Cian Thomas Bolger (born 12 March 1992) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

Club career

Leicester City

Son of Declan who played for

Dublin county football team The Dublin county football team represents County Dublin, Dublin in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Dublin GAA, the County board (Gaelic games), county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annu ...

Bolger was born in

Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...

County Kildare County Kildare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the Local gove ...

, Ireland, and was Leicester City's academy Player of the Year in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Loans to Bristol Rovers

He made his debut in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

while on loan at

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

, when he came on as a 78th-minute substitute for Carl Regan in a 6–1 defeat to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

on 29 January 2011. Bolger was sent off for the first time in his senior career on 8 February 2011, after a second yellow card for a poor challenge on

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

player Chris O'Grady. On 11 July, Bolger returned to Bristol Rovers on a 6-month loan deal. On 24 September 2011, Bolger scored the first professional goal of his career. On 31 August 2012, Bolger was loaned to Bristol Rovers for a third time, until 1 January 2013. On 8 September 2012 he sustained a cruciate ligament injury in a 2–2 draw against

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

, which prevented him from playing for over 3 months. He made his comeback on Boxing Day, coincidentally in another 2–2 draw against Aldershot, playing the full 90 minutes.

Bolton Wanderers

On 31 January 2013, Bolger signed for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. On 28 March, he scored the winner for Bolton Wanderers Reserves in a 3–2 win over Stoke City Reserves. He is a former captain of the Bolton Development squad but didn't make any appearances for the first team squad during his time at Bolton.

Colchester United (loan)

In October 2013 Bolger signed a one-month loan deal with

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

and made 4 league appearances.

Southend United (loan)

On 21 February 2014, Bolger joined League Two side

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

on a 28-day loan, but his loan spell was cut short after just one appearance due to an ankle injury on 24 February 2014.

Southend United

On 5 August 2014 Bolger signed a two-year permanent deal with Southend United. On 14 April 2015, Bolger scored his first goal for Southend United in the 45th minute against Newport County with a towering header. Bolger scored Southend's final penalty in the shoot-out in the play-off final on 23 May 2015, Southend were promoted winning 7–6.

Fleetwood Town

Bolger signed for Fleetwood Town on 22 May 2016, and went on to make over 100 appearances for the club. He scored his first goal for Fleetwood in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

tie against

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

on 15 November 2016.

Lincoln City

Bolger signed for Lincoln City on 17 January 2019.

Northampton Town

Bolger signed a one-year contract at Northampton Town on 21 August 2020 ahead of the 2020–21 campaign.

Larne

After a single season at Northampton, Bolger signed for

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

club Larne on 5 July 2021.

Career statistics

Honours

Southend United *

Football League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Lincoln City *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

: 2018–19 Larne *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023-24 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023-24 *

NIFL Charity Shield The Northern Ireland Football League Charity Shield is the national association football super cup in Northern Ireland. It has been held on an occasional basis since its inauguration in 1992. It pits together the previous campaign's NIFL Premiersh ...

: 2024 Individual *

Team of the Season: 2022–23, 2023-24 *

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

Player of the Year: 2016–17

References

External links

*
Republic of Ireland profile
at Soccer Scene {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolger, Cian 1992 births Living people People from Celbridge Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Leicester City F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Bury F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Larne F.C. players English Football League players Association footballers from County Kildare 21st-century Irish sportsmen NIFL Premiership players