Shaun Kelly Interview
Keith Wallace, 22nd July 2009.He grew up with Ireland’s most promising right-back, Seamus Coleman, and now Shaun Kelly is beginning to make a name for himself in the League of Ireland after returning from Scotland earlier this year. At the same time, Coleman was making the move across the water as he joined English Premiership giants Everton from Sligo Rovers, and with Kelly’s impressive progression since arriving at Oriel Park in January, another chance of playing at the highest level can not be ruled out for the 19-year-old.
Scottish benefit
“That’s everybody’s ambition, isn’t it, to play in the Premiership,” Shaun told the DFC Magazine this week. “I think anybody in the world would want to play there. Myself and Seamie grew up together in Killybegs and he was at the Saint Catherine’s at the same time that I was there. I moved away the year before he signed for Sligo when obviously the Gaffer (Sean Connor) took him there. We’re the best of friends, he just went back there last Sunday for pre-season.” Kelly was in the middle of his fourth year at SPL club Heart of Midlothian when Connor approached him to sign for Dundalk, a move which the youngster felt would benefit his career, as he says his time in Scotland did. “It definitely did help me,” he said. “Any player that goes away at a young age, you’re getting good coaching, good training and you’ve got good facilities – all you can do really is improve. At Hearts too, they tend to give youth players a chance. I think maybe in the last few years there have been a few things in the papers about Lithuanians taking over and a few people not getting chances, but people still do get chances. I just didn’t get the break at that time, so that’s when I decided it was maybe time for me to come back and try first-team football here.”
Foreign ventures
Kelly started off at his local Saint Catherine’s club in Donegal before signing for Irish League side Institute. From there, he went on trial at Blackburn Rovers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Hearts before joining the Scottish giants in June 2005. “I started my football with Saint Catherine’s in Killybegs,” Shaun explains. “I was picked for the Donegal team and we went to the Kennedy Cup in Limerick and then after coming home from there I signed for Institute. I played for Institute for one year and then I went over to Blackburn and Wolves on trial – that was just more of an experience for me as I was only 14 when I went to Blackburn and I was 15 when I went to Wolves, but I enjoyed the two of them. Then the opportunity to go to Hearts came up, when I was a little bit older, and they offered me a deal so I signed it then straight away. There’s a man John Murray who would be the Head Scout over there, he’s originally from Northern Ireland, and he comes over and watches a few of the games. He scouts around Northern Ireland and Scotland and he took me over from Institute. When I went for the first trial, he said they would be offering me a deal and then I went over and back maybe two or three more times before signing.”
Hearts departure
The right-back, who says he has no problem playing on the right side of midfield where he has been placed on a number of occasions this season, was at Tynecastle for almost four seasons but he struggled to make a breakthrough to the first team, with his only sniff of senior football coming when he made the bench for the Edinburgh derby against Hibernian in 2007. However, he says that he enjoyed his time at the club immensely. “Hearts was very good, they have a great youth system,” Shaun says. “Their setup is top class. Between themselves, Celtic and Rangers, the three of them have really good setups, so when I was there it was brilliant. When I got injured then, I was out for five months. When I came back things were limited – there were 70 players in the squad from the first team down to the youths – so that’s when the Gaffer got the job here, he asked me did I want to come over, and once I came over and seen the place that was my mind made up. It was during my fourth season at Hearts. I was on the bench in one of the senior games, in the Hibs derby, I was only 17 at the time. Then I went to a training camp with them in Germany – that’s when I tore ligaments down the side of my knee and it left me out for five months. When I came back then, I never really regained full fitness, so that’s when I decided it was maybe time to move on.”
Connor confidence
Kelly returned home to Ireland and joined Dundalk, although there was interest from the club he followed as a child, Finn Harps, though that was an offer that he did not want to take up as the Donegal side were after suffering relegation from the Premier Division. Instead, he signed for the newly-promoted Lilywhites and Connor, who had been tracking the youngster for some time. “I was still under contract at Hearts and I could have stayed with them,” he explains, “but I thought coming here and playing first-team football in the League of Ireland was better for myself, and I think at the minute it is working out better for myself, and I’m enjoying it. (Sean) gave me a call when he was at Bohs, around the time that I was on the verge of the first team, but it didn’t happen obviously, but I’m just glad that it did happen the second time.
Oriel enjoyment
“When (Harps) heard I was leaving Hearts to come here they just asked me what was happening but I told them that I didn’t want to go up there,” he continues, “that I’d rather play down here in the Premier Division. Here is brilliant. The standard of the league, to be honest, has been brilliant. We’re on this wee run now, everybody gets on with each other and it’s a great bunch of lads, and with the Gaffer and Joe (Miller) as well, everyone is just sticking together. Them two have reignited my career for me. Between the two of them, they’ve worked together brilliantly. Only the Gaffer has given me this chance, I would probably still be playing in the reserves in Scotland, so I’m just glad to be getting the opportunity to play first-team football.”
Home improvement
Shaun had been well aware of the league in his younger days as he supported Harps. However, once he moved to Hearts, following the league became more difficult, though the improved standard of football since he returned has not come as a surprise. “Living in Donegal as a boy, I would be going over to Finn Harps game,” he recalls, “but then when I moved away I kind of lost contact with the league because I wasn’t able to watch many games, but I’m back now and I think, personally, that it’s getting better every year, with more and more players coming back. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised by the standard because the League of Ireland has always been a good standard. We just need to get to the likes of Bohs, and I think we can. It’s four wins in a row now and we’re after beating Cork and Derry in the last two games. You don’t do that if you’re not a good side, so it proves that we are a good side, and hopefully we can just keep building on that.”
Impressive progress
Kelly has been an integral part of that run of form and Dundalk’s jump to fifth, appearing in 16 of their 18 league games, while he also helped them into the last 16 of the FAI Cup after scoring his first club goal against Mervue United at Terryland Park in the Third Round last month. His improvement since the start of the year has been notable with the defender being one of the side’s most consistent performers, and he admits that he is pleased with his own performances. “I’m actually very pleased with my form at the minute,” he says, “so hopefully I can just keep it going. I think Sean is just happy with the way the team is performing, he’s happy with the way everything is going, so hopefully we can just keep building on that. He has spoken to me and he’s happy with the way I’m playing. He says to keep building on it, you’re still young and to keep learning, and that’s all I can really do.”
Kelly confident
Kelly’s most disappointing evening in a Lilywhites shirt came against tonight’s opponents, Bohemians, when they were on the wrong end of a 5-0 scoreline back in May. It was, however, something of a false scoreline as the Gypsies scored four goals in the final 20 minutes against a Dundalk side which finished with nine men. The right-back is confident, though, that that won’t happen again as Connor’s men have proved in recent weeks that they can compete with the best teams in the country. “The game against Bohs is a massive one,” Shaun says. “We just need to keep our run going. We’ve proven we can beat anyone. If we can beat Cork in Cork and beat Derry twice, it just shows that we can actually beat anyone. Maybe if we have a full-strength team again this week, we can hopefully turn them over. There’s a ten-point gap (up to fourth) but if we can keep playing like we are at the minute, there’s no reason why we can’t climb further. That’s the thing about this league, everybody seems to be picking up points here and there and then dropping points here and there, so if we can keep picking up our points, I’m the sure the Gaffer will be looking towards fourth. But even from tenth place right up, you’re always going to be looking over your shoulder. There’s eight points down to Bray and only three to St. Pat’s behind us – one loss and they’re right back behind you, so all we need to do is keep building and getting results.”
