Mayo native making waves in Qatari footballing leagues
In football, Ciaran Kelly is a well-known name around these parts.
The Hollymount native, whose has enjoyed stints with Ballinrobe Town, Castlebar Celtic and Sligo Rovers, has had a memorable journey. He was in goal for Celtic during the Hoops run to the 2006 FAI Junior Cup semi-final and was also involved in the Bit o' Red's back-to-back FAI Cup truimphs in 2010 and 2011.
Having hung up his boots in 2013, he got his UEFA A coaching licence and is now settled in Qatar, involved with Lusail Sports Club, operating in the Qatari second division.
“We spoke about it together in 2014, where would we be interested in going (to Qatar),” he told The42.ie. “I suggested it because the World Cup was only around the corner. We’d seen some opportunities. She knew some people out there. So we identified it as a good area to start a new chapter.
“It’s been an amazing journey, always lots of ups and downs, which is part of the industry.
“I came here to work with a club and through that first few months, the opportunity that was given to me was a little bit different to what was sold to me.
“So through my friends over here, I bumped into a guy [Keith Young] that had an amateur club. He sold me a vision. His assistant manager at the time was a guy called Stephen Gough. Stephen would have been ex-Shamrock Rovers, Longford, Bray. So he was familiar with me in the League of Ireland and I came in as their head coach.
“We were in the Qatar amateur league, which was the third division. When I took over, they wanted to go to the second division, start an academy. We achieved that inside the first two seasons, we got promoted to the second division and today we have an academy of just under 600 players, ranging from Under 4s to our first team.
“I suppose I have many hats, but just this season, I have been promoted to technical director of the whole club.”
MAJOR STRIDES
The club have made major strides since Kelly got involved. Two years ago, their first-team players and staff became fully professional.
“It was basically a Sunday league team,” Kelly admitted. “A group of ex-pats that had a team together. In the Qatar amateur league, you have to have five Qatari players on the pitch. We had to diversify and make sure we had that criteria checked off. So we had to bring in local Qataris, we needed a Qatari manager, we brought in a Qatari president and he still is the president of the club today.”
“Our criteria is a little bit different [from other teams],” he adds. “We have to use all local Qatar players. We’re not allowed to have any professional players who are born outside of Qatar. That’s a little bit difficult for us because we’re competing against clubs that have these players.
“The criteria here is that clubs are supported by the ministry. So they receive a budget from the government. Lusail Sports Club don’t receive any support. We are a pilot club to prove that you can be sustainable. So we’re earning sponsorship and investment. This is how we’ve put our model in place and we’re now sustainable.”
Qatar have improved considerably of late, winning the Asian Cup for the first time in 2019. They also impressed playing against Ireland back in March, drawing 1-1 in Debrecen, but were on the receiving end of a 4-0 hammering last week, with Callum Robinson netting a hat trick in an electric display from Ireland.
Kelly puts a significant portion of their success down to the Aspire Academy, which was founded in 2004 and aims to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, with the majority of the current national team are graduates.
“They go into the academy to train full time or speed up their development,” Kelly added.
“Next year, with the World Cup, you could see Qatar doing well. But what people have to put into consideration is only 400,000 Qataris are living in Qatar. It’s fairly minute the pool of players they could pick from. So to be able to compete on the world stage is a huge credit to the industry here.”
Qatar are the hosts of next year's World Cup for the very first time but there has been no shortage of controversy in the build up, with allegations of bribery and corruption, while the plight of the country’s migrant workers has also attracted significant criticism.
The feasibility of staging the tournament there - taking place in November instead of the traditional smmer months - has also been questioned, prompting Fifa to take the unusual step of arranging it for midway through most countries’ domestic seasons.
Nonetheless, Kelly believes the tournament will be a success, pointing to the superb facilities and substantial preparation for the event.
“Some of the stadiums that are being built [are impressive], our first team played on Tuesday night in the Al Thumama Stadium behind closed doors as a trial game for operations ahead of the Arab Cup, which is here next month.
“It was a fantastic opportunity for our players to play in a brand new stadium, and since it was announced in 2010, this country has been building for 2022 with the final to be finished on National Day on 18 December. A lot of money and work has gone into it, they’ve put a huge amount of energy into making sure this is the biggest showcase event in World Cup history.”
HOMECOMING
Kelly plans to make a return home at some point, but he doesn’t see himself leaving Lusail at this moment in time.
“A lot of the Qatar national team’s staff I see quite regularly. Their kids have come through our academy. They’re always popping in so I have a good chat with them. They enjoyed the [first] Irish game, it was a good test for them. One of the coaches brought me back Callum Robinson’s jersey from the game so that was a nice present.
“For the Qatar national team to have an opportunity to play against European opposition — the philosophy of the game out here is a little bit slower. It’s not as intense. That’s down really to the climate, how players and teams have to adapt their philosophy and their game model. But from a European perspective, playing a higher intensity game will support them for preparations for 2022.”