Rory Kavanagh

Rory Kavanagh
Personal information
Irish nameRuaidhrí Ó Caomhánach
SportGaelic football
PositionMidfield
Born23 August 1982
Letterkenny, Ireland
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
OccupationTeacher
Club(s)
YearsClub
1999-Naomh Adhamhnáin
Club titles
Donegal titles6
Inter-county(ies)
YearsCounty
2001-2014Donegal
Inter-county titles
Ulster titles3
All-Irelands1
NFL1

Rory Kavanagh (Irish: Ruairí Ó Caomhánach; born 23 August 1982) is a Gaelic footballer with Donegal. Alongside Colm McFadden and Christy Toye, he would have been considered one of the mature elder statesman of the Donegal senior football panel in his final days,[1] though his behaviour has at times been questionable.[2]

Owned by the Naomh Adhamhnáin club, Kavanagh lives in Letterkenny and is on a strict diet of eight meals a day due to his lightness.[3][4] The retirement of Kevin Rafferty and the truancy of Ross Wherity left him as his club's sole representative on the Donegal senior panel.

Playing career

Educated at Saint Eunan's College in Letterkenny,[5] Kavanagh was part of the victorious college team that brought the McLarnon Cup back to the school for a third time in 2000, the first win since 1979. He is currently a teacher at Scoil Colmcille in Letterkenny.

Brian McEniff first called Kavanagh for winter training with the Donegal senior team in 2003.[6] Against Armagh in the 2004 Ulster final at Croke Park, he came on as a substitute for the injured Christy Toye.[7] Against the same opponents at the same venue he played in the 2006 Ulster final, scoring 0-01.[8] Having spent much of the campaign on the bench, he came on as a substitute in the 2007 NFL Final against Mayo, scoring 0-01.[9]

Again against Mayo, he started at midfield in the 2012 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.[10] Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle from his bed at the team hotel in Dublin the following morning, he was still a wee bit hoarse himself and described the win as "surreal".[11] He was not considered for an All Star, a source of great sorrow for his manager.[12]

Kavanagh was sent off in the 2014 NFL Div 2 Final against Monaghan at Croke Park after taking his boot into his hand and stabbing an opponent in the testicles.[2] He was then given the squad number 26 (the lowest possible) for the 2014 Championship. He announced his retirement from inter-county football in January 2015.[13]

Honours

References

  1. ↑ Foley, Alan (11 September 2012). "Forward thinking McFadden". Donegal Democrat (Johnston Press). Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "LIVE: Donegal v Monaghan, Division 2 football league final". The Score. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Lyster feasts on final glory". Evening Herald (Independent News & Media). 28 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012. "Now we know the secret of reaching an All-Ireland final. Eat eight meals a day," joked Michael Lyster. Many months ago, Donegal manager Jim McGuinness saw midfielder Rory Kavanagh as one of his key men, but felt he was too light. In order to bulk up, Jim asked him to eat eight meals a day.
  4. ↑ McKenna, Ewan (23 August 2012). "Forward-thinking McGuinness and Horan have turned old ruins into new empires". Irish Independent (Independent News & Media). Retrieved 23 August 2012. When Rory Kavanagh was earmarked for midfield, he was told to eat a small breakfast before gym work, lunch at 10.30, a snack at 12.30, and then eat at 3.0, 6.0 and 9.0.
  5. ↑ "Twitter feed". Saint Eunan's College. EunansFootball Best of luck 2our past pupils who r in Donegal panel v Cork in All Ire Semi-Final on Sun @neilgerardgalla @murphm95 @AntoinMcFadden @Tommyk_91 @BrickMolloy @123kav @kevin_raff @gmacfadden14 @mdboyler24 +Mr McFadden #TheCollege
  6. ↑ Keys, Colm (5 November 2003). "Royals' seal of approval puts pressure on Boylan". Irish Independent (Independent News & Media). Retrieved 5 November 2003.
  7. ↑ "Awesome Armagh destroy Donegal". RTÉ Sport (RTÉ). 11 July 2004. Retrieved 11 July 2004. Rory Kavanagh replaced the injured Christy Toye just before the break as two more McKeever points extended Armagh’s lead to eight – 1-9 to 0-4.
  8. ↑ "Donegal 0-09 1-09 Armagh". BBC Sport (BBC). 9 July 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2006.
  9. ↑ "Donegal achieve historic win - First national league title comes to county after victory over Mayo". Donegal Times. 25 April 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  10. ↑ "Live updates from the All-Ireland finals at Croke Park". RTÉ Sport (RTÉ). 23 September 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  11. ↑ "Donegal's Rory Kavanagh relives 'surreal' Sam moment". BBC News (BBC). 24 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Jim McGuinness sorry that Rory Kavanagh misses out on All-Star". BBC Sport (BBC). 25 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  13. ↑ "After 14 years and 49 SFC appearances, Donegal's Rory Kavanagh has decided to retire". The Score. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Kevin Cassidy		 Donegal Senior Football Captain
2009 - 2010 		Succeeded by
Kevin Cassidy