Conor Keeley (born 13 December 1997) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a defender for

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ...

club

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origina ...

. His previous clubs are Shelbourne,

Cabinteely Cabinteely () is a suburb of Dublin's southside. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. Geography Cabinteely lies around the crossroads of Johnstown Road / Brennanstown Road and the Old Bray Road, and on either side of th ...

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the ...

and

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

Career

Youth career

A native of

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the c ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

, Keeley began playing with top

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

academy St Kevin's Boys, where he played from under-5s level to under 10's, before returning to his local side

Dunboyne AFC Dunboyne A.F.C. is an Irish association football club from Dunboyne, Co. Meath. It was one of the first soccer clubs established in the county of Meath, and was founded in 1970. One of the club's values is to promote the game of soccer in its co ...

for two years. He then moved on to the academy of

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

club Shelbourne, where he won an under-13 SFAI Cup medal in his first season with the club.

Shelbourne

Keeley made his senior debut for Shelbourne on 17 October 2015, in a 2–0 win over

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) ( ga, Cumann Peile Chóstóirí Chóbh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colm ...

in the final game of the season. The 2016 season saw him struggle for appearances, making just 12 in all competitions resulting in him departing the club in search of more first team opportunities.

Cabinteely

Keeley signed for fellow

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. ...

side

ahead of the 2017 season and on 25 March 2017, he scored his first goal in senior football, in a 4–1 win over

. On 26 May 2017, he scored against his old side Shelbourne in a 4–1 win at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium ...

. The

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

saw Keeley help the club to a 4th place playoff, qualifying them for the

Promotion Playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, in which they defeated

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the mee ...

on penalties in the first stage, which Keeley stated was the best moment of his career up to that point. He signed a new one-year contract with the club in January 2020. He departed the club at the end of the 2020 season, following 81 appearances and 9 goals in all competitions during his 4 seasons with the club.

Ballymena United

On 12 January 2021, Keeley signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the North ...

club

. He scored his first goals for the club on 2–1 March 2021, scoring both goals in a 2–1 win at home to Linfield. On 10 December 2021, he scored in a 2–1 win at home to

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

. Keeley captained the side for the first time on 15 January 2022, in a 1–0 defeat away to Linfield. Keeley signed a new two-year contract with the club in July 2022. Keeley featured in all 5 of the club's games in their

2021–22 Irish Cup The 2021–22 Irish Cup (known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the 142nd edition of the premier knock-out cup competition in Northern Irish football since its inauguration in 1881. The competition began on 7 ...

run, including the Final, as his side were defeated 2–1 by

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual re ...

via a 121st-minute goal. On 31 December 2022, it was announced that the club had 'reluctantly' agreed to put Keeley on the transfer list to allow him his wish to move back closer to home. On 7 January 2023, he scored in what turned out to be his final appearance for the club, as they defeated

Carrick Rangers Carrick Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional Northern Irish football club playing in NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1939, hails from Carrickfergus, County Antrim and plays its home matches at Taylors Avenue which is known as ...

on penalties after a 1–1 draw in the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. I ...

. He made a total of 70 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring 9 goals.

Drogheda United

He signed for

club

for an undisclosed fee on 10 January 2023. His first goal for the club came on 14 July 2023, in a 3–1 win away to UCD at the

UCD Bowl UCD can refer to: Education *University College Dublin, Irish university ** University College Dublin A.F.C., the university's association football club ** University College Dublin RFC, the university's rugby union club ** UCD GAA, the universit ...

. Keeley's performances drew interest from several clubs, including

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...

side

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

, whom Drogheda rejected several bids for Keeley from in August 2023. He was voted Drogheda United Supporters Player of the Year for his performances in 2023.

St Patrick's Athletic

On 15 December 2023, it was announced that Keeley had signed a multi-year contract with

. His first goal for the club came on 22 April 2024, volleying home a Brandon Kavanagh free-kick away to

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

International career

Keeley featured for the Republic of Ireland Universities team in June 2018 in a 2–1 win over the second ranked team in the world at the time, France.

Personal life

Keeley is the brother of fellow professional footballer Josh Keeley, who is a goalkeeper that began his career at

, before moving on to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in the summer of 2022. Their father Brendan Keeley was also a goalkeeper, who played for

club

Newry City Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

among others. As a teenager Keeley also played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

and in May 2014 he scored 2–4 for St Peters Dunboyne in their 3–7 to 2–5 victory over

Summerhill Summerhill or Summer Hill may refer to the following places: Australia *Summer Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Summerhill, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston *Summerhill (Mount Duneed), a prefabricated iron cottage in Victoria Canada * ...

as they won the MFL Div 1 title. He also represented

Meath GAA The Meath County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael Coiste na Mí) or Meath GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Meath, as well as for ...

at county minor level.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual

Supporters Player of the Year (1): 2023

References

External links

Conor Keeley Extratime.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keeley, Conor 1997 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Shelbourne F.C. players Cabinteely F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players League of Ireland players Men's association football defenders Association footballers from County Meath