Darren Kelly
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| Darren Kelly | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Darren Kelly | |
| Date of birth | 30 June 1979 | |
| Place of birth | Derry, Northern Ireland | |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | |
| Playing position | Centre back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | York City | |
| Number | 25 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Trojans | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1993–1994 1994–1995 1995–1996 1996–1996 1996–2002 2002–2004 2004–2006 2006–2007 2007– |
Shelbourne Monaghan United Derry City Shelbourne Derry City Carlisle United Portadown Derry City York City |
5 (0) 5 (0) 8 (0) 20 (0) 135 (6) 42 (2) 52 (10) 29 (2) 27 (2) |
| National team | ||
| 1999–2000 | Northern Ireland U21 | ? (?) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Darren Kelly (born 30 June 1979 in Derry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish footballer, currently playing for York City.
[edit] Career
Having played with Trojans in the Derry and District League as a youth, Kelly began his senior career at Shelbourne of Dublin before a move to Monaghan United in 1994. He was signed by his home-town club Derry City the following season. However, with limited first-team opportunities after making his debut at home to Sligo Rovers on 18 February 1996, he chose to return to Shelbourne during the 1995-96 season, where he showed his huge potential. He was quickly re-signed by Derry City again in 1996. Newspaper reports in October 2001 claimed Kelly had joined Carlisle United, which was denied by Derry.[1] However, he was one of many League of Ireland players who joined Carlisle United under the management of Roddy Collins in October 2002 for a fee believed to be £100,000.[2] This came at a time when Derry City found themselves in a financial crisis and were forced to off-load several key members of the team. Kelly, a Northern Ireland Under-21 international, had a largely unsuccessful time at Carlisle with the club suffering relegation in the 2003–04 season.[citation needed]
He was one of a number of players released by Carlisle,[3] but he signed a two-year contract for Portadown in August 2004.[4] Kelly made a great impact in the Irish League as an aggressive tackler and became Portadown captain for 2005-06. He won the Harp player of the month award for February 2006.[5] He launched a stinging attack on the "prima donnas" at the club and felt some of his teammates lacked "ambition and determination" in February 2006.[6] In April 2006, Kelly announced that he was unhappy at Portadown and would not be seeking a contract extension after two years at the club.
Kelly attracted attention from League Two side Stockport County as well as Linfield, Shelbourne, Drogheda United and Derry City. Kelly looked set to join Stockport on a two-year contract in April 2006,[7] but a day later he said he was yet to decided whether to join them.[8] He eventually chose to return to his old club Derry City for the third time in May 2006,[9] He played in all of Derry's six game in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup campaign, which included a goal in the 5–1 victory over Gretna.[10][11] He was chosen as the eircom/Soccer Writer's Association of Ireland Player of the Month in September 2006.[12] He was named in the Professional Footballer Association of Ireland's team of the year in December 2006.[citation needed] He featuered for Derry in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League in the 2007–08 season, playing in the 2–0 defeat to FC Pyunik.[13]
Kelly was given a trial at Kilmarnock in August 2007.[14] However, on 13 August, it was rumoured that Inverness Caledonian Thistle had tabled a £35,000 offer for Kelly, plus add-ons which would stretch to £50,000 in addition to rumours linking him with Gretna.[citation needed] However, Inverness were only interested in loan terms and Gretna would not meet the valuation.[citation needed] Kelly instead signed for Conference National side York City in the closing days of the transfer window for a five-figure fee.[15][16] He was ruled out for at least a month with a suspected torn hamstring in January 2008, which was picked up in training,[17] returning to the side in their 2–0 defeat against Cambridge United on 1 March 2008.[18]
[edit] References
- ^ "Derry deny Kelly move", BBC Sport, 2001-10-22. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly finally moves to Carlisle", BBC Sport, 2002-08-21. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Carlisle release trio", BBC Sport, 2004-07-27. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly signs for Portadown", BBC Sport, 2004-08-17. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly claims monthly player award", BBC Sport, 2006-03-09. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly blasts Ports 'Prima Donnas'", BBC Sport, 2006-02-12. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly poised for Stockport switch", BBC Sport, 2006-04-24. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly mulls over Stockport offer", BBC Sport, 2006-04-25. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Defender Kelly back at Derry City", BBC Sport, 2006-05-18. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ Darren Kelly. Playerhistory. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ "Gretna 1-5 Derry City", BBC Sport, 2006-08-10. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ "Longford Town v Derry City (Sat)", BBC Sport, 2006-10-13. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ Pyunik 2 - 0 Derry. UEFA. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ "Killie give Derry's Kelly a trial", BBC Sport, 2007-08-01. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Kelly seals transfer to York City", BBC Sport, 2007-08-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
- ^ "Double up – but Billy wants more", The Press, 2007-08-30. Retrieved on 2007-08-30.
- ^ "Battle stations for City", The Press, 2008-01-21. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
- ^ Football Conference - KO 15:00. Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
[edit] External links
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