Jack Kelly (born 26 October 1997) is an Irish former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, who played for the

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competed in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team was governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). In May 2025 the IRFU dismantled the programme at the end of the 2024/25 season, i ...

Early life

Kelly was born in Dublin. He lived for two years in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during his childhood, also playing rugby, and speaks fluent French. Kelly attended secondary school at St. Michael's College in Dublin. Despite playing in several strong school teams with fellow future professional rugby players such as

Dan Leavy Dan Leavy (born 23 May 1994) is an Irish rugby union former player who played for Leinster Rugby. His preferred position was flanker. Playing career Leavy was enrolled in the Leinster Rugby academy. He debuted with the Leinster senior team in Oc ...

, James Ryan and others, he did not win a

Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), and was first held in 1887. Attendances are high for a schoolboy ...

medal.

Leinster

Kelly joined the

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

academy immediately upon leaving school in 2016. He made his senior

debut in 2018 against

Ospreys The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It is ...

. He combines his rugby career with studying law in

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

National team

Kelly was selected to captain the

Ireland national under-20 rugby union team The Ireland national under-20 rugby team was formed in 2006, having previously been known as the under-21 team. History Ireland have won the Grand Slam four times and the Six Nations Championship five times: 2007, 2010, 2019, 2022 and 2023. In t ...

for the 2017 Six Nations, becoming the sixth consecutive Ireland under 20s captain to have attended St. Michael's College. Ireland had a mixed campaign, finishing fourth, before enduring a poor Junior World Championship in June 2017, finishing tenth of twelve teams. Kelly also plays for the

. He debuted for the team at the

2019 London Sevens The 2019 London Sevens was the penultimate event of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series and the nineteenth edition of the London Sevens. The tournament was held at Twickenham Stadium, London on 25–26 May 2019. Format Sixteen teams are draw ...

, and also played in a 2019 European qualifying tournament for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Kelly had a breakout season during the

2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series The 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series was the 21st annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The World Rugby Sevens Series, Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000. In March 2020, Worl ...

, Ireland's first season as a core team on the Series, where Kelly led all Irish forwards with nine clean breaks and eight tries. Kelly was a member of the

that qualified for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. He also competed for

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 the

2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth and final edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in Sep ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. Kelly played with the Ireland Men’s Sevens team at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

where Ireland placed sixth. Kelly announced his retirement from Sevens following the event.

Personal life

Kelly earned a Law degree at Trinity College and began working as a trainee solicitor at McCann FitzGerald LLP in 2022.

References

External links

Pro14 ProfileLeinster Academy Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Jack Living people 1997 births People educated at St Michael's College, Dublin Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Irish rugby union players Dublin University Football Club players Leinster Rugby players Olympic rugby sevens players for Ireland Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Irish expatriates in France Rugby sevens players at the 2023 European Games European Games medalists in rugby sevens European Games gold medalists for Ireland Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics