Graham Kelly (born 16 October 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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for NIFL Premiership club

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

. He has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-18 and under-19 level. Kelly began his career at Sheffield United, where he made his senior debut in April 2016. He played on loan at

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

later in the year, before he was transferred to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in June 2017. He played on loan at

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

and Southport during the 2017–18 season. He joined Northern Irish side Larne in August 2018 and helped the club to win the NIFL Championship title in 2018–19 and the County Antrim Shield in the 2020–21 season. They retained the County Antrim Shield the following two seasons. Larne won the Irish League for the first time in the 2022–23 season. He joined Coleraine in June 2023.

Club career

Sheffield United

Kelly came through the Academy at Sheffield United to make his senior debut for the "Blades" as a late substitute for Matt Done in a 3–1 defeat to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

at the Ricoh Arena on 30 April 2016. He joined

of the National League North on loan in August 2016. He made ten appearances for the "Celts" over a five-week stay at Bower Fold.

Port Vale

Kelly signed a one-year contract, with the option for a second year, at newly- relegated

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 Lea ...

club

in June 2017. He said he was looking forward to working with

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Michael Brown and being reunited with former Sheffield United

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Chris Morgan. On 8 September 2017, he joined National League North side

on a one-month loan after manager

Mark Bower Mark James Bower (born 23 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back and is the current manager of Bradford Park Avenue. Born in Bradford, he played for more than a decade with his hometown club Bra ...

needed cover for the injured

Shane Killock Shane Adam Killock (born 12 March 1989) is an English footballer who plays for Stalybridge Celtic as a defender. He played in the Football League for Huddersfield Town. Career As a youngster, Killock was released from Huddersfield Town's youth ...

, Matt Hill and Luca Havern. He scored his first goal in senior football in his final appearance for Avenue, after combining well with Oli Johnson in a 2–0 win over

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

at the Horsfall Stadium. On 26 January 2018, he joined

Kevin Davies Kevin Cyril Davies (born 26 March 1977) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Chesterfield, Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Millwall, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End. He managed Southport in the 2017� ...

's National League North side Southport on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season. He recovered from a car accident on the M6 motorway to make a total of 11 appearances for the "Sandgrounders". Upon his return to Vale Park he was informed by manager

Neil Aspin Neil Aspin (born 12 April 1965) is an English football manager and former player. A solid defender who could play at centre-back and right-back, he was a good marker and an adept tackler. He made his debut in the English Football League for L ...

that he would not be retained beyond the summer.

Larne

On 2 August 2018, Kelly joined NIFL Championship side Larne. He established himself in the side as a left-sided centre back in the club's favoured three at the back

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

, as Larne went on to win the

2018–19 NIFL Championship The 2018–19 NIFL Championship was the third season of the NIFL Championship since gaining senior status. It is the second-tier of the Northern Ireland Football League - the national football league in Northern Ireland. Teams The 2018–19 NIFL C ...

. He made 27 appearances before the 2019–20 season was ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland. On 2 December 2020, he played in the County Antrim Shield as Larne held Glentoran to a 0–0 draw and then won the resulting penalty shoot-out 4–3 to win the club its first major trophy in 33 years. He scored his first goal for the club on 11 December, "a stunning curler into the top corner" in a 3–1 win over Linfield at Inver Park. He made 20 appearances in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

campaign, helping Larne to finish in a UEFA Europa Conference League qualification place. He signed a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2023. Larne retained their County Antrim Shield title with a 1–0 win over Linfield. He played 30 games in the 2021–22 season, including the 4–2 win over Glentoran at The Oval in the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs. A third successive County Antrim Shield title was secured with a penalty shoot-out victory over Linfield. Larne won the first Irish League title of their 134-year history in the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. He left the club at the expiry of his contract in order to find first-team football elsewhere.

Coleraine

Kelly signed a three-year deal with

on 14 June 2023.

International career

Kelly won four caps at for the Republic of Ireland at both under-18 and under-19 level, and scored for the under-19s against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

in November 2015.

Career statistics

Honours

Larne * NIFL Championship: 2018–19 * County Antrim Shield (3): 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 * NIFL Premiership:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Graham 1997 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football fullbacks Sheffield United F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Southport F.C. players Larne F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players