AFC Bournemouth
In August 2016, a 16-year-old Dubliner walked through the doors at the Cherries’ training base, moving away from home for the first time in an attempt to realise his footballing ambition.
Nearly four-and-a-half years later, Gavin Kilkenny followed up his previous goal in a pre-season friendly and appearances in the Carabao Cup with his long-awaited league debut for AFC Bournemouth.
The late substitute showing at Barnsley marked the latest chapter in Kilkenny’s rise from a young Gaelic football player back in Ireland who decided to switch his attentions to football.
Finding success with the ball at his feet, Kilkenny took trials with clubs in England from the age of 14, before receiving acceptance in Dorset two years later.
Now 20, the midfielder spoke with afcb.co.uk after his landmark night at Oakwell last Friday and started by talking about the journey he’s been on through the age groups with the Cherries.
"This felt a long, long way away,” he said, talking about his Cherries initial arrival as a teenager. “At that stage I'm not sure I thought this would ever happen, it was a whole different world when I came over.
"The first three years were a lot of hard work with a lot of ups and downs, having to keep going when sometimes it didn't look like it would happen.
"To actually get through the door of the first team last season was probably the toughest thing to do, then staying there and trying to get game time after that.
"It's still the same now in a way, I never want to be satisfied with where I am. I can see I'm a million miles from where I was – but I always want more."
Kilkenny’s league debut did not come as a surprise, the Ireland under-21 international having appeared on the bench four times in the Premier League and three times this campaign before finally getting the call to come on.
Kilkenny was pleased that Sam Surridge – a fellow graduate through the Cherries’ youth system - to play a role on the night to ensure his debut took place and, following in the footsteps of a number of his academy peers to make the breakthrough in 2020/21, the midfielder admitted that the wait had at times seemed a long one.
He explained: "It was nice to finally get it, it felt like it would never come! It actually hasn't been too long but it's felt long, it's great that the manager's had a bit of faith in me and gave me my debut.
"You always hope the team's going to go up with the score, like we did against Barnsley, then it kind of opens the door for the debuts.
"When we went 3-0 then 4-0 I think all us young lads on the bench were rubbing our hands, thinking 'this could be us now.' Jaidon (Anthony) had come on a bit earlier, me, JZ (Zemura), Nnams (Ofoborh) would love to come on too.
"Sudge (Surridge) scored the fourth and we were all just praying, I was warming up with Nnams when he scored, sprinting up and down the touchline even harder.
"It's great for Sudge because he deserves it. He came on against Preston, did really well and it's been only a matter of time until he got the goals, he's been showing for a while that he can do it – even in the back end of last season in the Premier League.
"That it was him who got the goal that maybe gave me my chance was lovely."
With close friends Ofoborh and Zemura earning Carabao Cup starts this season and Anthony more recently getting the chance to show his ability in the first team, Kilkenny says he hasn’t had to look far for inspiration.
"Especially this year you have the four of us: me, Jaidon, JZ and Nnams, then you have Sudge who is older and closer to it. The four of us stick together and it's nice to see each other doing well, you see one of the others do well and it just makes you want to get that.
"Against Preston, the manager wanted someone to change the game, Jaidon came on and changed it altogether. He got the assist and then warranted his 20 minutes again against Barnsley, he did really well in that one as well.
"It just shows you, there is a chance there. It gives you a bit of faith as a young lad because it's nice to know that if you do things right there is a chance to come. Sometimes if you don't have that hope it can be tough.
"It's come in phases for each of us, one of us doing well while another is waiting in the wings. We all push each other on, nobody has a rivalry, we just want each other to do well as we all came up together.”
Back to Oakwell and the post-match mood after an impressive away victory emanated not only from the away changing room but also from back at his family home in Beaumont, a suburb in the north of Dublin.
"When we got back the manager gave us a little talk, we'd needed the win after the Preston game, everyone was delighted to do that,” said Kilkenny.
"Then my phone was popping a bit, as you might expect. Everyone was going mad, especially with everyone watching the game on Sky and the Premier League not having a game.
"My family haven't been over in a while but they were buzzing. I was speaking to my mum and dad that night back in Bournemouth, my uncle as well, everyone was watching it.
"It was a great occasion and a great time to do it, with the team going top of the league.
"The next appearances are going to be the hardest ones to get now, breaking in and putting a few appearances together, hopefully even a few starts.
“I've been in and around it for over a year now with the Premier League, I've always felt like I'm ready but as you go on and get used to it and the standard you feel like there's no reason why not.
“It's about getting that chance and then seeing if you can take it."
