'I just wanted to go over and follow my dream'
Dylan Gavin has described making his debut for the Charlton Athletic first team as “a dream come true”.
And despite the recent setbacks of testing positive for coronavirus and an injury problem, the talented Athlone teenager is determined to build on the progress he has made so far.
Gavin made his senior debut for Charlton last November when he was introduced as a substitute against Leyton Orient in the EFL Trophy. Also known as the Papa John’s Trophy, the competition features clubs from League One and League Two.
“For a young lad from Athlone, aged 17, not many lads get that chance. It was a proud moment for me and my family. But it was just another stepping stone in my career so hopefully there will be many more,” Dylan told the Westmeath Independent.
Dylan said he didn’t get much advance notice that he was going to be part of for the first team squad for the Leyton Orient game, admitting that he was “shocked” at being called up.
The current Charlton Athletic manager is former Leeds star Lee Bowyer, who had a controversial reputation as a player. “People might think he’s a bit of a madman but he made me feel comfortable with the first team and I’ve found him to be a down to earth, honest fella,” said Dylan.
The presence of fellow Athlone man Anthony Hayes as a coach with Charlton has helped Dylan to settle into his new environment. Anthony’s father is former Athlone Town player Seamus Hayes, who alerted his son to Dylan’s footballing talent.
As part of his role as a professional development coach, Anthony is in charge of the Charlton U-18 team.
“When I was going over first at 16 years of age, it was obviously really good to have Anthony there, meeting my family and everything. When I went over, I knew Anthony and he helped me to settle in quickly and, as a coach, he has helped me to develop my game. When the lockdown came, he was really good to me, keeping in touch and so on,” said Dylan.
Overall, Dylan has absolutely no regrets about making the decision to go to England at the tender age of 16.
“I just wanted to go over and follow my dream. I suppose every young lad has dreams,” said the striker.
“People might think about being homesick and all that but it wasn’t really a factor for me. I was fairly comfortable going in straight away. At the start I suppose you would be worried about home and all that, but you get used to training from Monday to Friday and a game on Saturday. You don’t take as much notice of being away from home.”
Having shown impressive form in pre-season last year, Gavin scored against Millwall in his first league game at U-18 level and followed that up with two goals in a 3-1 win over QPR.
In the FA Youth Cup, Gavin scored three goals in the space of two games against Winslow United and Gillingham, but Covid-19 and injury blows subsequently intervened.
“We were supposed to play Sheffield United (in the FA Youth Cup) but it was postponed, that was probably lucky for me as I was just coming back from an injury and then I got injured again at training,” he said.
That ankle ligament injury was a setback, with Dylan also testing positive for coronavirus last month. “It was a tough period,” he admitted.
Thankfully, his Covid-19 symptoms were fairly mild. “I lost my sense of smell and taste,” he said, adding that his energy levels are “still getting there”.
Dylan turned 18 on January 16 and the original plan was to go home at that time, but the positive Covid-19 test changed the situation. Dylan had to have a negative PCR test before he could fly back home.
“The club felt it would be best for my mental health to go home and spend time with the family,” he said.
Dylan is on a two-year scholarship contract with the south east London club which has about six months to run.
He is hopeful of securing a professional contract with the League One outfit, but is acutely aware that there are no guarantees in the tough world of professional football.
Dylan gets on well with his U-18 colleagues and shares digs with Charlie Barker (a son of former professional player Richie Barker), who has also featured for Charlton’s first team.
“I’m just taking it day by day. My main focus is to get back playing games with the U18s and to get a few goals. Hopefully I’ll get into the U-23s and then push on from there into training with the first team,” he said.
In 2017, Dylan played a key role in Athlone Town winning the U-15 national league title. He scored both of Athlone’s goals in a 2-1 victory over St Patrick’s Athletic.
Describing 2017 as “a great year”, he recalled how involvement in Athlone’s success led to getting called up to the Ireland U-16 squad.
As for trying to get into the reckoning for Ireland squads in the future, Dylan said: “I’m just concentrating on club football at the moment and anything else that might come along is a bonus.”
From Sarsfield Square in Athlone, Dylan attended Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí and St Mary’s NS, before doing his Junior Cert in Marist College.
As a schoolboy Dylan played for both St Peter’s and St Francis and he represented the ADSL twice in the Kennedy Cup.
He remembers Padraig Gaffey as a major big influence at St Francis, along with Brian Murphy and Robbie Wallace.
Most of all, Dylan is thankful to his family for their support in his career, particularly his mother Samantha, stepdad John Bullman and grandfather Oliver Gavin.
Four years ago, Dylan was part of the Marist College Gaelic football team which won a Leinster Schools juvenile title and he also played for Athlone GAA club.
Dylan scored 2-2 for the Marist in that Leinster final win over Good Counsel, New Ross, having scored four goals in the North Leinster final. He recalls that Fergal Wilson, one of the coaches with that team, was another positive influence in his sporting journey.
“In school I wanted to get out of every class I could so I played Gaelic as well. All I cared about was scoring goals; it didn’t matter about the points, just the goals,” he added with a laugh.