Sligo Rovers bolster attacking options with Cian Kavanagh signing from St Pat's

Sligo Rovers manager John Russell has further boosted his attacking options for the 2025 season with the signing of striker Cian Kavanagh from St Pat's Athletic.

Kavanagh, 21, has penned a two-year deal with the Bit O'Red. The Dubliner spent his formative years playing in the Pat's underage structures before making his first appearance for the club at senior level in early 2019.

Kavanagh caught the eye of Scottish clubs Hearts and Cowdenbeath and also has plenty of League of Ireland Premier Division experience having subsequently lined out for Waterford and Derry before returning to Inchicore ahead of the 2024 season where he played 21 times. T

Outlining his reasons for signing with Rovers, Kavanagh says the opportunity arose at the right time for both club and the player. He points to Russell's keenness to bring him to Sligo as soon as the opportunity presented itself, as a key component in his decision making.

He told sligorovers.com: "John (Russell) was in touch early on and expressed a real interest in bringing me to Rovers", he explains.

"After I met with him and he told me about his plans for Rovers for the next few years and how things have been run here, it was a no-brainer for me. I felt straight away how much he wanted to bring me here and that he believes in me and that's what I need right now."

The new striker says he is looking forward to leading the line next term and is eager to get plenty of game time in front of the Rovers faithful.

"John tries to play expansive football that I think will suit my style", Kavanagh continues.

"I want to be on the team sheet every week. That's going to come down to me putting in a good pre-season and performing day in, day out. I want to score as many goals as I can and hopefully