Stephen Kelly

This is about Irish soccer player; for the American priest and activist, see Stephen Kelly (SJ)

Stephen Michael Kelly (Irish name: Stiofán Mícheál Ó Ceallaigh) (born September 6, 1983 in Finglas, Dublin) is an Republic of Ireland professional association football who plays at full back (usually right full back) for Birmingham City F.C.. He is a full international for the Republic of Ireland national football team.

Club career

Tottenham Hotspur

Kelly joined Tottenham Hotspur F.C. through their youth programme. He was something of an understudy to Stephen Carr (who was subsequently transferred to Newcastle United F.C.) and then to Paul Stalteri. He made his Spurs first team debut in 2003 and then went on to make nearly fifty Premiership appearances and scoring two league goals.

Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C. were believed to be winning the race to sign the defender in January 2006 only for Tottenham to pull the plug on the deal because they had an injury crisis in defence. Kelly did join Birmingham, however, on 28 June 2006 for an initial fee of £750,000 although it could rise to £1.25 million depending on his success with Birmingham City.

Stephen Kelly was the only outfield player in the Premier League 2007-08 Premier League season to have played every minute of every game for his club.

International career

Kelly has won Irish caps at junior levels and is now a member in the Republic of Ireland national football team making his debut versus Chile.
He represented Republic of Ireland Under-20 team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.