Fiacre Blane Kelleher (born 10 March 1996) 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

club

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

Early and personal life

Born in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, Kelleher is from

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational investment company. Founded in 1988, initially as an enterprise risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager ...

. He has three older brothers who played

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

, as did he. He is the older brother of goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher.

Club career

Early career

Kelleher began his career with local Cork club Avondale, before signing for Scottish club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in 2012. He moved on loan to

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

in July 2016. He signed for English club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

in June 2017. He moved on loan to

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

in August 2017, extending the deal in January 2018 until the end of the season.

Macclesfield Town

He joined Macclesfield Town on loan in June 2018. Kelleher made his professional debut on the first day of the 2018–19 season, starting the game against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. He scored his first goal for club in an EFL Cup draw with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in August, and his first league goal in a 3–3 draw with Newport County at the beginning of October. After being released by Oxford at the end of the season, he returned to Macclesfield and was named captain of the side for the 2019–20 season.

Wrexham

On 12 September 2020, Kelleher signed for National League side

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. Kelleher was released by Wrexham on 2 June 2021.

Bradford City

On 29 June 2021 it was announced that he had signed a two-year contract with

. He later said that he was "excited" to train with his new teammates. He entered the starting line-up after an injury to captain

Niall Canavan Niall David Stephen Canavan (born 11 April 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Barrow. Born in England, he has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth level. Career Born in Bramley, West Yorkshire, Canava ...

, later saying that the club's dip in form was not enjoyable. In April 2022 he said was "gobsmacked" that the club had hired

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

as manager. He moved on loan to

in July 2022, for the entire season. He was recalled by Bradford City in January 2023, with a view to making a permanent transfer elsewhere.

Colchester United

The next day, he signed for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

for an undisclosed fee. He had said that his time at Bradford had "not worked out", having made 11 appearances for the club. After signing for Colchester he became "in the heart of the defence".

Cork City

On 12 June 2025, Kelleher returned to his hometown, signing for

club

on a long term contract set to commence from 1 July.

International career

Kelleher has represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at under-19 level.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelleher, Fiacre 1996 births Living people Association footballers from County Cork Gaelic games players from County Cork Men's association football defenders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Celtic F.C. players Peterhead F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Solihull Moors F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Cork City F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players League of Ireland players 21st-century Irish sportsmen