Sean Grehan targets Premier League dream after Bohemians heroics and hopes to follow in Jake O'Brien's footsteps

The Irish Sun

28-04-2025

SEÁN GREHAN is hoping to follow Jake O'Brien's path to the top.
Grehan made himself a hero for
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Sean Grehan is on loan to Bohemians from Crystal Palace - but he hopes to mark his mark with the Premier League outfit in the future
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Gehan spent time with Ireland star Jake O'Brien in the Crystal Palace U21 side, and hopes to follow in his pals footsteps
The centre-half is on loan at his former club from
The ex-Cork City man flourished at Lyon after loan spells at Swindon Town and Molenbeek with Grehan gaining experience at, first, Carlisle United and, now, Bohs.
And the Dubliner said: 'I take a lot from Jake. I played with him a bit when I was at Palace.
'The path he has had hasn't been easy, he had loan spells himself when he probably didn't play as much as he wanted and look at him now, he's doing unbelievable things.
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'I take a lot from what Jake has done and try to replicate that myself.
'I talk to Jake a bit, he's always there if I ever need advice. What he's done is a good example for me to try to do the same.'
Grehan is due to return to Palace, where he is under contract for next season, in June.
The 21-year-old was non-committal on whether prolonging his stay with Bohs was on the agenda but boss Alan Reynolds reckon it will be tough to hold onto him.
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Reynolds said: 'I don't want to talk him up too much but he's outstanding. While we have him, we'll enjoy him.
'A player like that I could see him playing at a very high level. I'd love to keep him.'
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Grehan made just one first-team appearance for Bohs, in the FAI Cup against College Corinthians, in 2021.
He left at the end of the season but was in limbo until the following summer as interested clubs could not agree a compensation figure.
But he was handed a new three-year deal in 2023 in recognition of his progress.
And Grehan said: 'It's been great for me, going over there I've developed so much as a footballer, technically and stuff.
'I feel like I'm maturing even more coming back here, these games will only help me and my career. I'm delighted with how it's going.
'I know I've to go back in June and I'll see what happens then. Palace are onto me every week, every after game, it's not like they've just left me here.
'I've really enjoyed it, the fans are unbelievable, probably the best in the country. It's great coming here and playing in front of them and when the place is bouncing like that you can't beat it.'
Injury-time winners tend to produce that sort of atmosphere with Grehan just grateful hewas in the right place at the right time to deliver the goods.
He said: 'I just saw the ball floating into the box and I was praying that it fell to me and it did thank God and I just hit it as well as I could. I was buzzing, the atmosphere was unreal.'
Earlier, Bohs had fallen behind to Chris Forrester's penalty after Axel Sjoberg's cross struck Grehan on the arm, before Rob Cornwall leveled in the 90th minute.
Grehan said: 'My hand was by my side and it was smashed at me. He shot an absolute rocket at me and I couldn't move my hand.
"I thought it was harsh. Some things don't go in your favour in football. I'm just glad we came back.'
It was the second time in four days they had come back, beating Shamrock Rovers 3-2 on Monday, having trailed 2-0 with 20 minutes left.
Grehan said: 'It's probably unheard of. It just shows the togetherness we have in the group.
'You're coming in at half-time 1-0 down but you still have that belief going out into the second half, like we did on Monday, that we can do it again.
'It just shows the group we have is really strong and have that mindset we can beat anyone,'
That was not a mindset that was obvious in earlier games but the Ireland under-21 international said: 'It can be a bit of luck at times, I don't think things were falling in our favour in the first few games and now it finally is.
'I think we deserved that now in the last two games, that bit of luck. Hopefully we don't put ourselves in situations like that anymore and we can go into games not trailing at half-time and giving ourselves a job to do.'
FORWARD THINKER
Whilst throwing a centre-half up for set-pieces at the end of game may be commonplace, Grehan's involvement in attacks is generally more subtle.
The ex-St Kevin's Boys player joked that he has always been a defender because he is too slow to play elsewhere.
But he is regularly found in the wide channels of Bohs' opponents half. Reynolds explained: 'We can set it up to leave him go to join in because he's so good at that. It's a way of us playing.'
And Grehan added: 'I like to get forward when I need to and help the team out. I felt like I created a few chances in the first half against St Pat's stepping in with it.
'It's probably something I need to add more to my game. I'm a defender first of all so I need to make sure I do that but when I get the chance I like stepping in.
'Rennie gives me the opportunity to get forward, he likes it when I drive in with it.
"He gives me the licence to step in and show my quality. The way we play kind of suits me, it's a bit more of a back three.'