Former Drimnagh Castle players make their mark
By Daire Walsh
IT PROVED to be a memorable weekend for former Drimnagh Castle CBS students Brandon Kavanagh and Gavin Molloy as both players found the net for their respective clubs in Sunday’s FAI Cup semi-finals, reports Daire Walsh.
At Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Kavanagh grabbed Derry City’s second goal in their 2-1 triumph over Treaty United. On the same day at the Regional Sports Centre, Molloy’s crisp 16th minute finish propelled Shelbourne towards a 1-0 victory against Waterford.
Aged 20 and 22 respectively, Molloy and Kavanagh are the latest graduates from the Long Mile Road school to make waves in domestic Irish soccer. Shamrock Rovers’ defensive duo Roberto Lopes and Daniel Cleary are ex-students of Drimnagh Castle, while Shelbourne assistant manager Joey O’Brien also studied there in the past.
Interestingly, all three players started the FAI Cup final in 2019 when Cleary was in opposition to Lopes and O’Brien on a Dundalk side that were denied a domestic treble on penalties by Rovers.
Kavanagh collected a Cup winners’ medal as an unused substitute on that occasion and is set to have a more prominent role with Derry at the Aviva Stadium on November 13.
Having arrived from Rovers at the beginning of 2022 – following a previous loan spell at Bray Wanderers – Kavanagh came back to haunt his former club by shaking the net in a 3-1 extra-time win over Rovers at the FAI Cup quarter-final stage on September 18. This was his first goal for Derry since joining the club, but after adding to his Cup haul on home soil at the weekend, the gifted attacker is fast becoming a cult hero in the Brandywell.
His forthcoming opponent Molloy has a strong family tradition in the FAI Cup with his grandfather Theo Dunne and grand-uncle Jackie Kelly both having featured for Shelbourne in their 1960 final triumph against Cork Hibernians.
Additionally, his uncle Tommy Dunne was on the last Derry team to win the League of Ireland Premier Division in 1997, but lost to Shelbourne in that year’s FAI Cup decider.
While he will be hoping for better fortune that his uncle next month, Molloy is aiming to be part of another Shels success story against the Candystripes. Ballyboden native Damien Duff is currently in charge of the Drumcondra side and Molloy repaid the faith that the ex-Chelsea winger showed in him by crashing home that superb left-footed winner in Waterford.