahey in 2001.

Kelly, like Fahey, wore number three on his back. Kelly, like Fahey, won a Sigerson at NUIG – although it was UCG when Fahey’s side defeated Queen’s in the 1992 final. He’ll be hoping that the similarities between the pair are extended further against Kerry.

"They’re obviously a great side with some great players, we know it’s going to be a tough battle but we’ll try and focus on ourselves and hopefully get the result on the day," Kelly told RTÉ Sport.

The player’s previous All-Ireland final appearance ended in disappointment as Galway lost 2-13 to 2-07 to Dublin in the 2017 under-21 decider.

Gerry, not Gary, Fahey was in charge of that team and it spawned players like Kelly, Dylan McHugh, Kieran