born in salford, lancashire, kiely trained with the west bromwich albion youth system as a schoolboy before being accepted into the fa school of excellence at lilleshall. after albion he progressed through the coventry city youth system as a trainee before signing a professional contract on 30 october 1987. he went to ipswich town on loan in november 1989 but failed to make any league appearances. kiely joined york city on loan on 9 march 1990 before joining permanently in may, when he was given his first chance at regular first-team football. he made 210 league appearances for them between 1990 and 1996, and played in their 3–0 win over manchester united at old trafford in the league cup.