Liam Anthony Kelly (born 22 November 1995) is a 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

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

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Club career

Reading

In November 2013, Kelly signed his first professional contract with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, In May 2016, Kelly signed a two-year contract with

. On 12 February 2016, Kelly joined Bath City on an initial one-month loan, extending it for another month on 11 March, before extending it till the end of the season 10 April 2016. Kelly made his debut for Reading on 23 August 2016 at home to Milton Keynes Dons in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

, coming on for

George Evans George Evans may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George "Honey Boy" Evans (1870–1915), American songwriter and entertainer * George Evans (bandleader) (1915–1993), English jazz bandleader, arranger and tenor saxophonist * George Evans (si ...

, with his league debut coming on 22 October 2016 away to Rotherham United. On 30 December, Kelly signed a new contract, keeping him at the Reading until the summer of 2019. He scored his first goal for Reading in a 3–2 win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

on 2 January 2017. Kelly extended his Reading contract on 6 July 2017, signing a new three-year deal.

Feyenoord

On 8 July 2019, Kelly signed for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

signed Kelly on a loan deal until the end of the 2019–20 season on 8 January 2020. On 21 August 2020, Kelly's loan at the club was extended for another season.

Rochdale

On 24 August 2021, Kelly signed a two-year contract with

International career

Kelly made his Republic of Ireland under-19 debut against Slovenia under-19 in September 2013. Whilst playing for the Republic of Ireland U19's against Sweden under-19, Kelly scored a wonder goal from the halfway line. Kelly made his Republic of Ireland under-21 debut against United States under-20 in November 2014. Kelly received his first call up for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

on 13 March 2017, being named in the 39-man provisional squad for the games against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. Kelly rejected a call-up to the

senior squad in March 2018, for personal reasons.

Career statistics

Club

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Liam 1995 births Living people Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers English footballers English people of Irish descent Association football midfielders Reading F.C. players Bath City F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Feyenoord players Oxford United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players