GAVIN KILKENNY’S RECENT fortunes highlight the importance of perseverance for young Irish players in England.
Having been very much on the periphery of the Bournemouth team in the past few campaigns, the 21-year-old has finally been given a sustained run in the starting XI, featuring in six games this season — four in the Championship and two in the EFL Cup.
It is the latest step in a long journey. As a gifted teenager, he had trials at a couple of clubs including Sunderland and Brighton, before ultimately choosing the Cherries.
Before then, he was a promising youngster at St Kevin’s Boys, where his teammates included fellow Ireland U21 international Brian Maher, Dundalk’s Lido Lotefa and former Bohemians and Bray player Luke Nolan.
At that age, he was inspired by watching future Ireland international Jack Byrne at Kevin’s, a similar type of player who is four years his senior.
“It wasn’t easy at the start,” he says of the move to England. “You are only 16 and you are in digs. And it’s quite hard to get to Bournemouth flight-wise. So it was quite tough at times to get home and get people to come over. But they were great, they let me go home a lot. I got used to it eventually but it probably took into the second year to finally get used to it.”
Kilkenny has been knocking on the door of the first team at Bournemouth for a while now, but he had to show considerable patience before his recent Championship breakthrough.
“To be fair, I broke in, you could say, two years ago in pre-season, but I never actually played in the Premier League.
“So I was still learning in the wings with Eddie Howe and the staff. Then obviously Covid hit and that interrupted everything for everyone.
“But last season was tough because there was a change of management and everything was just a bit funny. I never probably got the game-time I would have hoped for, especially after getting relegated.
“But I still learned, still worked hard and I’d like to think this season if it goes well, is as a result of last season and sticking with it.”
During the most recent off-season, the Dubliner worked especially hard in a bid to improve his prospects of regular first-team football.
“I don’t think you can really afford to go on holiday when you are in a position where you are not playing. Obviously one of the main aims of the off-season was to get ahead in terms of training. Then we were in Marbella with the 21s and we had a good camp there. That helped me out fitness-wise going into the new season.”
Currently, with the Ireland U21 squad, Kilkenny impressed in central midfield alongside Conor Coventry in the 2-0 win over Bosnia and will almost certainly feature again on Tuesday afternoon, as Ireland play their second match of the Euros qualifying campaign away to Luxembourg.
Kilkenny’s encouraging start to the season has even led to some talk of a possible Ireland senior call-up. He may still be relatively inexperienced at first-team level, but Ireland are not blessed with a multitude of options in the number six position where Kilkenny has excelled at Bournemouth. Moreover, while the Dubliner has made six appearances at club level, four of the seven midfielders in the Irish senior squad have yet to start a single league game for their clubs this season.
Does Kilkenny feel he has the requisite experience to make the step up at present?
“I’d like to think I’d be ready now,” he says. “Obviously, there are a lot of great players in the first-team so it’s not going to be as simple as me playing games for Bournemouth. There are players in the senior team who are playing really well at club level themselves. If you are not in the senior squad, you just have to keep working hard, keep going and hopefully catch the eye eventually.”
When Ireland’s lack of alternative options at six is put to him, he adds: “I haven’t really thought about it like that. I think the role suits me. Obviously, if it suits me, then it’s going to be better for me because that’s probably where I’m playing my best football at the moment. So it is a good point that potentially there are not as many players in that position. But I think if you do well in whatever position you are in and keep going, eventually it will come good for you.”
Yet one of Kilkenny’s more immediate tasks will be building on his fine start to the season at the Vitality Stadium. Speaking only last month, Scott Parker refused to rule out sending the youngster on loan, with the manager implying that he is still far from a nailed-on starter at Bournemouth, which the Irish youngster acknowledges himself.
“[The possibility of a loan move is] always in the back of your mind. But I think after playing the first six competitive games, probably the best thing for me to do was stick around. There were players absent and suspended who will eventually come back, and they are all really good players, but I think I’ve shown in the games I have played that I’m ready to play at this level. Obviously, they will come back and naturally there will be more competition. But I have shown that I am ready to compete with them. I’ve just got to keep showing the manager, keep working hard in training and then hopefully get more chances to play.”
He continues: “I’ve played six games and it’s only a start. I’m not one to get too carried away, thinking too far ahead of myself.
“It’s every kid’s ambition to get to [Ireland] seniors and you’ve to keep working hard to get there. That’s where I’m at now.”
