Liam Kelly is living the dream after returning to Rangers in the summer.
He may not be playing much at Ibrox but the back-up goalkeeper is back at the club he loves after coming through the academy and does have seven appearances to his name this campaign.
Rangers fans have been calling for Kelly to get a chance again because of Jack Butland’s stuttering form, which continued with a basic error against Dundee yesterday.
The man himself will have known he came in as back-up to Butland and so will be grateful for whatever opportunities he does get.
Kelly’s lack of game time has affected his Scotland chances and he was left out of the most recent squad by Steve Clarke, but simply being a Gers player as well as an international are markers of what he’s achieved in his career.
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Liam Kelly’s brother Shay wants to emulate him
Kelly, 29, comes from a footballing family with brother Sean currently at Partick Thistle after spells with Livingston, Dundee and others.
Younger sibling Shay, also a goalkeeper, is now making his way in the game and made his senior debut at the weekend for Dumbarton, where his currently on loan from St Mirren.
Despite having to pick the ball out of the net twice, the 18-year-old was on the winning side of a 3-2 win and was buzzing to make his first professional appearance.
The Buddies youngster has the perfect role model to look up to and says he wants to emulate his brother – and become even better than him!
He told the Daily Record: “I want to be the best goalkeeper I can, I want to be better than him but that’ll be a tough task. He gives me wee pointers all the time, anything that I can add to my game from him then I’ll use them.
“He’s done so well for himself and anything I can learn from him is great.
“Liam went to East Fife in League Two when he’d just turned 20, so he thinks I’m still a baby. But he was buzzing for me, and gave me a wee text before the game which was really nice.”
Shay Kelly on getting Dumbarton chance
Kelly has been playing backup to 17-year-old Queen’s Park loanee Milosz Sliwinski after joining the crisis-hit League One side on loan.
The Sons have been officially relegated to League Two after being unable to overcome a 15-point deduction handed out for going into administration.
As a result, other players are being given a chance and Kelly told how he was handed the news of his first ever senior game.
He added: “Since we got relegated the manager has been talking about giving boys chances and telling me to be patient because I’ll get my minutes. But Milosz has done so well.
“At training on Thursday night he took me and Milosz in and told him how well he’s been playing, but that he was going to give me my debut.
“I was buzzing, straight home to my family to tell and then couldn’t wait for Saturday to come round.
“I loved it, it was a bit of a difficult start finding my way into the game with it obviously being my professional debut.
“In the full first-half I was a wee bit shaky, but I made a save at the end and that calmed me right down.
“When the second goal went in to make it 2-2 you’re worrying that this could be it with the way the season went. But I was absolutely buzzing seeing Vinny go up and get that header.
“I’ve had a bit of a difficult year, but the manager has been brilliant with me and given me a chance. He maybe sees something in me that others don’t see. I hope I can now get as many games as I can.”
