Kelch was a defender who started out with local side Cambridge Boys who he captained to the All-Ireland SFAI Barry Cup Final in 1982. He played for
St Patrick's Athletic and
Bohemians amongst others during his career in the
League of Ireland. He began his career at
Manchester United where his teammates in the youth team included
David Platt. Kelch played in a full strength United side in a testimonial for
Ian Botham in December 1984. However, he never made the breakthrough to the first team and returned to Ireland. A solid full back, he signed for Bohs in August 1993. Kelch played for the
Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team in the
1984 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship finals in the
Soviet Union and scored against Portugal as Ireland won 3-2 As a Bradford player he played and scored in the
1985 FIFA World Youth Championship [https://web.archive.org/web/20121106223908/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=193006/index.html. He was a part of the "All Stars", a best League XI in 1992. Kelch made his
League of Ireland debut for
Home Farm on 20 October 1985. After one season he moved to
Athlone Town A.F.C. In September 1990 he made 2 appearances against
Dinamo Bucharest in the
European Cup. ==References==