Shels Celebrate Kavanagh Milestone

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Shelbourne FC was delighted to honour the club’s longest serving player Alex Kavanagh, during the League of Ireland Men’s Premier Division Match against Derry City.

Manager Noel King & his assistant Joey Malone presented a commemorative pennant to the talented midfielder to mark her entering a 14th season with the club.

A proud Finglas native Alex began her career with Home Farm before joining the Reds as an 11-year-old.

Her father George is a constant presence at all her games, a footballing family George is a veteran of the League of Ireland with St. Patrick’s Athletic, Thurles Town and EMFA of Kilkenny and is a familiar face around Tolka Park.

Alex is also a sister of former first team player Cian Kavanagh, with the duo becoming the only brother and sister combination to play simultaneously for the club between 2016 & 2018 . Only the second brother and sister to play for the club after the McCabe’s (Gary & Katie) who enjoyed separate spells with the senior sides.

Across her glittering underage career with the Shelbourne Girls Academy, Alex was a winner of five underage All Ireland Titles with the club (U-12 X2, U-14 X2 & U-16).

She represented the club in two winning Gaynor Cups squads including scoring a winner in one final for the Dublin North selection.

On the international front Kavanagh remains Ireland’s youngest ever Republic of Ireland international having lined out for the Ireland Women’s Under-15’s team aged just 12 against England in St George’s Park.

Alex was also capped at Ireland U17 level as well as having gained 17 Caps and scored 3 goals for the Ireland U19’s. For the senior international side Alex has 2 Senior Ireland Caps including a debut against Wales 2016 under Sue Ronan.

With her beloved Shelbourne Alex’s senior achievements include: Winner of 3 WNL league titles, 2 Women’s Fai Cups and 3 WNL League Cups. And on a personal level she moved into 25th (33 Goals) spot on the All-Time Goalscorer charts men & women with her brilliant strike against Peamount on Wednesday night. Also she is one of 5 LOIW centurions for the club currently sitting on 135 senior games for the club.

Alex Kavanagh said: “I’ve been with this club for so many years, since I was a kid coming up through the ranks the club means absolutely everything (to me), I love it!”

Club Captain Pearl Slattery on Alex’s length of service to the club said: “What can I say about Alex? She’s a top player, team mate and person. Loyal to the core, she has every attribute of what it means to be a Red”

Women’s Senior Team Manager Noel King when asked about Kavanagh’s contribution to the club said: 

“It’s incredible that, even at her young age, Alex has been at Shelbourne for such a long time. Even more impressive are the trophies and medals she’s picked up along the way. It’s clear that she has been an important player for the Club since the day she arrived. She played a huge part in us winning the double last season and she’s already shown that she means business again this season with the free kick she scored on Wednesday night against Peamount.“