David Kelly (footballer)

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David Thomas Kelly (born November 25, 1965) is a retired footballer. He was born in Birmingham in England but chose to play for the Republic of Ireland, picking up 26 caps and scoring 9 goals (including a hat trick on his debut against Israel). His most famous goal for Ireland came in a February 1995 friendly clash against England in which Ireland won 1-0, with Kelly scoring just before the half hour mark. The game was abandoned shortly thereafter due to English fans bad behaviour, including chants of "No Surrender to the IRA". As a child, Kelly suffered from Perthes Disease, but recovered to forge a long and successful career in professional football.

Kelly turned out for Walsall, West Ham United, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland, Tranmere Rovers, Sheffield United, Motherwell, Mansfield Town and Derry City F.C., retiring in 2002.

He was Newcastle's leading scorer with 25 league goals when they won promotion from the English Division One to the top-flight Premier League division in the 1992-93 season, but was transferred to Wolves in fear of losing his first-team place at St James' Park following the return of Peter Beardsley. Kelly played well in his first two seasons in the Black Country, but lost his first team place to Don Goodman in the autumn of 1995 and this led to him asking for a transfer.

He was in another promotion winning side in 1996 after featuring in Sunderland's Division One championship winning campaign, but was unable to prevent them from losing their Premiership status after just one season. His goalscoring record at Sunderland was dismally low

Upon completing his move to Tranmere Rovers, Kelly quickly became a firm fan's favourite. Starting 69 league matches for the Rovers with a further 19 substitute appearances Kelly also featured in 7 FA Cup and 17 League Cup games for the Superwhites. Kelly scored 35 goals for Tranmere. His most prolific season was the 1999 - 2000 season. Kelly featured prominently in Rovers' League Cup Run which ultimately led to them reaching the final and losing 2-1 to Leicester City. Kelly scored the goal for Rovers and finished the season as the competition's top scorer. Kelly made a brief but unsuccessful return to Tranmere as assistant manager in 2002 many Tranmere fans still hold Kelly in high esteem even after he abandoned Tranmere to seek glory at Sheffield United.

David Kelly is a unique player as he was actually applauded while running onto St James' Park as a substitute in the colours of rivals Sunderland, which is usually an extremely fierce game filled with hatred, Kelly lists this as his second favourite and proudest moment as a footballer.

Signed for Derry in July 2002 [1] and scored his first goal in an FAI Cup clash [2]. Altogether he scored 3 goals in 11 appearances while in the Candystripes.

In his final game of professional football, Kelly helped Derry City to victory over Shamrock Rovers in the 2002 FAI Cup final, departing for Dublin Airport immediately after the final whistle sounded at Tolka Park in order to assume his duties as newly-appointed assistant manager at Tranmere Rovers.

[edit] Coaching career

After retiring as a Footballer he became a coach and has consistently worked with Billy Davies, as a player at Motherwell F.C. and being part of Davies' bacroom staff at at Preston and Derby County F.C..

He was named as assistant manager to Billy Davies at Derby in July 2007, a few weeks after the club achieved promotion to the Premier League after Davies had spent the majority of the 2006/07 season trying to secure Kelly from Preston, who placed him on gardening leave following Davies' move to Derby. He left the club, with Davies, just 4 months later when Davies left the club by mutual consent following a disastrous start to the 2007/08 season.

[edit] Honours

• FAI Cup :
  • Derry City F.C. 2002

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad - UEFA Euro 1988 1 Bonner • 2 Morris • 3 Hughton • 4 McCarthy • 5 Moran • 6 Whelan • 7 McGrath • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Stapleton • 11 Galvin • 12 Cascarino • 13 O'Brien • 14 Kelly • 15 Sheedy • 16 Peyton • 17 Byrne • 18 Sheridan • 19 Anderson • 20 Quinn • Coach: Charlton

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Bonner • 2 Morris • 3 Staunton • 4 McCarthy • 5 Moran • 6 Whelan • 7 McGrath • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Cascarino • 11 Sheedy • 12 O'Leary • 13 Townsend • 14 Hughton • 15 Slaven • 16 Sheridan • 17 Quinn • 18 Stapleton • 19 Kelly • 20 Byrne • 21 McLoughlin • 22 Peyton • Coach: Charlton

v • d • e Republic of Ireland squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Bonner • 2 Irwin • 3 Phelan • 4 Moran • 5 McGrath • 6 Keane • 7 Townsend • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Sheridan • 11 Staunton • 12 G. Kelly • 13 Kernaghan • 14 Babb • 15 Coyne • 16 Cascarino • 17 McGoldrick • 18 Whelan • 19 McLoughlin • 20 D. Kelly • 21 McAteer • 22 A. Kelly • Coach: Charlton