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David 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 hooliganism. 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. 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.

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/proudest moment as a footballer.

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.

After retiring as a Footballer he became a coach. He was part of Billy Davies's coaching staff while at Preston. He was also with Davies at Motherwell as a player. Although still assistant manager at Preston, he is currently on gardening leave and is wanted by Davies as the assistant manager of Derby. [1] [2]

He was expected to be named as the assistant manager of Derby on 15th June. The deal was eventually sealed on 10th July.

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