Former Seagull Leigh Kavanagh taking flight with Bohemians

It's a long commute from Bray to the Bohemian FC training base at DCU Sports Campus but it’s one that Leigh Kavanagh is happy to be making.

A native of the Wicklow town and a product of the Bray Wanderers academy, Kavanagh spent four years at Brighton before returning to the League of Ireland with the Gypsies in July.

The 20-year-old arrived in the midst of a below-par season for Bohs but the defender has played his part in a run that has taken the club to a third FAI Cup semi-final in the space of four years.

Kavanagh made his Bohs bow off the bench in a 2-0 defeat at home to Sligo in July, before impressing on his full debut a week later as Alan Reynolds’ men knocked arch-rivals Shamrock Rovers out of the cup at the first hurdle.

He also played as Bohs squeezed past Kerry in the next round, before dismantling another First Division outfit in UCD 4-0 in the quarter-final.

Several players in the Dalymount dressing room have tasted cup final defeat at Aviva Stadium, at the hands of St. Patrick’s Athletic in both 2021 and 2023, and Kavanagh is determined to help put that right, as they prepare to face Derry City in a home semi-final this Friday night.

"Everyone’s buzzing," Kavanagh tells RTÉ Sport at the semi-final media day.

"The mood in the camp is high and we’re all looking forward to Friday. The lads went down to Galway in the semi-final fast season and had a good result. Everyone is looking forward to Friday in Dalymount and hopefully getting back to the Aviva."

After breaking through at Bray, Kavanagh was snapped up by another coastal club nicknamed the Seagulls, joining a strong Irish contingent at Brighton in July 2020.

With Evan Ferguson bursting on the first-team scene in recent years, and Andy Moran impressing on loan at