Last month's heavy rain in Perth turned the stadium into a quagmire, with ground staff working around the clock to get the surface up to an adequate standard in time for Saturday's match.
So dire was the situation, helicopters were hired by the venue on Wednesday to hover just above the surface to try to dry up the excess water.
There were thoughts the match might have to be shifted to either the WACA Ground or AFL venue Subiaco Oval.
But Kelly confirmed on Thursday the match will go ahead at Perth Oval, saying the situation has improved and players will not be at an increased risk of injury.
"I'm very confident there won't be any risk to the players," he said.
"There's pumping equipment which I believe has been pumping thousands of litres of water out of the ground.
"It's not so much the top (that's the problem). It's what's under the ground.
"And that's why the pipes have gone in to extract the water out.
"It's soft under foot, but I have every faith that today and tomorrow, it will harden up.
"Celtic have had a look at it.
"I spoke to (Celtic manager) Neil Lennon about it last night as well and they've played on pitches that, I won't say they're far worse, but they're soft and wet.
"They've said they've probably played on worse pitches given it rains a bit in Scotland.
"They had a couple of games called off last year because of this."
Perth coach Ian Ferguson said he is comfortable with his players competing on the pitch, despite its inconsistencies.
"It's one of those things. In Australia, it's 90 per cent sunshine but, unfortunately, it's been raining here over the past few months," he said.
"We've just got to deal with it. There's no use making a big thing of it."
Glory officials are hopeful of attracting more than 15,000 people to the match.
Celtic suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Central Coast in Sydney on Saturday, but will be boosted by the returns of Greek international Georgios Samaras, Swedish defender Daniel Majstorovic and Korean duo Cha Du-Ri and Ki Sung Yueng.
- AAP
Tags: sport, football, aleague, australia, wa, perth-6000
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