At club level he played with a number of sides, including Gortnahoe–Glengoole and Military College, and was also a member of the Tipperary senior hurling team.
Kiely joined the Irish Army as a cadet in January 1961 and won an All-Army hurling medal with the Military College later that same year.
He was still eligible for the minor grade when he first lined out at adult level with the club and won a Mid Tipperary JAHC title in 1959.
Players from Air Corps, Grocers and Crokes combined to form the Junior Board Selection and he won a Dublin SHC medal with them after a defeat of Young Irelands in 1963.
[8] He won his first Munster MHC medal that year before later lining out at centre-forward in the 4-07 to 3-07 win over Kilkenny in the 1957 All-Ireland minor final.
[11] After claiming that season's Leinster JHC title, Kiely was at full-forward when Kildare beat London by 4-07 to 2-04 in the 1962 All-Ireland junior final.
[12][13] Kiely subsequently declared for Tipperary and made his senior team debut in a 4-07 to 1-11 defeat of Cork in the 1963 Munster semi-final.