Kennelly first came to Gaelic football prominence as a member of the Ballylongford club before earning selection on the Shannon Rangers divisional team.
His brother, Brendan Kennelly, was professor of Modern English at Trinity College, Dublin.
[5] Kennelly graduated from the same institution with a degree in engineering in 1953 and started work with the Electricity Supply Board.
He spent three years working in British Guyana before taking up his first appointment with Kerry County Council in 1960.
Kennelly, who had suffered from a heart condition for several years, died suddenly in Killarney on 12 January 1999.