“Look at Me Now”: Senan Kelly’s Comeback From the Classroom to the Conlan Undercard
There was a time Senan Kelly thought about walking away.
After a shoulder injury sidelined him, the Dubliner found himself teaching PE in a Blanchardstown school, coaching kids and earning decent money.
It’s a path he could have stayed on and one many would have advised him to remain on, considering how his boxing prospects looked at the time.
However, the Irish champion couldn’t let go of the boxing dream, fought on, both literally and figuratively, and became a domestic poster boy over the last year or so.
“I was getting paid good money to play football with the boys out there,” he says. “It could’ve been a happy life,” he told Irish-boxing.com.
But something was missing.
“I went back into boxing full-time, built up the gym between fights, and put all my eggs back in the boxing basket. I could have just lived a happy life as a teacher, but it wasn’t for me, you know? I needed to get back into the game, and that’s what I did. Look at me now.”
It’s a gamble that’s now paying off. On September 5, Kelly fights on the Michael Conlan-topped 3Arena-hosted Channel 5 broadcast undercard—a significant step in his rise through the Irish boxing ranks.
The Kildare boxer fights undefeated British prospect Ben Marksby on the Wasserman fight night.,
“I always knew I’d get here. Jay [Byrne] said after the Red Cow shows we’d build to this. National Stadium, then 3Arena—and here we are.”
“He’s going to be the hardest test yet, but this is the path. Win this and keep going.
“It’s not just a dream anymore. It’s happening. I just have to go in there, win, and move on to the next step.”
Kelly might have swapped classrooms for corners, but the lesson is the same: fight for what you believe in, and eventually, belief becomes reality.
As he prepares for the biggest night of his career, there’s a quiet confidence in everything Kelly says. The years of struggle, sacrifice, and self-belief have led him here.
“I just remember seeing all these other lads getting the fight there and always in my head thinking, ‘I’d love to be doing that.’ And I was working so hard at the time in the boxing game, and I just wasn’t getting the shot. Now, thank God for Jay Byrne—he really pulled the rabbit out of the hat with this one.”
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