Having established himself at club level, the next step is to become a mainstay of the Northern Ireland team.
His start to life in Michael O’Neill’s squad has been promising with that goal against France in a pre-World Cup friendly, and with a new Nations League campaign set to begin, the opportunity to build upon his four caps may well present itself over the coming weeks.
After Friday’s trip to Georgia, Northern Ireland are back at Windsor Park on Monday, 28 September with Hungary the visitors. Then it’s back on the road to face Ukraine in Trnava, Slovakia on Friday, 2 October before returning home once again for the return fixture against Georgia on Monday, 5 October.
The new-look schedule will ask questions of O’Neill’s squad, but Kelly feels they will cope with the demands and have the ability to put points on the board.
“It’s a new international schedule, so it will be good for us to experience that for the first time,” he said.
“I think a lot of the lads will be used to it anyway because at the clubs you have periods like that where you play a game every three days, so I don’t think it will be anything major, maybe just more travelling than you would do at your club. In terms of recovery, it will be similar.
“We have such quality in the squad and I love coming away and playing here as we have such good players, so hopefully we can put in the performances out on the pitch.”
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