Gavan Holohan (born 15 December 1991) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

. Beginning his career as a youngster with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, Holohan returned to his native Ireland where he featured for

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 ...

sides

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. He joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

in 2019 and in 2021 he was part of their side that won promotion back to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. He repeated the success the following season with

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

History

Hull City

Holohan came through the ranks with Kilkenny City in his native Ireland and was picked up by Hull City in 2008. He went on to spend the next four years with the Tigers but failed to make an appearance, only making the bench once for 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

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

Alfreton Town

Holohan was signed by

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

in 2012 following his release from Hull. He also trialled with

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

and Hibernian.

Drogheda United

After being released by Alfreton, Holohan signed for

side

. Holohan enjoyed a successful campaign in the 2014 season, scoring 8 goals in 32 games and winning the supporters' player of the year award. He helped Drogheda progress to the quarter-finals of the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

by scoring 3 goals in 3 games but was one of three Drogheda players sent off in their exit against the eventual champions Derry City.

Cork City

In November 2014, Holohan left to sign for

. During his two years at Cork, Holohan won the

in 2016 and scored in the President of Ireland's Cup final to help his side win 2–0.

Galway United

Holohan later joined

and scored his first career hat trick in a 4–1 win over his former side Drogheda United.

Waterford

After suffering relegation with Galway United, Holohan signed for

following their promotion to the top flight. He helped the club finish fourth and while this would have qualified the club for the Europa League first qualifying round, Waterford were ruled by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

to have not passed the "three-year rule" as the club were reformed in 2016.

Hartlepool United

Holohan signed with English

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

on a short-term contract in 2019. Having had to wait for international clearance before being able to play, Holohan eventually broke into the first team and scored his first goal in English football in a 1–1 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 ...

in April 2019, an equaliser which ultimately relegated his opponents. Holohan impressed in the seven games that he played and did enough to earn an extended contract. In the 2019–20 season, Holohan scored nine goals and contributed seven assists. Holohan then signed a contract until the end of the 2021–22 season due to this good form. Holohan scored his 10th goal of the

2020–21 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 ...

season in a 2–0 win against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. This goal was also his fourth consecutive goal after scoring against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

, Boreham Wood, and

respectively. He was awarded the League's Player of the Month award for April 2021. Holohan started in the 2021 National League play-off final as Hartlepool were promoted back to the

. In August 2021, Holohan scored Hartlepool's first goal back in the Football League in a 1–0 victory over

. In a 2–1 win over rivals

, Holohan scored his final goal for Hartlepool. This would subsequently be voted as League Two goal of the month for August. Holohan struggled for game time during the 2021–22 season and departed after making 108 appearances and scoring 23 times.

Grimsby Town

On 22 March 2022, Holohan signed a two-year deal with

side

. On 23 May 2022, with Grimsby trailing 1-0 to

in the

play-offs in the final minute of added on time, Holohan scored an equaliser to send the game to extra time, with Grimsby going on to win the game 2-1 and advancing to the semi-finals. Holohan played in the

2022 National League play-off final The 2022 National League play-off final, known as the Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match played on 5 June 2022 at the London Stadium between Solihull Moors F.C., Solihull Moors and ...

as Grimsby beat

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional association football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the Na ...

2–1 at the

London Stadium London Stadium (formerly and also known as the Olympic Stadium and the Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the Stratford, London, Stratford district of London. It is loc ...

to return to the

. During an

fourth round tie at

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

, Holohan scored the opening goal in a 2–2 draw. On 1 March 2023, he scored two penalties in a 2–1 victory at

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in the fifth round of the

, securing Grimsby's first quarter-final appearance since 1939. Holohan was released at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Crawley Town

Holohan joined Crawley on a free transfer in July 2024 after his release from Grimsby Town joining former teammate Toby Mullarkey, also from Grimsby, who joined on the same day.

Career statistics

Honours

Cork City *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Hartlepool United *

play-offs:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Grimsby Town *

play-offs:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual *

Supporters' Player of the Year: 2014 *

Player of the Month: April 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holohan, Gavan 1991 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football midfielders Alfreton Town F.C. players Drogheda United F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Galway United F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players League of Ireland players National League (English football) players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England English Football League players Association footballers from County Kilkenny 21st-century Irish sportsmen