While a pupil at Marr College, Troon, he was in the Scottish Schools' squad, though it was only this past season that he broke through to an established place in a national team, appearing at tight head in all five of Scotland’s under-21 internationals.
He visited New Zealand with the 1999 Glasgow Thistles, the second occasion on which the Glasgow and District Rugby Union had sent such squad on what he now become a well established programme for a months development work in the Waikato province. His colleagues on that venture three years ago included Andrew Henderson, who become the first Glasgow Thistle to be capped when he played as a try-scoring replacement against Ireland in September last year. Kelly joined Glasgow last season, making his debut as a replacement against Harlequins.