Graham Kavanagh

Football player infobox
playername = Graham Kavanagh


fullname = Graham Anthony Kavanagh
nickname = Kav
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1973|12|2
cityofbirth = Dublin
countryofbirth = Ireland
height = height|ft=5|in=10
currentclub = Carlisle United
" on loan from Sunderland"
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1990–1991
1991–1996
1996
1996–2001
2001–2005
2005–2006
2006–
2007
2008
2008–
clubs = Home Farm
Middlesbrough
→ Stoke City (loan)
Stoke City
Cardiff City
Wigan Athletic
Sunderland
→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)
→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)
→ Carlisle United (loan)
caps(goals) = 000 0(0)
035 0(3)
003 0(1)
202 (33)
142 (28)
048 0(0)
016 0(1)
007 0(1)
009 0(1)
000 0(0)
nationalyears = 1998–2006
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 016 0(1)
pcupdate = 21:08, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate =

Graham Anthony Kavanagh (born December 2, 1973 in Dublin, Republic of Ireland) is an Irish footballer, currently playing for Carlisle United on loan from Sunderland, having also played for Home Farm, Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Cardiff City, Wigan Athletic and two loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday.

Kavanagh is well known for his hard tackling abilities as well as being able to add a creative dimension to his play. Nicknamed the 'Silver Fox' he has recently operated in a holding central midfield role, a slight contrast to his previous role at Cardiff, where he operated a more advanced attacking role as well as being club captain.

Career

Kavanagh began his career at Home Farm, before joining Middlesbrough in 1991 but struggled to ever hold down a first team place and was sold to Stoke City in 1996, after a short loan spell at the club, for £250,000. He was eventually to move to Cardiff City in 2001 for £1m, and went on to score fifteen times in his first season at the club and help them to promotion the following year when they beat Queens Park Rangers in the Division two play-off final.

During the 2004-05 season Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam revealed that the club was in serious financial trouble and as such a number of players left the club to attempt to regain losses, including Kavanagh who signed for Wigan Athletic for a fee close to £400,000.cite news
title = Wigan complete Kavanagh signing
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/4317345.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2005-03-04
accessdate = 2007-09-21] On 31 August 2006, he signed a three-year deal with Roy Keane's Sunderland for £500,000. During that season he played 14 games, scoring one goal, before he was ruled out for the majority of games due to lingering injury problems.

He joined Sheffield Wednesday on 21 September 2007 on a loan deal to regain his fitnesscite news
title = Owls sign Kavanagh on loan deal
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_wed/7006205.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-09-21
accessdate = 2007-09-21] where he played seven games, scoring one goal against Watford on October 2. On 29 December, Leicester City made a bid for Kavanagh, together with Márton Fülöp.cite news
title = Leicester bid for Sunderland pair
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/7164253.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-12-29
accessdate = 2007-12-30] However, on 31 January 2008 Kavanagh again joined Wednesday on a loan deal until the end of the season.

On friday 10th October 2008 Kavanagh signed a short term loan deal to join league one club Carlisle United.

International

Kavanagh has 16 international caps for the Republic of Ireland, the last of which he picked up on 16 August 2006 against Holland.

Trivia

Graham is married to the sister of Liam O'Brien.

Honours

With Cardiff City
*FAW Premier Cup: 2001-02
*Football League One play-off winners: 2002-03

With Wigan Athletic
*Football League Championship runner-up: 2004-05
*Football League Cup runner-up: 2005-06

With Sunderland
*Football League Championship: 2006-07

References

*soccerbase|id=4066|name=Graham Kavanagh
*ESPNsoccernet|id=5539|name=Graham Kavanagh