{"id":198614,"date":"2025-12-18T16:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/198614\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:42:09","slug":"league-of-ireland-legends-son-creates-history-in-usa-with-record-transfer-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/198614\/","title":{"rendered":"League of Ireland legend\u2019s son creates history in USA with record transfer fee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick\u2019s Athletic and Bohemians striker Trevor Molloy isn\u2019t the only football star in the family.Aaron Molloy playing for Charleston Battery against D.C. United(Image: Roger Wimmer\/ISI Photos\/USSF\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The son of League of Ireland legend Trevor Molloy has broken the USL Championship transfer fee record on Thursday by moving from Charleston Battery to Lexington Sporting Club.<\/p>\n

Aaron Molloy\u2019s switch will see the Kentucky-based club hand over an undisclosed six-figure transfer fee, with his former club boasting that it\u2019s the \u2018highest intraleague fee paid in USL Championship history\u2019.<\/p>\n

It is also the first six-figure intraleague transfer fee in the history of the USA\u2019s second tier.<\/p>\n

The move, which is pending league and federation approval, has come about after Lexington triggered a purchase option in Molloy\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n

The former Drogheda United<\/a> midfielder played 64 times for Charleston, scoring five goals and providing 10 assists.<\/p>\n

He also made it onto the All-League First Team selection twice during his two seasons with the South Carolina club.<\/p>\n

Molloy is heading into his fifth campaign in the USL Championship, and has four All-League First Team awards to his name.<\/p>\n

He left the League of Ireland<\/a> in 2016 and moved to Reading United in USL League Two, before switching to MLS side Portland Timbers\u2019 second team.<\/p>\n

After a spell with USL League One side Forward Madison, he moved up to the Championship with Memphis 901, where he spent two seasons before moving to Charleston Battery.<\/p>\n

Trevor and Aaron Molloy(Image: Trevor Molloy)<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old said: \u201cI\u2019m really excited to join Lexington SC and start this next chapter. It\u2019s a club with clear ambition and a passionate fan base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting to work, competing every day and giving everything I have for the badge and city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron’s dad Trevor played for top League of Ireland sides Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic, and had a spell at Motherwell in Scotland.<\/p>\n

He won three Premier Division titles, two with St Pat’s and one with Bohs, as well as an FAI Cup with the Gypsies in 2001 when they claimed the league and Cup double.<\/p>\n

Molloy was also a member of Brian Kerr’s Ireland Under-20 side when they finished third in the World Cup in Malaysia in 1997.<\/p>\n

Click here to sign up to our soccer newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from the League of Ireland and beyond<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick\u2019s Athletic and Bohemians striker Trevor Molloy isn\u2019t the only football star in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[105451,103980,14640,61,60,2539,48240,43,105452],"class_list":["post-198614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-charleston-battery","tag-drogheda-united","tag-drogheda-united-fc","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-league-of-ireland","tag-major-league-soccer","tag-news","tag-portland-timbers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}