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 le ...

who plays for

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club Grimsby Town. Beginning his career as a youngster with Hull City, Holohan returned to his native Ireland where he featured for League of Ireland sides

Drogheda United Drogheda United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Dhroichead Átha Aontaithe) is a semi-professional Irish association football club based in Drogheda, County Louth playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They play their home matches ...

, Cork City,

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

and

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. He joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

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 football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. He repeated the success the following season with Grimsby Town.

History

Hull City

Holohan came through the ranks with

Kilkenny City Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

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 knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

Alfreton Town

Holohan was signed by Alfreton Town 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 compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

and Hibernian.

Drogheda United

After being released by Alfreton, Holohan signed for League of Ireland 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 Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

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 Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Cork City

In November 2014, Holohan left to sign for Cork City. 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 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

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

Hartlepool United

Holohan signed with English

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

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 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 b ...

season in a 2–0 win against Notts County. This goal was also his fourth consecutive goal after scoring against Stockport County,

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

, Boreham Wood, and Notts County 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 The 2021 National League play-off final, known as the Vanarama National League Promotion Final for sponsorship reasons, was an association football match played on 20 June 2021 at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol between Torquay United and Har ...

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 Crawley Town. In a 2–1 win over rivals

, Holohan scored his final goal for Hartlepool. This would subsequently be voted as

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

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 Grimsby Town. On 23 May 2022, with Grimsby trailing 1-0 to Notts County 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 and Grimsby Town. It dete ...

as Grimsby beat

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

2–1 at the London Stadium to return to the

. During an

fourth round tie at Championship side Luton Town, 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 (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the fifth round of the

, securing Grimsby's first quarter-final appearance since 1939.

Career statistics

Honours

Cork City *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Hartlepool United *

play-offs:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Grimsby Town *

play-offs:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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 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