Biography
Irish defender McLoughlin joined City in July 2019, adding power to Grant McCann’s rebuilt squad, and was immediately loaned to St Mirren for the first half of the season, where he gained experience in 21 senior appearances. He returned to 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.
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. 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 the club in July 2019 Sean had scored four goals in 60 senior appearances for the club.
In May 2023, after a fine half-season in Laim Rosenior’s ball-playing side, McLoughlin was called to the Ireland senior squad by manager Stephen Kenny.
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: 97 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 | 10 (5) | 0 | – | – | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |