John Russell has further boosted his attacking options for the 2025 season with the arrival of striker Cian Kavanagh to the Showgrounds. Kavanagh, 21, signs from St Patrick’s Athletic and has penned a two year deal with the Bit O’Red. 

A native of Baldoyle, the promising attacker spent his formative years playing in the Pat’s underage structures before making his first appearance for the club at senior level in early 2019. 

Kavanagh caught the eye of Scottish clubs Hearts and Cowdenbeath and also has plenty of League of Ireland Premier Division experience having subsequently lined out for Waterford and Derry before returning to Inchicore ahead of the 2024 season where he played 21 times. 

The Dubliner officially joins the club this Sunday, December 1st. 

Outlining his reasons for signing with Rovers, Kavanagh says the opportunity arose at the right time for both club and the player. He points to Russell’s keenness to bring him to Sligo as soon as the opportunity presented itself, as a key component in his decision making.  

“John (Russell) was in touch early on and expressed a real interest in bringing me to Rovers”, he explains. 

“After I met with him and he told me about his plans for Rovers for the next few years and how things have been run here, it was a no-brainer for me. I felt straight away how much he wanted to bring me here and that he believes in me and that’s what I need right now.” 

The new striker says he is looking forward to leading the line next term and is eager to get plenty of game time in front of the Rovers faithful. 

“John tries to play expansive football that I think will suit my style”, Kavanagh continues. 

“I want to be on the team sheet every week. That’s going to come down to me putting in a good pre-season and performing day in, day out. I want to score as many goals as I can and hopefully we’ll finish in a high position. A European spot for 2026 would be great.

“The support this club gets every second Saturday from the stands is something that stands out to all visiting players at the Showgrounds, believe me and it really stood out to me. I also remember the noise they made at Richmond Park on their visits to Pat’s last season. They were Monday and Sunday afternoons, the noise they made! It was incredible given the length of journey these fans have to make! 

“Even playing against Sligo the last few years, you always notice the players put in one hundred percent under John and I can’t wait to be one of those players. The fans can expect one hundred percent from me as this is a really big season for me personally. I have a huge chance here and I’m going to give it everything. 

Kavanagh is Russell’s fourteenth signing for next season. The manager says his latest addition ideally fits the profile of the kind of player he wants at his disposal next term.  

“I feel Cian has the ability to become a top centre forward”, Russell says. “We want to recruit the best young talent that we can and Cian is a player who can thrive in our environment and in our team.

“He has a lot of experience for such a young player. He has played and scored goals in European competition and was part of an FAI Cup winning team. He has experience of playing away from Ireland with his time in Scotland and moving to Rovers gives him the opportunity to show people what he can do. 

“We are being patient in terms of recruitment as we were last year. We have to make sure we can recruit the right type of player and character and who will match what we’re looking for. Cian is one of those types of players.” 

Kavanagh joins Ollie Denham, Connor Malley, Wilson Waweru, Conor Reynolds, Gareth McElroy, Daire Patton, Kyle McDonagh, Stephen Mallon, Owen Elding, Kailin Barlow, Francely Lomboto, Will Fitzgerald and John Mahon as part of next year’s first team squad. 

David Goulden