Kian Leavy keen to make up for lost time as Saints eye title charge
Three years of injuries at Reading dashed Kian Leavy's English football dreams but just past his 23rd birthday he's making a decent stab at returning there.
The attacking midfielder has been instrumental in St Patrick's Athletic rising to the top of the Premier Division, opening the scoring in Friday's 2-0 win over Galway United.
His absence may have contributed to their slow start in the opening pair of matches but he's back on form and ready to be unleashed against Derry City in Monday's May day series.
'I tore my ACL, had two stress fractures in my back and a stress fracture in the top of my shin,' the Ardee man explained about his rap sheet of setbacks before his latest in pre-season.
'I was over in England for five years but missed three years of it so I'm well used to injuries.'
As the campaign moves towards the halfway mark, no team has made a breakaway at the summit. Stephen Kenny was headhunted by Garrett Kelleher last summer on a five-and-a-half-year contract with the express target of bringing the first league title back to Inchicore since 2013.
'When everybody is getting draws and teams are beating each other, if you can put a run together you can see how quickly we climbed the table last year,' Leavy said, referencing a belated title charge from eight straight wins in the run-in.
'If you can do that this year, we're top of the league at the minute, if you can go on a run, you just don't know where it can take you.'
Saints took ownership of the summit from Drogheda United, on foot of the Louthmen losing a two-goal advantage at Sligo Rovers to be left with a point.
One consolation from their trip to the Showgrounds was the return of last season's top scorer, Douglas James Taylor, as a substitute and he could be handed his first start of the season when they host Cork City.
Josh Thomas continues his recovery from injury, while Paul Doyle misses out after an injury picked up early on in Sligo.
Defender Elicha Ahui and midfielder Darragh Markey are also both doubtful after being substituted with injuries on Friday.
For Cork City, while Friday's late equaliser against Shamrock Rovers was welcome, manager Tim Clancy outlines he's 'massively down bodies'.
Milan Mbeng was the latest addition to the casualty list ahead of the Hoops visit but Kitt Nelson was fortunate to be involved after sustaining a knock in the warm-up.
City remain three points ahead of basement side Sligo Rovers, who head to Tallaght to face their fellow Rovers.
"There simply just aren't any games that aren't tough and Monday will be the same,' said Sligo boss John Russell.
'Our record up there isn't great but we're using that as motivation to go and give a good account of ourselves.
"We've been the architects of our own downfall at times this season and have given other teams headstarts.
'We've been so impressive going forward, creating chances and scoring goals and I'm really happy with that. But what's been killing us is the concession of silly goals.
"If you make it easy for the opposition somewhere like Tallaght, then chances are you're not coming back from it so we need to be on our game from the start.'
Monday's LOI Fixtures
Premier Division (Kick-off 5pm unless stated)
Drogheda United v Cork City, Sullivan and Lambe Park
Galway United v Bohemians, Eamonn Deacy Park
Shelbourne v Waterford, Tolka Park
Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers, Tallaght Stadium (7pm)
Derry City v St Patrick's Athletic, Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium (7.45pm).
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
32 minutes ago
- Irish Times
California governor accuses Trump of escalating unrest in Los Angeles
Sligo Rovers Football Club are running coaching sessions with some of the prisoners at Loughan House Open Centre in Blacklion, Co Cavan. Video: Bryan O'Brien
The 42
4 hours ago
- The 42
One man was conspicuous by his absence in Ireland's dour stalemate
THE RESULTS OF end-of-season friendlies are often deceptive. If Ireland had beaten Luxembourg 5-0 last night, there would be the inevitable caveat that the team 'should not get carried away' with the result. By that logic, it is also fair to suggest people shouldn't overreact to the actual outcome — a disappointing 0-0 draw. Certainly, the result is not genuinely comparable to the disastrous 2021 home loss to the same opposition in the Stephen Kenny era. That defeat effectively ended Ireland's 2022 World Cup qualifying hopes after only two games. Last night's setback will hopefully galvanise Heimir Hallgrímsson ahead of the start of the 2026 qualifiers in September. But while its significance should not be overplayed, that does not mean the Boys in Green cannot take some invaluable lessons from this window. Not just with Luxembourg, but in general under Kenny, the worst results and performances tended to come against sides Ireland would have been expecting to beat. It should not be overlooked that under the Dubliner, Ireland took points off top teams like Portugal and Serbia. They were also unlucky to suffer narrow home defeats against France and the Netherlands. Advertisement It was the slip-ups in competitive fixtures against sides like Azerbaijan, Armenia, and even Greece that proved most damaging. Ireland have, of course, for a long time suffered against the perceived weaker sides in international football. But pre-Kenny, they often found a way to beat these types of teams despite invariably looking second best for significant portions of the contest. Often, an individual player would get them out of jail — Robbie Keane did so on numerous occasions, or think of moments like Aiden McGeady's memorable brace away to Georgia in the Martin O'Neill era. For at least five years, Ireland have sorely lacked that type of player who can produce a moment of magic to unlock a well-organised defence. If you were to assess the starting XI versus Luxembourg last night, Kasey McAteer, Evan Ferguson or Troy Parrott could potentially be that man, but all three had off nights and cut isolated figures against the hosts, who finished the game with 58% possession and controlled proceedings for large spells. It was a familiar failing. In recent years, Ireland have always been better at stopping a superior team from playing (e.g. Senegal) than finding a way past a limited but dogged side like Luxembourg. But what was so encouraging about the back-to-back victories over Bulgaria in March was that a new contender emerged as the elusive difference maker that Ireland have lacked. Finn Azaz opened the scoring in the first leg in front of 7,835 fans in Plovdiv, and also assisted in the return game at the Aviva Stadium — producing a brilliant through pass for Evan Ferguson's equaliser — which Ireland won 2-1. A little one-two between Azaz and Ferguson, the latter finds the net for his fifth goal for Ireland. 🇮🇪 1-1 🇧🇬 📱 Live Updates - 📺 Watch @RTE2 and @RTEPlayer 📻 Listen live commentary - #NationsLeague — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 23, 2025 Bulgaria, of course, are no world-beaters — they only sit six places above Luxembourg in the latest Fifa rankings. But the first game was still arguably Ireland's most significant away victory since the 2017 upset against Wales in Cardiff. Azaz's presence on the pitch that night was not coincidental, and the Middlesbrough star's record in the Championship in the 2024-25 campaign suggests the performance was no fluke — only two players in England's second tier (Leeds' Joël Piroe and Burnley's Josh Brownhill) had more goal involvements than the Irish international's 21. Former Aston Villa youngster Azaz, who has been linked with a Premier League move in recent weeks, is still relatively young at 24 and has only won seven caps, and just four of these were starts — he also played from the outset in the one other away win of the Hallgrímsson era, as Ireland beat Finland 2-1 in Helsinki. At home to Senegal, the lack of Azaz's creativity was less noticeable, as that game was more about energy, pressing and keeping a stronger side at bay. Yet on these difficult away trips, a different type of game is needed, with technically adept players like Azaz more suited to the slower pace and better equipped to hurt teams who get bodies forward on the counter-attack. It is hard to think of anyone in the Irish squad better at making the right decision in tight spaces in the final third. By contrast, on Tuesday evening, the visitors' only real opening in the first half was Nathan Collins' header off a set piece, while they managed a handful of half-chances in the second period as Luxembourg threw bodies forward in search of a winner. But on the whole, Hallgrímsson was right to express unhappiness with the display. Ireland have made slight improvements under the Icelandic coach but should be expected to beat a side 31 places below them in the Fifa rankings, regardless of all the excuses such as players being exhausted amid the culmination of an unforgiving season. Even if it was only a friendly, last night's game emphasised how the squad still lacks the depth and quality to cope without players of Azaz's rare skillset.
Irish Independent
4 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Anything less than three points against Waterford ‘not acceptable' says John Mahon as Sligo Rovers captain targets a turnaround in form
Sligo Champion Today at 23:30 Sligo Rovers captain John Mahon says the Bit O'Red must pick up three points this Saturday when they take on Waterford at home in the first game since returning from the international break. Rovers are currently sat bottom of the table after a dreadful first-half of the season, and Mahon says the players are well aware that their season so far has been well off what is expected of them.
