Daryl "Dil" Kavanagh (born 11 August 1986) is an Irish

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 last played for

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club is a professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches at Sullivan & Lambe Park. The current club is the ...

in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

. His former clubs include Carrick United (3 spells),

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

(2 spells),

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colman's Park. The club's colours are clare ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

(2 spells),

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

and

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

Career

Carrick United

Kavanagh was part of the extremely successful Carrick United team which reached the Munster and

FAI Junior Cup The FAI Junior Cup is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for junior association football clubs from the Republic of Ireland. The inaugural winners were Brideville. The competition's most successful club is Fairvie ...

final as well as the Munster Senior Cup Finals.

Waterford United

He signed for

from the successful Carrick United junior side. After a "bedding-in" season he established himself in the Blues first team with a series of skilful displays from midfield. A serious leg injury curtailed his development, but he returned to Premier Division action with

in July 2008. He signed again for

in July 2010 from

Limerick F.C. Limerick Football Club was an association football club based in Limerick, Ireland who played in the League of Ireland and currently have teams competing in the underage National League of Ireland. The first Limerick Football Club was founded ...

but his contract with the

was terminated towards the end of the 2010 season for his off the field activities and addictions. Kavanagh attended a 28-day rehab for drink and drug addictions in 2010.

FIFPro

He was part of the 18-man squad for the FIFPro Winter Tournament 2011 in Oslo, Norway in January 2011. Kavanagh was named the best player of the tournament.

St Patrick's Athletic

He signed for

in January 2011 after performing well at the FIFPro Winter tournament, taking the number 7 shirt previously worn by

David McAllister David James McAllister (born 12 January 1971) is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), part of the European People's Party. He is the current vi ...

, who left the Saints in the same month to join

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. Kavanagh scored his first goal for the Saints in a 2–0 win over

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

at the Carlisle Grounds in the Leinster Senior Cup on 14 March 2011. Kavanagh scored his first league goals for Pats' against

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, scoring two fine goals on Friday 29 April 2011. Kavanagh followed up on his first league goals by scoring against

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

on the following Monday. Kavanagh scored the winning goal in the 1–0 win over Dublin rivals

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

. He scored a week later against

University College Dublin A.F.C. University College Dublin Association Football Club, known commonly as UCD, is the football team of University College Dublin. They play in the League of Ireland First Division. Founded in 1895, the club was elected to the League of Ireland in 19 ...

Shamrock Rovers

In January 2012 Kavanagh signed for League of Ireland Champions

. Kavanagh won his second Leinster Senior Cup with Rovers and left at the end of the season.

Cork City

Kavanagh signed for

on a two-year deal in November 2012. His contract was terminated by mutual consent on 31 July 2013, after he had an argument with manager Tommy Dunne.

Return to St Patrick's Athletic

Kavanagh signed a contract with his old club, league leaders

until the end of the season on the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

Summer Transfer Deadline Day, 31 July 2013. He made his return on 2 August in a 0–0 draw against

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. Kavanagh's first goal since his return came against

on 30 August. He scored the vital second goal in a 2–0 win over

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

in a huge match in the 2013 League of Ireland title run in. Kavanagh won his first

title as Pats beat

2–0 on 13 October 2013 to win the league.

Sligo Rovers

After making just 1 league start for Pats in the 2014 season, scoring no league goals, Kavanagh left in search of first team football and joined

on the

Transfer Deadline Day, 31 July 2014. Kavanagh made his debut for Sligo against

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

and made one other appearance against

, in which he sustained a calf injury that would end his season. This injury resulted in Kavanagh being released by mutual agreement just over a month after signing for Sligo, after the club agreed to his request in order to facilitate his rehab on the injury closer to his home in Tipperary.

Personal life

Addiction

Kavanagh has admitted being addicted to drugs, alcohol and gambling. He sought help for these problems and attended rehab for 28 days in 2010.

Prison

Kavanagh spent 6 days in prison on remand for attempted robbery with a fake gun.

Rehabilitation

Kavanagh claims to be rehabilitated and said in an ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' interview that he "had a few problems over the years with drinking and drugs and trouble-wise," he continued to say "there were thefts, attempted thefts, attempted robberies and stuff. I had drunk and disorderlies against me as well." Kavanagh has said "It's a life I want to leave behind me."

Honours

Club

;St Patrick's Athletic *

(1):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* Leinster Senior Cup (1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

FAI President's Cup The President of Ireland's Cup, also known simply as the President's Cup, is an association football super cup featuring clubs from the Republic of Ireland football league system. It is a one-off match between the winners of the previous season's ...

(1):

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;Shamrock Rovers * Leinster Senior Cup (1): 2012

Individual

PFAI Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland Team of the Year (often called the PFAI Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to the group of eleven players voted by their fellow players as having perform ...

(1):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavanagh, Daryl 1986 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Waterford F.C. players Cobh Ramblers F.C. players Limerick F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players League of Ireland players Association footballers from County Tipperary People from Carrick-on-Suir League of Ireland XI players Men's association football forwards Irish male criminals Lansdowne Yonkers FC players Irish sportspeople convicted of crimes 21st-century Irish sportsmen Irish expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States