‘I love football but I don’t want to leave my body in a bad state when I do finish'

Kevin Toner started his career with Ashbourne United

Perhaps the least surprising aspect of Kevin Toner’s life so far is that he carved out a career in professional sport. One look at the Ashbourne man’s family connections highlights just how much sport is part of his DNA.

His father, Brendan, played professionally for Mansfield Town. He also turned out for Dublin side St Francis and famously, helped the club reach the FAI Cup final against Bray Wanderers at Lansdowne Road in 1990.

The Wanderers went home with the trophy but the fact that a non-league team like St Francis could make it to such a prestigious final caused a real sensation at the time – and with good reason.

Kevin’s mother Colleen Dwyer excelled at golf while his uncle and jockey Mark Dwyer has certainly made his mark in the sport of kings. He won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Forgive n’Forget in 1985 and the Irish Gold Cup on Jodami in 1991.

Not only that Kevin’s aunt, Grainne, was a talented camogie and squash player while another uncle, John Dwyer, was the club professional at Ashbourne Golf Club before he moved to Royal Dublin.

Kevin went on to carve out his own career in professional soccer. It is a career that has taken him from Ashbourne to Aston Villa and beyond.

Recently he turned 30 and these days he lives with his wife Rebecca (also from Ashbourne) and their son in Spain from where he spoke to the Meath Chronicle. All in all it has been quite a journey for the man who grew up in the Meath town.

Toner started his career with Ashbourne United before moving to Home Farm. Then the big time called. He was signed by Aston Villa in 2012. He was just 15.

“I moved to Villa literally straight from Home Farm. I went to the club’s academy, played for the u-18s, captained the u-21s and then played a few games on the first team,” he recalled.

“Paul Lambert was manager and during my time at the club there were others who took charge including Tim Sherwood, Roberto Di Matteo, Eric Black, Steve Bruce.”

Toner, who played up to u-21 level for his country, stayed five years at Villa Park and made four first team appearances with his debut against Southampton. As a centre-back it was his job to keep an eye on the Southampton’s strikeforce that day – including Irish international Shane Long.

In another of those four first-team games Toner lined out against a star-sprinkled Arsenal side that included French striker Olivier Giroud, German international Mesut Ozil and Jack Wiltshire. Despite Villa suffering a 4-0 defeat it seemed like Toner was set for a long stay in the big time. It didn’t turn out like that.

“Villa got relegated from the Premier League that year and I thought I might get more game-time in the Championship the following season but they signed a few centre-halves who were a lot older than me,” he recalls.

“They wanted experienced players to get them back up to the Premier League and I don’t think they were going to look to a 19-year-old to help them do that.”

Instead, the Ashbourne man went on loan to Kidderminister Harriers, to Walsall, Bradford City and Stevenage. It was a great way to get experience in the English game but unsettling too. Eventually in 2017 he decided it was time to make the next big move. He made the decision to return home - and it was HIS decision, not a matter of Villa letting him go.

He signed for St Patrick’s Athletic and played against IFK Norrkoping in the UEFA Europa League, with the Saints losing 4-1 on aggregate. When his contract expired with the Inchicore club Toner moved on. He briefly turned out for Kilmore Celtic in the Leinster Senior League. Then Spain called.

Since he was six Toner had been making regular trips to Spain where his family have a base about two hours from Valencia.

Toner signed for semi-professional side La Nucia and played against La Liga giants Valencia in the Copa del Rey. Later he moved to Orihuela CF and Deportiva de Minera CF. He says the teams he has played for are at a “League Two standard.” Semi-professional it might be but the players train most days of the week.

Does he often think back to his Aston Villa days and wonder what might have happened if he had stayed in England?

“I have no regrets, life is too short for regrets. I’m happy to have achieved what I did achieve. I know of other lads growing up who were better than me but who have not achieved as much.

"I tried the big time, trained as hard as I could, but if a manager comes in and signs four or five centre-halves (as happened at Aston Villa) and says that you have to go out on loan, there isn’t much you can do about it. At a big club, a high level, that’s the reality.”

These days Toner has taken a break from the game. An enforced break. He had signed for a new club, Cieza CF, for this season, but realised he couldn’t continue on and play for them, because of a recurring groin strain.

“For the last seven or eight months of the season last year I was getting injections in my groin every four to six weeks to try and keep the pain down. I had to say to the people at Cieza I have to take a few months to get my body right because everything over here is played on astro-turf so it’s a lot harder on the body.

“I’m still working away with a physio to regain my fitness but I’ve seen a lot of footballers finish their careers and they can’t run, their bodies are very frail and brittle. I love football but there is life after football and I don’t want to leave my body in a bad state when I do finish.”

Increasingly Toner has turned his mind to coaching youngsters. He enjoys that. He has concentrated also on learning Spanish and has set up a business.

It’s call ‘Rise and Play Football.’ It will involve him organizing pre-season training camps in Spain for teams from England, Ireland and elsewhere as well as one-to-one coaching with smaller groups.

He loves the Spanish lifestyle, the people, the weather. No matter what way you look at it Kevin Toner has travelled far in a football career with a difference.