Kevin Grogan (born 15 November 1981 in

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 ...

) is an Irish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and current coach of Clarkstown SC Eagles in the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

. A uniquely talented youth player, Grogan was signed by Alex Ferguson for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in 1997 just before playing a major role on the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Under 16 team, on their way to becoming European Champions in Scotland. However, a series of injuries stopped Kevin from progressing as a professional player and in the summer of 2000 he left Manchester United. He decided to combine football with studying and joined

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 ...

Premier Division side UCD and decided on a Diploma course in Sports Management. He made his

debut on the opening day of the 2000-01 League of Ireland season and scored his first goals in the league at Bray Wanderers on 15 September 2000 After a long, hard battle it seemed his footballing career would be revived when he joined Millwall in 2002. However, on 15 November of that year, he was told by the Millwall doctors his body could not take it after a series of operations and injections. The pelvic injuries had taken too much out of him. He returned home disappointed, but finished his college course and for a while worked with

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 ...

in a marketing role before signing for Bray Wanderers in the League of Ireland First Division and making his Bray debut on the opening day of the 2004 League of Ireland season. During the following season, Grogan decided to retire because of his injuries. In July 2006, Grogan decided to make one last attempt to resurrect his career. He went to Belgium to undergo three major surgeries and intense functional rehabilitation for eight months in Antwerp, after which he was offered a pay-as-you-play deal with St Patrick's Athletic to give himself a chance to gain match fitness before attempting to return to England to play. He made his league debut as a substitute for St Pats on 1 September 2006 in a 1–0 defeat to Waterford United Unfortunately his pelvic injury returned once again. In January 2007 Grogan signed for Glentoran but only lasted one league game as his injuries returned to haunt him. This was his last top-flight game. In June 2007 he was appointed Director of Under Age Development at his first club Belvederehttp://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/grogan-back-at-belvedere-alma-mater-892257.html.html Kevin is currently in the United States of America, where he is pursuing his coaching and management career. Kevin is currently Technical Director of Clarkstown Soccer Club along with being the Head coach/Manager of the Women's and Men's adult teams in the National A League. He is also the owner and President of Kevin Grogan Soccer which is a private coaching company. Kevin was awarded the New York Top 40 Under 40 award for his contribution to Soccer in New York.

Honours

Republic of Ireland * UEFA European Under-16 Championship:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

External links

* ()
Kevin's self penned story
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grogan, Kevin 1981 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Manchester United F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players University College Dublin A.F.C. players League of Ireland players Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football forwards Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Belvedere F.C. players People educated at Belvedere College 21st-century Irish sportsmen