A fitting way to remember Mandy

Emmet Malone talks to Ireland's Gary Kelly about his testimonial on May 7th, which he is using to raise funds for cancer groups in Leeds and Drogheda

Shortly after the death due to cancer of his sister Mandy, Gary Kelly recalls he made a promise to himself that he would do something to honour her memory when the chance came his way.

"I said then that, if I made it to 10 years with Leeds, that I'd do something with my testimonial game for her and now it's happening.

"It's very special to be doing something for somebody who wasn't just my sister, she was my best friend too really."

Kelly was speaking at the Dublin launch for the game at the Irish team hotel yesterday, but tickets for the game, between Leeds United and Celtic, actually went on sale last Friday and the 27-year-old right back says that the early signs are good.

"Yeah, it's been very promising," he says, "they seem to be going well and, hopefully, by the time the games comes around on the 7th of May, we'll fill the place."

With just about everyone having agreed to give their services free of charge, the economics, explains Kelly, are fairly straightforward.

The game is already more or less in profit and, if things go to plan, then £100,000 will be given to the Teenage Cancer Trust in Leeds with the balance going towards the provision of an after-care facility that the Drogheda Cancer Support Centre is currently aiming to build.

Kelly - like Niall Quinn who will also donate the proceeds of his testimonial to charity over the coming weeks - is uncomfortable with the suggestion that the pair may be setting an example for other players to follow, at a time when the wages earned by the game's leading stars have made these games, originally intended to provide for the retirement of the footballer involved, an anachronism.

"Everybody is different," he says, "the fact that I have wanted to do this as a tribute to my sister is no reason to believe that somebody else won't want to do something different."

Like Quinn, Kelly has pretty much guaranteed the success of the venture by securing highly attractive opposition for the game.

While they're involved in a two-way battle for footballing supremacy up in Scotland, Celtic are probably the closest thing the game has to the Harlem Globetrotters.

Just about every British record attendance for a game of this type has been achieved with the aid of their involvement and they are expected, as usual, to arrive with a good sized crowd in tow for what promises to be something a good deal more meaningful then what is usually offered up on these occasions.

'For me, it was always important that they were involved," says Kelly. "I've always been a Celtic fan so it will be great to have them there and then there is the fact that they always come well supported.

"They have a hectic schedule, though, and so we were lucky I think that a couple of things fell through and they were able to do this.

"I'm very grateful to Martin O'Neill for agreeing to play it, I think Leeds have to return the game, but everybody at Elland Road has been fantastic about all of this so I know that's not going to be a problem at all."

Whether he will be a part of things at the club when the game is returned, he insists, is a matter for another day. "It's been an in and out season for me," he admits.

"I've played 30 games and in a normal season that would be a lot, but I've missed quite a few as well so things could be better I suppose.

"It's been a long time, though, and I've always loved my time at Leeds," he adds. "There's been a lot of paper talk about changes being made now, about players being sold and all of that, but I still have five years to go on my contract and there's nothing much I can do except see what happens after the World Cup."

That, he hopes, will be as good an experience as USA'94 where "we had the craic with the three amigos and all that stuff.

"I've had some great times in football," he says, "the World Cup, Champions League, a lot of great experiences and I hope to have a lot more, but this game against Celtic will be a little bit special, I think it will be very emotional for me and everybody over from home, but it's my way of offering something back and doing something to help those suffering as Mandy suffered. Hopefully it will make a difference."

Ticket inquiries for the game can be made to the Leeds United box office on 0044 113 226 6000 while donations can be made to the Gary Kelly Testimonial Charity Fund at the AIB, 98/99 West Street, Drogheda.

The sort code is 93-20-94 and the account number is 56966022.