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 Blackburn, it looked for a time last season that Kavanagh could make a breakthrough of his own.
He was named on the bench by then-manager Roberto De Zerbi on a number of occasions in the Premier League and Europa League but never made it onto the pitch under the Italian.
When Bohs came calling, Kavanagh decided to head back across the water, and is pleased with how things are going so far.
"I’m loving it," he says. "The first couple of weeks were tough. We had a tough result against Sligo but since then I think we’ve been playing some very good football and the fans have been amazing towards me.
"My ambitions are always to play at the highest possible level. I did very well in England. Off the back of being away for four years, I thought the next step was senior football and thankfully Bohemians have given me the chance.
Despite bidding farewell to the English south coast, Kavanagh remains in touch with his Irish brethren who are still across the sea.
"I lived with Andy Moran for a year," he says. "I also lived with Evan Ferguson. Killian Cahill, Mark O’Mahony and Jamie Mullins are also there. I speak to all the lads regularly. They’re all buzzing for me."
With their various clubs playing across the weekend, some of Kavanagh’s old mates may find time to watch the Bohs v Derry game on Friday night.
Should Bohs go on and lift the trophy against either Drogheda United or Wexford on 10 November, it would cap a decent return to the League of Ireland for their big centre-half.
Watch the FAI Cup semi-finals, Bohemians v Derry City on Friday from 7.35pm and Drogheda United v Wexford on Sunday from 2.45pm. Both game on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
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