Newmarket Celtic’s Stephen Kelly is one of three nominees for the FAI Junior International Player of the Year.
It has been a memorable twelve months for Kelly who picked up his first international cap lining out in the UEFA Regions Cup and also collected an Oscar Traynor medal with his county.
His club enjoyed a successful period on the domestic front winning both the League and Cup in Clare while their lengthy runs in the FAI and Munster Junior Cup were helped by Stephen who was a rock at defence alongside Paddy Purcell.
Stephen’s performances were crucial to the success of their various teams he was involved with and this has been recognised with the nomination for the prestigious honour.
It is the first time a footballer from Clare has been shortlisted in the final three for the FAI Junior International Player of the Year.
Clare manager, Donie Garrihy previously told The Clare Herald what he thinks of the Newmarket-on-Fergus native. “I love Stephen to bits as a player, he’s a warrior, he’s an athlete, he’s an international footballer, he’s our county captain, he’s hugely important to Newmarket Celtic, he’s vastly experienced. He’s a huge part of our team as he was last year and the year before that, I can’t flag just how important our county captain is to us”.