Jimmy Kelly (Irish footballer)
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- For the later Northern Irish footballer of the same name see Jimmy Kelly (Northern Irish footballer).
James ("Jimmy") Kelly (born 1912 in Ballybofey, County Donegal, died 1970) is a former Irish international soccer player.
Kelly played for Coleraine FC, Liverpool FC and Derry City FC for which he scored three hundred and sixty-three goals over a period of twenty years. He represented the Irish League sixteen times and played for the League of Ireland three times. From 1927 to 1937 he was capped eleven times for the IFA XI and between 1932 and 1936 he played four times for the FAI XI team by birth and was capped four times for the southern team from 1932 to 1936.
Kelly was one of the most prolific players in the history of the Irish League. He had begun his career with Coleraine before being snapped up by Liverpool in 1929. Unable to make the breakthrough at Anfield, he returned to Ireland with Derry City in October 1930. Immediately on his return, Kelly began to set the Irish League alight, finding the back of the net with unerring regularity over a twenty year period as well as scoring Derry's only goal in the 2-1 Irish Cup final replay loss to Linfield FC in 1936.
Selected for the Irish League for the first time against the Scottish League in October 1931, he scored twice to inspire a rare victory, 3-2. For the Irish League he also scored the deciding goal in a 2-1 victory over the Football League in September 1935, and the following year a hat-trick against the same opposition brought a 3-2 victory.
October 1931 brought Kelly his international debut, and he marked the occasion with a goal in a 6-2 defeat by Scotland. The following season he scored twice in a 4-0 victory over Wales, in what proved to be one of only two victories of his Ireland career. Also capped by the Irish Free State, he put in a “brilliant display” on his debut, a 2-0 win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam. His two goals for the Free State came in the same game, a 5-1 win over Luxembourg in May 1936. That same month he also played in an unofficial international, the Free State losing 4-1 to the Rhineland.
Aside from spells guesting with Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk FC during the War, Kelly remained with Derry City through to the early 1950s, helping the club to their first ever Irish Cup success, a 3-1 victory over Glentoran FC in 1949. After over twenty years of prolific goalscoring, Kelly hung-up his boots, after a spell back at Coleraine, in 1952.
