 Clery was educated at the Catholic University School on Leeson Street (where he acquired the confirmation name "Chanel" in honour of the Marist martyr Peter Chanel, which he often used as a pseudonym), at Clongowes Wood College, and University College in Stephen's Green.He was a university contemporary of James Joyce.Clery's principal themes included the difficulties of Roman Catholic graduates seeking professional employment, dramatic criticism (he hailed Lady Gregory's play "Kincora" as the Abbey Theatre's first masterpiece but was repulsed by the works of Synge), Catholic-Protestant rivalry, tension within the Dublin professional class, and the vagaries of the Gaelic revival movement (including Clery's own attempts to learn Irish in Ballingeary, and such questions as whether a true Gael should play tennis).