Canavan excited for new League of Ireland season
Mark Canavan starred for Klub Kildare at U20 level last season
Ardattin native, Mark Canavan who has enjoyed a successful underage career has signed his first Senior League of Ireland contract, signing for Longford Town ahead of the new First Division season beginning on Friday with an away trip to Bray first up.
“I'm excited for the season to start. It was a long pre-season on trial, so I'm just happy to have signed and I’m looking forward to the season starting. I'm looking forward to it, I can't wait to get in and play a bit of senior football in the League of Ireland. A very good team as well to start with, playing down there on the Astro. I'm looking forward to it,” Canavan told The Nationalist.
Having enjoyed a successful spell with Klub Kildare’s U20s where he won Manager's Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year, he began to catch they eye of the League of Ireland side towards the end of last season.
“I played a year and a half with Club Kildare under-20s and I did well for them," he said. "I scored a few goals and was playing well and then my coach Dessie came to me and just said that there was interest from Longford; I was to go up and train with them a couple times a week and just see how I found it.
"I was actually training with them for maybe a month or a month and a half at the end of last season and then went in for pre-season with them and obviously signed a couple of weeks ago. I was delighted and I couldn't wait to go up and train.
“I played in the Carlow League with Burrin Celtic and Parkville from U11s to U16s, and then after COVID, I moved to St. Francis U18s to play in the DDSL. So that was my first big move to step up a level from Carlow League.
"I had a good season there. We won the Dublin Cup. I got two goals in the final, so that kind of got me a bit of recognition. Then the Newbridge senior team actually asked me to come in and play when I was, I think I was still 17. So I went in and played a season there, and did really well. That was my first taste of senior football.”
Crumlin then came calling. “They were playing in the top of the Leinster Senior League," the Carlow man said. "I had times throughout the season where I was playing really well and was a big part of the team. I had other times where I might have been out of the team. I found that really important for my development. I learned a lot really with them. That was when I was 18. I had actually been asked multiple times to go to Klub Kildare for the U20s. I had decided that I wanted to play a bit of senior football though before I went to League of Ireland.”
Canavan feels that experience of playing with and against adults stood to him when he went to play League of Ireland U20’s.
“I was thrown into the deep end straight away. They treated me as if I was an adult and I was playing with and against lads who had played with all kinds of League of Ireland teams, they had played with Ireland, they had played with all these big clubs, so I learned a lot. I was stronger. I was faster. I had a bit of intelligence that I learned from older players. So I really thought that benefited me," he said.
Canavan is a fourth-year student at St. Patrick’s College, and has been playing with them in Division 5 of the Colleges and Universities League, where he scored two goals in the first round of the cup last week.
He explained that because the standard isn’t as high as what he’s used to, he feels like he can relax more.
“That's where I find I can play my football without being under as much pressure or stressed. It's more for enjoyment and getting to play with the lads I'm friends with. I can try things that I can bring into my game then when I go to, say, Longford or when I was playing with Kildare, I can try things in the college matches, see how they work. That's a benefit as well.
“We're in the quarter-finals now of the Cup. We're playing TUD at home next week, so we're looking forward to that game. We're hoping to get a Cup run. We think we're strong enough this year to push on, hopefully get to the semi-final or the final of the Cup. We play our home games on the Astro in St Pats. I was really happy to get those few goals. We got a good 3-0 win. So, yeah, I was delighted with that.
“I also spent my first three years of college playing with my brother Lorcan as well. I always liked to play with him. He always, I think, demanded a higher standard out of me than some people do in the League of Ireland.”
