‘It’s Been An Incredible Journey’ – Jack Kelly Reflects On His Ireland Sevens Career

Kelly became a two-time Olympian this week, having worked his way back from a troublesome tricep injury which saw him miss half of this season’s eight HSBC SVNS Series tournaments.

The athletic forward made his Ireland Sevens debut at the 2019 London Sevens event, just a month-and-a-half after the squad had secured World Series core team status for the first time as winners of the Hong Kong qualifier.

The 26-year-old balanced his rugby career with earning a Law degree at Trinity College – he has been a trainee solicitor with McCann FitzGerald LLP since 2022 – and went on to become a key member of the Ireland Sevens playing panel, winning bronze at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens, as well as four medals on the SVNS Series.

The Ireland Sevens programme has been a family affair for Jack since his younger brother Ed (23) joined the set-up, gaining his first cap in 2021. Between them, the siblings have played 212 SVNS Series games for Ireland, with Jack scoring 35 tries in 157 appearances.

The thrill of getting to play for your country alongside your brother and some of your best friends was foremost in his mind when speaking after Ireland’s final outing of the 2024 Olympics.

“We are disappointed as a team. We certainly came here looking to medal, looking to win. So we are disappointed,” Kelly told RTÉ Sport, following this evening’s 17-7 play-off defeat to New Zealand which left Ireland in sixth place.

“Taking a step back, it’s been an incredible journey, an incredible experience for myself. It’s my last game playing, I kind of did take a little step back in that last game to try and soak it all in.

“It’s been an amazing experience for me, to be able to play with some of my best friends, and travel the world with some of my best friends.

“It’s really special and it’s something that I’ll keep forever. I know I’ll have plenty more time to reflect over it, but I did try and grab one or two moments there and let it sink in a little bit.”

A highly-rated young full-back during his 15s days, Kelly captained the Ireland Under-20s but an injury-disrupted spell contributed to him making just one senior appearance with Leinster. He captained the province’s ‘A’ team to the Celtic Cup title in 2018.

However, with Anthony Eddy, the then-IRFU Director of Sevens Rugby, showing a keen interest, the Dubliner went from completing his contract with Leinster on a Friday to starting afresh with the national Sevens group the following Monday.

Initially, there was an adjustment period as, at 6ft 1in and with a sizable build, he had to mould himself into becoming a Sevens forward – ‘one of the big guys’ – as the coaches wanted him to ‘physically impose’ himself on games.

Given he had been playing rugby since the age of five, influenced by his dad, Ed snr, and his uncles, and with boxers like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson among his sporting heroes, Kelly was an ideal fit for the role of a hard-carrying, combative forward with a try-scoring touch.

Having experienced the disappointment of a 10th place finish in Tokyo, and been part of the squad that won the European Games last summer to qualify a year out from the Paris Games, a second Olympics was something that drove him on through his injury setbacks.

“It was kind of a tough journey to this Olympics. I parially tore my tricep, got it repaired and then tore it again. So it’s currently floating in my arm somewhere!

“That’s something I’ll have to go and get repaired. But, look, it wasn’t even a thought for me. All I wanted to do was to make it here.

“I knew that I was so lucky to be part of such a good team, that was able to go and put in great performances.

“Although we’re disappointed with elements of how we performed in general, you know, I’m looking up at my family (in the stand), I can see my friends there. I hope we did them proud today.”

Kelly got to play in all six of Ireland’s Olympic fixtures at the Stade de France, making two starts and tagging in for Zac Ward off the bench on four occasions. It was an altogether more rewarding experience than 2021, especially with the sell-out crowds present.

Topping’s charges will look back with obvious frustration at their second day when they lost leads against New Zealand and Fiji to drop out of the medal race.

As the Dublin University clubman was being interviewed at pitchside, South Africa, whom Ireland had beaten during the pool stages, and Australia were battling it out for the bronze medal.

Asked if it was the big regret that Ireland missed out on playing for a medal after starting so strongly on Wednesday, he replied: “It’s Sevens, it’s tournament rugby. There are so many good teams at this tournament.

“I’m sure there’s not just ourselves that came to this tournament thinking that they can go all the way and that they can beat every team. That’s what we believed, that’s what other teams believed.

“You can see by just how close some games are, that it really can go…a bounce of a ball and you can be in a very different situation. We’re aware of that, other teams are aware of that, it’s just the nature of tournament rugby.”

There were 12 matches in Paris that had winning margins of seven points or less, along with the opening day draw between France and the USA.

Four of Ireland’s games were decided by five points or less, showing how closely-matched the world’s leading Sevens teams are.