only 13 when he left school to help on the farm at home after his father went to a hospital in Waterford with an ulcer. At 16, he began work as a bricklayer. In September 1969, a delegation from the newly formed Carrick Wheelers Road Club visited the Christian Brothers Secondary School, where Joe was a student. In Joe's classroom, the representatives from the cycling club encouraged the pupils to join a recently formed schoolboy cycling league. Joe was fascinated. He joined the schoolboy league, began winning races, and joined the Carrick Wheelers Road Club as a new member. In the Kelly household, the pattern was for Joe to do something, and Sean would follow in his footsteps. And so it was, from humble beginnings, Sean soon joined Joe. On Tuesday, 4 August 1970, aged 14, Sean competed in his first race at Kennedy Terrace, Carrickbeg, County Tipperary, part of Carrick-on-Suir. The race was an eight-mile (12.87 km) handicap, which meant the weaker riders started first and the best last. Kelly set off three minutes before the backmarkers, which included his brother Joe. He was still three minutes ahead of the pursuers when the course turned for home after four miles (6.43 km) and more than three minutes in the lead when he crossed the finish line. In July 1972, aged 16, he won the National Junior Road Championships at Banbridge, County Down. Kelly won the National Junior Road Championships again in 1973. He took a senior cycling license in 1974, passing up the opportunity to bid for a third consecutive National Junior Road title. In 1974, aged only 17, two months short of his eighteenth birthday, Kelly won the Shay Elliott Memorial Race. That season he participated in the Tour of Ireland and the Tour of Scotland and achieved ten victories as a senior competitor while still eligible to race as a junior. In 1975, Kelly successfully defended his title, winning the Shay Elliott Memorial Race for the second time. He won three stages of the 1975 Tour of Ireland and the mountains jersey. Kelly won stage 7 of the 1975 Tour of Britain, beating Swede Bernt Johansson and Polish rider Jan Trybala in a three-way sprint. Johansson became Olympic Road Race Champion in Montreal a year later. Kelly's exploits at the 1975 Tour of Britain caught the eye of a Londoner, John Morris, who had connections with amateur