Sean Grehan explains key factor behind Doncaster Rovers move and what he learned from training with Marc Guehi

After featuring sporadically during his first season with the club, Sean Grehan is starting to emerge as a regular starter at the heart of the Doncaster Rovers defence.

Signed from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2025, Grehan arrived on the back of a very productive loan spell in the League of Ireland with Bohemians where he featured 18 times for the Dublin outfit en route to achieving European qualification. However, when he made his move to DN4 he had very little experience of English football, at least not at senior level. Infact, prior to joining Grehan had played just three times during a loan spell at Carlisle United in 2023/24, amassing just 38 minutes of football.

Grehan had to be patient for minutes when he made the move to Rovers, starting just five league matches before the turn of the year. However, the young defender took encouragement from the progress of Jay McGrath who had also followed a similar pathway having arrived from the League of Ireland 18 months earlier in January 2024.

When asked if that was in his mind at all before joining, Grehan told the Free Press: “Yeah, I think the manager had said that to me before I joined. He was saying he was seeing the pathway of how Jay had done it. He came from the League of Ireland and then went on and won League 2 with Donny. So yeah, that was always a pull.

“I think there's been a lot of players who have done that before, who have gone home, whether it's for six months or the year, and just getting that bit of experience, I think it can always help you. Lots of players have done it before me and gone on to play in the League of Ireland and stuff like that, or gone on to play in League 1 and Championship, etc. So yeah, it was a great experience.

“And I think seeing the way Jay had done it was always a pull for me, knowing that the manager has seen what Jay can do and I feel he could see what I can do.”

Grehan and McGrath never played in the League of Ireland at the same time but they did both spend time in the capital, with McGrath playing for Dublin-based St Patrick’s before his move back to South Yorkshire. Both clubs are currently in the final few weeks of a title battle which also involves Shamrock Rovers.

“I've been keeping my eye on Bo's and I think Jay's been keeping his eye on Pat's,” Grehan said.

“So yeah, there’s a bit of banter in that way, but I'm hoping Bo's can go and win the League now, which would be nice for me and I can give him a bit for that.”

Grehan gained plenty of first team experience from his loan move back to Dublin but alongside that also learned a great deal from playing at Crystal Palace. He captained the team at youth level and gained a fair bit of experience training in the first team with names like Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen.

Commenting on that time, he added: “It's always nice training with them and seeing how they play.

“I think they help me even on the pitch, they'd always be there to give you little bits of advice and stuff like that. Joachim Andersen is probably one of the best passers of a ball I've seen of a defender in years. Seeing him in training every day and looking at his technique and stuff like that, there's always something I'd be doing.

Just Marc’s professionalism and the way he'd go on in training and how aggressive he was. But then he had a sense of calmness on the ball. It was always good, it always helped being up there training.

“You learn so much. I think it's helped me a lot now coming here and taking that bits of advice I've gotten from them in years of playing games.”