Roddy adds Kelly to aid promotion push
RODDY Collins has completed his squad ahead of the Airtricity League First Division title run-in with the capture of midfielder Graham Kelly from Salthill Devon.
Kelly actually featured in a pre-season game for Athlone against UCD but eventually ended up joining Salthill Devon, where his performances have been impressive for the league’s basement battlers. Kelly becomes the second former Salthill player to join Athlone’s promotion push this week, following the acquisition of striker Enda Curran from the Galway-based club on Monday.
Twenty-one year-old Kelly began his career in the schoolboy section of Lourdes Celtic before joining Derby County in 2008. Two years later, Kelly signed his first professional contract with Derby but a combination of injury and tough competition for places at Derby saw him return to Ireland for a loan spell with Bray Wanderers. When his contract was complete at Derby, Kelly signed permanently for Bray and made 20 appearances for the Seagulls before joining Salthill at the start of the current season.
Roddy Collins is delighted to have added Kelly to his squad and hopes his registration will go through before tomorrow night’s home game against Finn Harps (7.45pm).
“Graham is a very talented young player and can bring a killer pass to the team. I think he’ll give us the opportunity to work the ball into areas of the field that we haven’t previously been utilising. He’s an accurate passer of the ball and can play in front of the back-four or further up the field. I had taken a look at him against UCD in pre-season and was very impressed but then UCD offered him a trial and I sort of lost track of him with everything else that was going on in pre-season. He went to Salthill and did very well and I’m delighted to add him to our squad. That’s us done in terms of transfer business - unless we start getting crowds of 2,000 or something mad like that!”
Even though the transfer deadline for transfers in the league passed at midnight on Wednesday, clubs can still sign out of contract professionals for a period of four weeks.
With Enda Curran poised to make his Athlone debut against Finn Harps, Collins is hopeful that Kelly will be able to do likewise. Sean Byrne and Robbie Clarke are also available to the Athlone manager after serving suspensions, while Roddy today reported no injury problems ahead of the visit of Peter Hutton’s Harps.