Returning Rory Kelly happy to be mixing business and pleasure at Finn Harps

At 32, and having last stood between the posts on Navenny Street over a decade ago, the Buncrana native was parachuted back into the mix last weekend and straight into the starting XI as Harps earned a valuable 2-1 win away to Kerry FC.

Kelly works full-time with recycled teen fashion outfit, Junk Kouture, and that takes him around the world with their creations having been modelled everywhere from Climate Week NYC and Cannes Film Festival to onstage at the 3Arena, Dublin.

It sounds and feels like an already hectic schedule. So you have to wonder, from the outside looking in anyway, what’s tempted him to step back on that mad Finn Harps carousel.

“I’m kinda splitting my time between Derry and Dublin at the moment,” he told DonegalLive. “I’m with Junk Kouture - it’s a fashion programme for schools. I’d look after the business development and partnerships for them.

“I’m over and back to London and even the United States at times. It’s interesting and enjoyable at the same time. And it is busy.

“But the thing with me has always been that you have to enjoy playing. At the likes of Letterkenny Rovers and more recently at Buncrana Hearts, I’ve just got the love back for it. There wasn’t really that same sort of pressure.

“I was just showing up, training and playing. And I was performing better than ever because of that. The Harps call, it wasn’t something I was expecting to be honest. I’ve been out of that environment for ten years now.

“I went up, spoke to Dave, spoke to Murph. I really liked where they're trying to go with the club, the culture they’re building.

“They’re giving young lads chances and responsibility. With the likes of myself, Tony McNamee and so on coming in, they're also padding that with a little bit of experience”.

Aesthetically little, if anything, has changed at Finn Park in the time he’s been away. But Kelly says the shift in approach or, to what he was used to previously, is seismic.

“I’ve been away a while but it’s great to come back and see the changes that are being implemented. I got the chance to have a real good talk with Dave on the way down to Kerry. The entire squad is based in Donegal.

“That’s massive. It brings familiarity on a daily basis but it also, I feel, brings total accountability. Young lads like Aaron McLaughlin and Sean O’Donnell, they are in and around that and also playing a role on the pitch.

“Because for too long that had been the case for young lads, and not just at Harps. Clubs have lost good, young talent because they might have been struggling for results and that gamble… football is a results driven business.

“You don’t have that luxury of bringing in a 16 or 17 year old when you’re chasing valuable points. No doubt the first half of the season has been a big learning curve for everyone involved.

“But the great thing is that is learning now under the belt. I hope the lads that have come in, myself included, are adding something to it. And whether it’s a short term thing or not, I’m excited to be a part of that”.

Kelly - who previously worked cross-channel with Platinum One, a professional footballing agency - says Donegal has always been a hotbed for footballing talent.

But the amount of quality that comes out of the north west hasn’t always passed through Finn Harps or, at least, the club hasn’t been a first port of call.

“Donegal is a massive county and we produce a lot of very good footballers. The issue that’s been at Harps, and it’s a legacy issue really; they’re down and they’re up, down and up.

“They have an almost complete turnover of players every single season. That makes it extremely difficult. Being from Inishowen, the natural thing for players there was to look towards Derry City or Institute.

“The pathway hasn’t always been there at Harps. So this is a new direction, a really big change”.

Football isn’t the only priority in Kelly’s busy life, his eggs aren't and have never been all in that one basket. He shows up, trains and plays. And, in the time in between, it’s parked.

“For me and sport, it’s always been a case of what else am I doing, what else have I got going on? If you're all consumed by one thing, I’d find it very hard to get the best out of life in general.

“So I’ve always tried to have work, have time with my mates and family and also scratch that football itch as well where I train on a Monday and a Wednesday and I’ve a game to look forward to at the weekend.

“I just feel it brings a nice balance. And talking to Tony McNamee, he’s that little bit older now as well, but he’s sort of in that same headspace. It’s definitely the case for myself.

“The lads were laughing at me last week, on the way back up from Kerry. I’ve the laptop with me and I’m working away. It’s just different for the younger lads, they’re trying to be as close to a full time environment.

“But the great thing about Finn Harps now, its manager and its staff, is that it’s catering for both ends of that spectrum. It’s a full time environment but there is that bend and scope for lads like myself that simply can’t be in every single morning.

“With that sort of balance or spread of interests, whenever one thing stops, there isn’t a sudden void. Because if there was only football that’s what could well happen”.

He added: “I’ve been around for quite some time. I look at Oisin (Cooney) and I’m twice his age! It’s mad, I’m 32 and he’s just 16. Even Tim (Hiemer), it’s his first time playing in Ireland and I’ll do my best to give as much help as I can”.