Kieran Sadlier

Kieran Paul Sadlier (born 14 September 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for USL Championship club Sporting JAX. He can also play as a wing-back. Born in England, he has represented the Republic of Ireland at youth level.

Sadlier previously won both the League of Ireland Premier Division and FAI Cup in his first season with Cork City.

Club career

West Ham United A youth team player with Cambridge United, Sadlier joined West Ham United in 2005. Sadlier went on to feature regularly for the U21s, he requested to be released from his contract early in January 2015 in order to sign for St Mirren until the end of the 2014–15 season.

St Mirren Sadlier made his debut on 28 February in a 1–0 home win against Hamilton Academical coming on as a half-time substitute for Viktor Genev.

Peterborough United On 20 July 2015, Sadlier signed a contract with Peterborough United after a successful trial period.

Sligo Rovers On 11 January 2016, Sadlier signed for League of Ireland Premier League side Sligo Rovers until the summer where he linked up with former manager Dave Robertson at the club, for whom he played under at Peterborough United. After six weeks the club wanted to retain Sadlier on a longer term contract and signed him to the club for a further 18 months; till the end of the 2017 season. Sadlier finished the 2016 season strongly, ending the season as joint top goal scorer for the club with 10 goals.

Sadlier started the 2017 season with eight league and cup goals (seven league and one League of Ireland Cup) before attracting interest from three Premier League of Ireland clubs; Dundalk, Limerick and Cork City for his signature to join them.

Cork City On 3 July 2017, Sadlier joined Cork City.

In his second full season with the Club, Sadlier finished the season as the club's top goal scorer with 26 goals plus 13 assists, helping the club to a 2nd-place finish in the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland, plus reach the FAI Cup final for the fourth consecutive season. At the end of the season Sadlier was named in the official League of Ireland team of the year finishing as the league's second highest goal scorer. He was also the first person since 1974 to score in every round of the FAI Cup, including the final and only the fourth person to do this in the history of the FAI Cup.

Doncaster Rovers In December 2018, Sadlier joined League One side Doncaster Rovers on an 18-month contract. He made his debut for Doncaster Rovers on 6 January 2019 in a third round FA Cup fixture against Preston North End He then made his home debut in the 4th round of the FA Cup at home to Oldham Athletic on 26 January 2019. On 9 February 2019, Sadlier came on in the 68th minute to make his home league debut and scored the third goal in a 3–1 home win against his old club, Peterborough United. Sadlier left the club at the end of the 2019-20 season when the two parties were unable to agree on a new contract. In his final season at Doncaster he played 33 league games, scoring 11 goals and was their leading goal scorer.

Rotherham United On 11 August 2020, Sadlier joined Championship club Rotherham United.

Bolton Wanderers On 28 January 2022, Sadlier joined Bolton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal. On 2 April, Bolton won 4–0 against Plymouth Argyle in the 2023 EFL Trophy Final He was out on loan at Leyton Orient at the time, though still received a medal as he had played in the earlier rounds. He was released by mutual consent on 1 September 2023.

Leyton Orient On 27 January 2023, Sadlier joined Leyton Orient on loan for the remainder of the season.

Wycombe Wanderers He later joined Wycombe. On 20 May 2025, the club announced he would be leaving in June when his contract expired.

Sporting JAX On 6 January 2026, USL Championship expansion club Sporting JAX announced that Sadlier had signed with the team.

International career Under 15 – U19s Sadlier has played for Republic of Ireland at U15, U16, U19 and U21 levels. For the U15 side, Sadlier made two appearances, scoring on his debut against Northern Ireland U15s and was a substitute against Wales U15s, coming on for the last 20 minutes. He made four appearances for the under-16s against Czech Republic U16s (twice), Portugal U16s and Italy U16s and played in three U17 games against Norway U17, Albania U17 and Malta U17s in the U17 Euro Championships.

For the U19 team, Sadlier made 10 appearances, starting in all 10 games, scoring one goal against Switzerland U19s in the U19 European Championship finals held in Serbia.

Under 21s Sadlier made his Ireland U21 debut against Qatar in a friendly played in Aachen, Germany on 24 May 2014. He made four further appearances for the Irish U21s, against Germany in Leipzig, Norway U-21s on 26 September 2014 played in Drammen, Norway, both these matches were in the U21 European Championship. This was followed by a double header of friendlies against the USA & Russia U21s in which Sadlier played against Russia, both games were played in Spain.

Senior squad Sadlier was named in Mick McCarthy's provisional squad in October 2019 for qualifiers against the Georgian national team and the Switzerland national team. On 29 October 2019 Sadlier was named in an extended 39-man provisional squad for a friendly against New Zealand and a qualifier against Denmark in November 2019.

Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals St Mirren 2014–15 Scottish Premiership

Peterborough United 2015–16 League One

Halifax Town (loan) 2015–16

48!!18!!11!!11!!1!!0!!6!!0!!3!!3!!70!!32

2018–19 League One

2019–20 League One

2020–21 Championship

2021–22 League One

2022–23

Leyton Orient EFL League Two: 2022–23

Wycombe Wanderers EFL Trophy runner-up: 2023–24