Gavin Peers (born 10 November 1985) is an Irish football coach and former player.

Career

Peers started his footballing career at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, and later moved to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

, where he made 30 total appearances. He was signed for Sligo Rovers by

Sean Connor Sean Connor (born 12 July 1967) is a Northern Irish football manager and former player who is the head coach at Botswana Premier League club Jwaneng Galaxy. He had a brief playing career which included spells at Distillery, Port Vale, Maccle ...

following the club's promotion to the Premier Division and played regularly at right-back that year. The following year following the departure of centre-backs Michael McNamara and Liam Burns Peers moved into the centre of defence. Injuries forced him to miss much of the

2009 League of Ireland The 2009 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 25th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 10 teams. Bohemian F.C., Bohemians were champions while Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers finished as runn ...

season and his presence was badly missed. He did recover in time to take his place in the team for the 2009 FAI Cup Final, but it would end in disappointment with Sporting Fingal winning 2-1. The following year was much better with Peers playing consistently and Sligo having a fantastic season that saw him play in both 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 ...

and

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

finals. He played a major role in the 2010 FAI Cup victory by scoring the winning goal in the 1-0 semi-final win over

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 ...

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

. Following the departure of Conor O'Grady at the end of the 2010 season Peers became the club's longest serving player. Sligo Rovers repeated the FAI Cup success in 2011 this time beating Shelbourne in the final. Peers had one of his most consistent seasons making a career-best 46 appearances over the season. The next season brought even more success as Sligo won the league title with the centre-back pairing of Peers and Jason McGuinness a major part of the success. He scored against

FC Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Football in Slovakia#System, Slovak league system, hav ...

in the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Are ...

. 2013 brought FAI Cup glory again but this time the final would be a bittersweet occasion for Peers as he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury. Despite this he signed a new two-year contract at the end of the season which kept him at the club for 10 seasons. He has made the 5th most appearances in the history of the club. Peers was awarded a testimonial by Sligo where he scored in a 3-3- draw with Portsmouth F.C. in July 201

After 346 appearances in 11 seasons at The Showgrounds (Sligo), The Showgrounds, Peers departed for

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

side St Patrick's Athletic for the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

season. His signing was announced by manager Liam Buckley at the club's 2016 Awards Night on 19 November 2016. Peers scored two brilliant diving headers on his Pats debut, scoring the first two goals in a 5–0 pre-season friendly win over Bluebell United at John Hyland Park on 24 January 2017. He made his competitive Pats debut seven days later as Pats beat

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 ...

4–0 in the Leinster Senior Cup at the

Carlisle Grounds The Carlisle Grounds is a football stadium in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...

, with Peers coming off injured in the 45th minute while 3–0 up at the time. Peers signed for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

of the

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 ...

in January 2019. He signed for Warrenpoint Town F.C. in August 202

where he spent two seasons before retiring. In December 2022, Peers was announced as first-team coach at Longford Town F.C., Longford Town in a role he remained at until resigning in April 2024.

International career

Peers, a former youth international was selected by Pat Fenlon for the

Republic of Ireland national under-23 football team The Republic of Ireland's national under-23 football team is the national under-23 football team of the Republic of Ireland. The Football Association of Ireland organises it. The current Republic of Ireland Under-23 team is restricted to home-b ...

in 2007 and on his only appearance scored the opening goal against Slovakia. In 2010, he was selected for the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the Airtricity League XI for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of Ireland. For much of its history, the League ...

for the opening game at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium, also known as Lansdowne Road (, ) or Dublin Arena (during UEFA competitions), is a List of stadiums in Ireland by capacity, sports stadium located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators ...

Honours

;Sligo Rovers *

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 ...

(1):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

(3):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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 ...

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 ...

(1):

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football (soccer), football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from ...

(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 ...

;Glentoran *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

(1): 2019-20 ;

Career statistics

''Professional appearances – correct as of 7 January 2020.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peers, Gavin 1985 births Living people Sligo Rovers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players League of Ireland players NIFL Premiership players League of Ireland XI players Mansfield Town F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's under-23 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers English Football League players Men's association football defenders Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Warrenpoint Town F.C. players Association footballers from Dublin (city) 21st-century Irish sportsmen