Darren Kelly (born 30 June 1979) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back.

He spent two seasons with the club, which included an appearance in the 2003 Football League Trophy final, after which he was released and returned to Northern Ireland with Portadown.

Kelly started his coaching career with spells at York and Sunderland, before being appointed manager of League One club Oldham Athletic in May 2015.

He was dismissed in September 2015, and took over at National League team FC Halifax Town in October, before he left by mutual agreement a month later.

[5] He eventually became one of many League of Ireland players who joined Carlisle under the management of Roddy Collins in August 2002 for a fee believed to be around £100,000.

[11] Following the end of the 2003–04 season, Carlisle manager Paul Simpson told Kelly he needed to get fit if he wanted to stay at the club.

[21] Kelly trialled at Kilmarnock of the Scottish Premier League in July 2007,[27] while Gretna were also interested in signing him, but refused to pay the £50,000 Derry wanted for him.

[29][30][31] A day after signing for the club, he made his debut against Rushden & Diamonds and scored a late own goal, meaning his new team lost 3–2.

[32] He was ruled out for at least a month with a suspected torn hamstring in January 2008, which was picked up in training,[33] and returned to the team in their 2–0 defeat against Cambridge United on 1 March 2008, after coming on as a 53rd-minute substitute for Darren Craddock.

[38] Kelly returned to Northern Ireland after re-signing for Portadown on a three-year contract in May 2009 and made 53 league appearances in his second spell with the club.

[21] Kelly was appointed manager of League One club Oldham Athletic on a two-year contract on 4 May 2015, with Dean Holden becoming his assistant.

[53] On 1 October 2015, Kelly was appointed as manager of National League club FC Halifax Town for the rest of 2015–16, with Jim Harvey as his assistant.

[55] Kelly left FC Halifax by mutual agreement on 17 November 2015, with only two wins from his 10 matches in charge including a 7–0 defeat to Grimsby Town.

[63] Kelly was appointed sporting director at Newport County on 7 June 2021 to work alongside first-team manager Michael Flynn.

[68] Kelly managed the team for two matches; the 2–1 League Two defeat to Crawley Town[69] and the 2–1 EFL Trophy win against Southampton Under-21s.