Rotherham United striker Georgie Kelly on his aim for the next Championship campaign

STRIKER Georgie Kelly has set himself one major target for Rotherham United next season ... and it has nothing to do with scoring goals.

Fresh from the Millers Championship survival mission, the Irishman is relishing another crack at the second tier in the 2023/24 campaign.

But the centre-forward who was sidelined for more than two months by hamstring and calf issues as the club closed in on safety is prioritising fitness over his finishing.

All he wants to do is stay available for selection.

“The plan for next year will be to get through the season without being injured,” he said. “People talk about goals and other milestones but I’d be happy if I could stay fit. I’d take that right now and then see what happens in matches.”

Kelly famously wrote himself into Rotherham folklore with a stunning last-day, promotion-clinching strike at Gillingham on his debut in April 2022.

He followed that up with four second-tier goals in three starts and 26 substitute appearances last term when his goals-per-minutes ratio was up there with the top forwards in the division.

The Donegal-born hitman signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at AESSEAL New York Stadium in January 2022 after topping the scoring charts in the League of Ireland with Bohemians.

He soon suffered a recurrence of an injury to his left calf sustained in the closing weeks of his time on the Emerald Isle and has been susceptible to similar problems ever since.

The Millers have worked out that the 26-year-old is most at risk when pitches lose their hardness as summer and autumn give way to winter.

“We’ve sorted it out now, I hope,” he said. “Essentially, my calf is vulnerable at certain times of the year around when surfaces change. Our training pitches tend to be a little bit soft.

“It’s something I’m going to have really manage. I’ll need to take an extra day or two off and massively focus on recovery of that calf.

“Before the tear with Bohs, I’d had nothing. I went years in the League of Ireland without even a muscle injury.”

Kelly has just spent his first full season in English football and found the punishing schedule a stark contrast to the more relaxed programme of his homeland where teams play ten fewer league fixtures.

“The demands are massive,” he said. “The amount of matches ... last year we played something like 50 games. It’s ridiculous.

“Some lads were playing nearly 90 minutes three times a week. That is relentless. Some of them are probably a little bit more efficient, depending on how they’re built, how they run.

“I’m heavier and bigger. I’d be struggling after one game. It took me nearly a week to recover.”

Rotherham fought through adversity in their quest for safety and the centre-forward was one of many faces in the treatment room as the players stretched themselves beyond their limits.

By the time continued participation in the Championship was assured virtually a full team of first-teamers were watching from the stand.

Kelly recognised the scale of the Millers’ achievement in finishing in 19th spot, six points clear of the relegation reckoning.

“Injuries killed us this year, which made it even tougher,” he said. “We must have had nine or ten lads out at one stage. Everyone was kind of walking wounded.”

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A SUMMER of upheaval is on the way for Rotherham United as they bid to become an established Championship side, reckons Georgie Kelly.

Manager Matt Taylor, who took the hot-seat in early October, kept the Millers up with a mixture of January-transfer-window arrivals and players who’d been brought to the club by his predecessor, Paul Warne.

The new boss will be looking to make a number of signings and let some old boys leave in his quest to assemble a squad capable of prospering in the second tier.

“From day one, all he wanted to do was to get us through this year and survive,” Kelly said. “He’s planning to rebuild. He’ll probably change quite a lot now.”

Rotherham’s successful survival mission was the first time in four attempts since 2017 that they have avoided an instant return to League One.

“It’s such a hard league to get into,” Kelly said. “When you get there, you need to stay in it. Then you can plan a little bit more long term.”

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GEORGIE Kelly found himself craving his bed as he adapted to life in the Championship with Rotherham United.

A 46-match league campaign brought some long midweek trips and hour upon hour on dark motorways on the club bus for the frontman and his teammates.

“It’s very physically demanding in this division,” he said. “A thing I find hard is the travelling and lack of sleep. That all builds and builds, then you’re trying to recover and it’s difficult.”

He particularly recalls the visit to Swansea City in late February: a round trip of 470 miles for an 8pm kick-off on Monday night.

“We didn’t get home until maybe five o’clock in the morning,” he said.

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MORE than 13 months on, memories of the split second of magic that made Georgie Kelly an instant Rotherham United hero show no sign of fading.

The shy boy from Donegal was thrown on late on for his debut at Gillingham on April 30 last year and capped his 15-minute cameo by crashing home the goal that took the Millers back up to the Championship.

The frontman’s delirious run towards a packed away end as he celebrated was almost as special as his 18-yard strike.

“People still come up to me and mention it,” he said. “It was a great moment, right in front of the fans, the whole wall. Then came the pitch invasion.

“It was crazy. The sun was roasting that day as well. I’ll never forget it.”

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Kelly was talking on the Petey Performance podcast in Ireland.