Biography
Irish defender McLoughlin joined Hull City in July 2019, adding power to Grant McCann’s rebuilt squad. Sean was immediately loaned to Scottish Premiership side St Mirren for the first half of the season, where he gained experience from 21 senior appearances. He returned to Hull City in January 2020 and saw his first action when he started at centre back at Reading in early February.
He made a number of appearances filling in across the defence and started the 2020/21 League One campaign as part of City’s first team squad. After being used in a support role during the 2020/21 season, he was awarded a new contract in March 2021 and came into the side in the Autumn of 2021 after an injury robbed the Tigers of Alfie Jones. The switch to three centre backs suited McLoughlin well, who played in the middle of the three and thrived with his calm presence, excellent tackling and strong heading.
He kept his place when new manager Shota Arveladze reverted to a back four in the spring of 2022 before a spell on the sidelines in the early months of the 2022/23 season. McLoughlin was restored to back four with considerable effect when Liam Rosenior took over the reins and gave Sean the chance to showcase his solid defensive qualities, as well as his range of short and long passing.
During the 2023/24 season McLoughlin again cut a peripheral figure, filling in occasionally and playing in Cup matches as the consistent pairing of Alfie Jones and Jacob Greaves dominated the Hull City defence. The 2024/25 season proved his most influential, his supporting role in the opening months morphed into a regular left back berth for the second half of the season as new manafer Ruben Selles looked to shiore up City’s defence and successfully avoid relegation to League One.
Sean Desmond McLoughlin was born in Cork and came through the ranks as a teenager at his local side, leaving to attend university before rejoining in June 2017. He made his debut for Cork City in October 2017 against St Patrick’s Athletic and scored his first goal for Cork in March 2018 against Bray Wanderers. In July and August 2018 he played alongside Damien Delaney in two Champions League matches against Legia Warsaw and two Europa League ties against Rosenborg, in November 2018 he started the FAI Cup Final that was lost to Dundalk. By the time he left Cork City in July 2019 Sean had scored four goals in 65 senior appearances for the club, having just made two further Europa League appearances against Luxembourg side Progres Niederkorn.
In May 2023, after a fine half-season in Laim Rosenior’s ball-playing side, McLoughlin was called into an Ireland senior training camp by manager Stephen Kenny but was not selected for the final squad.
Details
Nationality: Ireland
Date/Place of Birth: 13 November 1996, Cork
Hull City First Game: 8 February 2020, Reading A (Championship), 23 years, 87 days old
Hull City Final Game: [current player]
Clubs
Cork City (2017-2019), Hull City (2019-current), St Mirren (2019, loan)
Hull City Record
Career: 146 apps, 0 goals
Sean McLoughlin| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 5 (2) | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2020/21 | 0 (3) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | – | – | 6 (0) | 0 |
| 2021/22 | 29 (3) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2022/23 | 24 (3) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 2023/24 | 13 (10) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 2024/25 | 37 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |