User:Niamhdoran.nd/sandbox

Career in Sailing
Kelliher began sailing at the age of 15 in Fenit Tralee, in an old canoe that was given to him by his uncle. After moving to Dublin in 1952, Kelliher joined the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire as a member in 1954.He was a member in the Royal Irish for over 62 years. He spent most of his sailing career here.

In 1961 Kelliher competed in the Edinburgh Cup Competition on the Firth of Clyde. Kelliher's boat was the sole boat from Dun Laoghaire at the event. The boat suffered many breakages at this event, including a broken kicker strap and parted spinnaker halyard, however Kelliher's results prior to this aided his selection to go to the Olympics.

In the lead up to the Olympics, Kelliher continued to sail as a member in the Royal Irish Yacht Club. In preparation, he competed in their 1963 End Of Season race in his own Dragon keelboat named  'ysolde' . He finished first place in this event with a time of 6 hours 55 minutes and 2 seconds.  'Saphire of osyth ' in 2nd position and  'verve' in 3rd.

in 1964 Kelliher was nominated by the then Irish Yachting Association, now the Irish Sailing Association to compete in the Tokyo Summer Olympics 1964 for sailing. Kelliher was helmsman in the mixed three person dragon keelboat category with Harry Maguire and Robert Dalton. They sailed the boat named  'Akatombo', where they finished in 20th place out of a total of 23 boats. Kelliher and his two crew mates had a total of 1'331 points in the event.

In 1965 a year after his Olympics debut, Kelliher competed in the first Dragon keel boat World Championships in Sweden with his wife Doreen Kelliher (nee o’ Sullivan) as his crew. It was after this event took place that Kelliher retired from his sailing career and spent most of his remaining years leisure sailing with his wife, Doreen.