Kelly following in father’s footsteps with United

There are plenty of sets of brothers who have lined out for Galway United, but by my count – and having checked with people steeped in United’s history such as the likes of Julian Canny, Ronan Coleman, Paul O’Brien and Tommy Shields – there appear to be just four father & son combinations to have lined out for United’s first team since the club’s bow on the domestic scene in the 1976/77 League Cup.

Paul Campbell won the FAI Cup with United in 1991 in his one and only season at the club, in which he made 23 appearances, four fewer than his father, Phil, who also spent just one season at United – or Galway Rovers, as they were then known – in the club’s inaugural season in the league in 1977/78.

John Herrick played 112 times for Galway Rovers from the 1979/80 to 1982/83 seasons, when he acted as player/manager, and he led Galway Rovers to the final of the League Cup in the 1980/81 season, losing on penalties to Dundalk.

His son, Mark, went one better in the same competition, scoring United’s opening foal in their 301 win over Cork City in the first leg of the 1996/97 League Cup final, with United lifting the trophy 4-2 on aggregate when draw in 1-1 in Cork in the second leg.

That game was one of the 230 times Mark lined out for United in his nine seasons at the club, from 1993/94 to that 1996/97 season, and then from the 2001/02 to the 2005 seasons.

Goalkeeper Leo Tierney made five appearances for United in the 1988/89 season, but spent a lot longer at the club as an assistant manager to Tommy Dunne. His son, Levi, also a goalkeeper, played three times for United in the 2008 season.

Peter Dillon made four appearances for the club between the 1991/92 and 1992/93 season, but while his son, Aaron, was on the club’s books in 206, he never made a senior competitive appearance.

Which leads us to the fourth father & son combination to have lined out for Galway United. Colie Kelly played eight times for United in the 1997/98 season, scoring in the 4-1 win over Mervue United in the group stages of the League Cup.

His son, Colin, is now in this third season with the senior United squad, returning to his hometown club after a spell with Bohemian’s U-19 squad last season, and he already has 20 games under his belt.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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