Owen Garvan

Home Farm

Born in Dublin, Garvan grew up playing for Home Farm in a team coached by his father, Gerry Garvan. His side went undefeated for three years, and were notable for beating a Celtic youth side in Glasgow, a match in which four members of the side ended up joining Celtic. Darren O'Dea, Diarmuid O'Carroll, Gareth Christie and Gareth Walsh were all offered contracts by Celtic, while Chris McCann moved to England to join Burnley. Garvan also made a move, joining Ipswich Town along with teammates Shane Supple and Michael Synnott.

Ipswich Town

Garvan moved to Ipswich Town in November 2004, where he immediately became a regular in the Ipswich youth teams, helping his side to the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2005. He missed the second leg of the final against Southampton after spending the match day in hospital with a viral infection. Following his success with the youth team, Garvan was handed his professional debut on 6 August 2005, starting in Ipswich's season opening 1–0 win over Cardiff City at Portman Road. He established himself as a first-team regular in Joe Royle's side, scoring his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with Southampton on 13 September. He ended his first season with three goals in 33 games. In the 2006–07 season, Garvan received the first professional red card of his career after being sent off for a second bookable offence during a 2–0 home defeat by Leicester City on 10 February 2007. He scored once in his 29 games for the club…

Garvan has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-15, under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels. He won the FAI Under-21 International Player of the Year award in 2008. He was included in Giovanni Trapattoni's first Republic of Ireland squad in 2008.

Garvan comes from a notable Irish footballing family. His father Gerry was a player in the League of Ireland and coached Owen during his days with Home Farm in Dublin. Garvan's uncle Mick Martin made 51 appearances for Ireland between 1971 and 1983 and played for Manchester United. Garvan's grandfather Con Martin was also an Irish international footballer who had the notable distinction of having been capped in every position for the team, including as goalkeeper. However, he turned down a move to Manchester United because Matt Busby wanted Martin to play in goal. Martin made over 190 league appearances for Aston Villa between 1948 and 1956. Another uncle, Con Martin Jr, was also a League of Ireland player.

Ipswich Town U18

FA Youth Cup: 2004–05 Crystal Palace

Football League Championship play-offs: 2013 Individual

FAI Under-21 International Player of the Year: 2008