Jack Kelly (Irish footballer)

John “Jack” Kelly was an Irish footballer, who was top-scorer in the inaugural season of the League of Ireland, notching up 11 goals for . He also scored the only goal in the first ever FAI Cup final replay that same season.
Club career
In the inaugural season of the League of Ireland, Kelly scored in 's first league fixture, a 5-1 win over Dublin United on 17 September 1921. He ended the season as top scorer in the league with 11 goals. He also scored the winning goal in the first ever FAI Cup final against Shamrock Rovers on 8 April 1922 in the final replay held at Dalymount Park, Dublin. 10,000 people watched St James's Gate complete the League and Cup Double by defeating Shamrock Rovers in a fixture marred by violence. The original FAI cup final had finished 1-1 which necessitated the replay. Kelly also scored the St James's Gate goal in this first game. The guy with the gun was Jack Dowdall, brother of the St James's Gate player Jack Dowdall. With "the Gate", Kelly also won the Leinster Senior Cup during the same season.
Kelly's team-mate, Paddy Duncan would score six goals that season. Duncan, along with fellow team-mates Charlie Dowdall, Thomas Murphy, Ernest McKay and Michael Farrell be later be included in the Irish Free State squad for the 1924 Olympics Games. Due to the very strict amateur status required for the 1924 Summer Olympics it is likely that Kelly was ineligible for the squad. Some of the Gate players were Guinness employees and technically amateurs when playing for the company team. Guinness was also in a position allow employees time off to participate in the Olympics as it reflected well on the company team. Kelly did not work for Guinness and would not have qualified as an amateur as he was almost certainly receiving payment for playing for St James Gate. He was also unlikely to get the time off work to attend the tournament.
The following season; St. James's Gate finished the league in 5th place, 14 points behind winners Shamrock Rovers. Kelly notched up 8 goals, while Duncan was the Gate's top-scorer with 14 goals. Kelly's father, John, and Morrissey's gg grandmother, Bridget Kelly were brother and sister. Kelly's older brother Patrick (1879-1940) played for Shelbourne from 1904-1912 and was a member of the Shelbourne team that became the first Southern team to win the Irish cup in 1906. He missed another Irish Cup victory with Shelbourne in 1911 due to a broken leg. He appears to have begun his football career with Inchicore FC, before moving to Tritonville and then Shelbourne. Patrick Kelly also won an All Ireland Gaelic final with Dublin in 1901. The final was played in 1903, though this was not unusual as the tournaments often ran over by a number of years at the time. Jack Kelly died on the 1st February 1943 at 3 Camac Cottages, aged 47 and is buried in Mount Jerome. His brother Patrick died aged 61 in 1940 and is also buried in Mount Jermome, a stones throw from Jack's grave.
Honours
*League of Ireland: 1
**1921-22
*FAI Cup: 1
**1921-22
*Leinster Senior Cup: 2
**1919-20
**1921-22

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