Kelly signs on at Shels

After just a year at Wexford, Aoife Kelly has decided to return to where it all began for her as she signed for Shelbourne. Having played juvenile football with St. Pat’s locally, Kelly’s talent was obvious from a young age and was making international teams but with offers coming in from various different League of Ireland sides, Kelly signed for Shelbourne back in 2022 and quickly made a name for herself, going straight into the first team and was part of the squad that won a League and FAI Cup double. Four years later, after two seasons with Shamrock Rovers and just one with Wexford, Kelly has decided to make the switch and return to the capital and return to the club where her League of Ireland journey began.

Shelbourne were clearly delighted with the deal and in their announcement of her signing described her as 'one of the brightest young talents in Irish football'.

“I know a few of the girls, so it's been nice to be in with them,” Kelly told The Nationalist. 

“It's not too much travel from Maynooth because obviously now I'm training in Dublin and I'll be in Maynooth for the second semester so it's close in that sense. They're always competing near the top of the table and I did enjoy my time when I was there when I was younger so the opportunity came up and I said I'd take it and try to do the best and obviously compete for silverware for the league,” she added.

“I obviously know a few of the girls and I know kind of the set up from a few years ago, but obviously things have changed and grown since then. So it'll be a fresh start. It's nice to know a few familiar faces there as well. So I'm looking forward to it,” she explained.

Kelly spent just one season at Wexford and won the All-Island Cup and finished in the top four of the league. Wexford recently announced Ireland girls underage coach, Dave Connell as their new manager, someone who Kelly has worked with at U19’s level before. So why leave?

“I guess there's not just one concrete reason I really enjoyed my time in Wexford under the lads. We obviously won the All-Island Cup and did good in the league but yeah I guess the opportunity came up and I decided to take it. I really enjoyed my time when I was in Shels when I was around 15 or 16 years of age so I just said I'd take the opportunity that came up.” 

“I obviously really enjoyed working under Dave with the 19s as well so that was obviously something to consider as well but yeah I decided to go ahead with the move to Shels. Sean rang me, and I'm excited to work under him and the management for the year ahead. He seems to be a really good manager, and I've been enjoying it so far with him,” Kelly added.