By Mike Rafferty

As the 2024 calendar wound down towards both the end of the year, and the end of the League of Ireland season, Cillian Tollett was enjoying his football with various Galway United Academy sides while he had also dipped his toe at international levels with Republic of Ireland U-15 and U-16 teams.

Then, on Friday October 18 in Inchicore, the Killannin native came off the bench in the 86th minute of Galway United’s game with St Patrick’s Athletic to make his senior debut for the club in a game that finished in a 2-1 defeat.

He found himself propelled into the United senior squad for the season just gone, making 11 more appearances for the first team, 10 in the league and one in the FAI Cup; and matters were also going well at international level also as the Republic of Ireland U-17 side were progressing nicely in their World Cup qualifying campaign.

As a regular with the U-17 international squad, the 5th Year student attended all the training sessions. However, his season came to a halt both on the club and international scene when injury struck in September and curtailed his progress at all levels.

“I was at one of the regular international camps when the injury occurred. I had multiple scans, but they found it difficult to pin down exactly what it was. It was a tear in a knee ligament of some description, but I knew at the time it was going to keep me out for some time.

“It took me two months to get back on the training pitch and in reality I knew I had missed the boat regarding selection,” he said in connection with the Irish squad that qualified for the U-17 World Cup in Qatar, with the side owing out of the competition on Tuesday when losing 3-1 to Switzerland in the Last 32 of the tournament.

“The U-17 manager [Colin O’Brien] was in touch with [Galway United manager] John Caulfield and had given him a date for me to be fit by, but while I was just back a week before the squad was selected, I had not played for two months and therefore really knew what was in store.

“Sure, it was disappointing to miss out, but hopefully there will be other opportunities in the future.”

Like most young men of his generation, there was variety in the sporting choices of Tollett. He spent some of his early life in Australia where his father was a professional Rugby League player, but on moving back to Killannin, it was Gaelic football with Killannin and soccer with Oughterard that consumed his childhood sporting life.

He joined the Galway United U-14 squad under Javi Vasquez in 2022. From there the goals flowed for the striker as he progressed to international schoolboy level, before his progress to the Galway United senior squad.

The past season was his first in a professional environment and he enjoyed every minute of it. Asked about the step up from U-20 level, he was very assertive about the gulf between the grades.

“Oh, it is the intensity of everything that you notice first. While you train well at an Academy level, the senior side is a few levels up. The standard is so high. We train in the morning and we have a good craic amongst the boys. As one of the younger players, the senior lads are always pushing the standard and naturally you want to impress.

“However, I don’t treat it as pressure. Doing that is only making it harder on oneself. All you can do is go in, listen, and train to a high standard and be grateful for the opportunity you are getting,” he said.

Like any young player with potential, a career across the water or on the continent is in the future thoughts of Tollett, but it is Galway United that is all that is on his mind for now.

The sporting talent in the family doesn’t all rest with him, as younger sisters Jessie and Freya are following a familiar trail as they also enjoy their GAA with Killannin and soccer with Oughterard.

Cillian Tollett comes on to the pitch in Richmond Park in October last year to make his senior debut for Galway United in a 2-1 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic. Photo courtesy Galway United.