Former soccer star with Kilkenny roots takes up top coaching role

A former soccer international with Kilkenny roots has been named as the new Irish football goalkeeping coach.

Dean Kiely (50), whose father Larry is from Piltown, has taken over the shot-stopping coaching duties for the Republic of Ireland.

Dean had a long and illustrious career between the sticks himself, representing Ireland 11 times over a 10-year period, which would have surely been more were he not in direct competition with Shay Given.

He also made close to 200 Premier League appearances while playing for Charlton Athletic, Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion.  Dean also represented England at underage level from U15 to U18 before switching to Ireland at senior level.

The new Ireland coach has many relatives still living in the area and steps up to replace Alan Kelly on Stephen Kenny’s coaching ticket.

Dean is currently working as goalkeeping coach for Premiership side Crystal Palace.