A year ago, the 19-year-old centre-back was just hoping for minutes — anywhere he could get them.
Now, as winter draws in, he’s a first-team regular for Cardiff City, a full senior international with Wales, and part of a promotion-chasing side dreaming of a return to the Championship.
If everything falls into place - including this weekend’s crucial World Cup qualifier in Liechtenstein - his season could end in the most extraordinary way imaginable: with promotion at club level and a ticket to the World Cup finals in the USA.
“I would never have imagined the season to go as well as it probably has so far,” Lawlor says, as though he’s still trying to convince himself it’s real.
“My goal this season was just to play as much senior football as I possibly could. To be fair to the managers who have given me that opportunity, they really wanted me to play.”
Yet, not so long ago it looked as if Lawlor’s story would be heading in a very different direction.
He may seem equally at home as a strikingly composed figure for club and country, but he might well have ended up playing for neither.
“There was talk back in January about going out a loan,” he explains.
“But then I picked up a little injury, which meant things didn’t go properly to plan.”
READ MORE: Dylan Lawlor Insists Brian Barry-Murphy Has Been Key to his Cardiff City Breakthrough
Instead of heading elsewhere, he stayed with the Bluebirds and Cardiff’s year, as well as his own, changed dramatically.
When Brian Barry-Murphy was appointed head coach in the summer, Lawlor sensed something different, a mood of confidence and optimism that might provide a pathway to himself and other youngsters at the club.
“In his first meeting, the belief in the changing room just changed,” he recalls.
“After last season, it wasn’t the best as everyone knows, but from his first meeting he just changed the whole mindset and mentality. I was sat there and thought, ‘I’d love to be part of this.’”
That shift proved crucial. Murphy’s arrival not only lifted a squad that had finished bottom of the Championship, but also unlocked Lawlor’s potential.
“The way he plays suits me — the way we dominate possession and like to be aggressive,” Lawlor says.
“I didn’t have the best game early on against Peterborough, but he stuck with me. He still believed in me, and that gave me confidence to go again. It would have been easy to drop a youngster after that, but he didn’t.”
That occasional dip may be because still a teenager, Lawlor is adapting to the physicality of senior football.
“I’m still growing,” he laughs. “You get little things — a groin injury here or there — but it’s just about dealing with them and staying positive.
“The good thing is it’s never been anything major. You just manage it, sort what needs sorting, and keep going.”
“Whatever age you make the step to first-team football, whether that’s 17 or 23, you’re going to face challenges. I’m just enjoying every step of the journey.”
Cardiff’s season began with real momentum before stalling in recent weeks.
They didn’t lose as single match in their opening 10 games in all competitions - winning eight and drawing twice - but they lost five times in their next 10.
That has meant a fall from the top of League One to their current position in fourth, although they remain only one point behind the automatic promotion places with a game in hand on the three clubs above them.
Lawlor, however, isn’t one for overly worrying - on or off the field.
“For us, it’s just sticking together,” he insists. “We’re always striving to reach the next level.
“Sometimes the intensity drops a little bit, but we’ve pushed it to limits it probably hasn’t reached in a long, long time. We’ll just keep pushing those limits again.”
Cardiff will resume their League One campaign next weekend, when they travel to Northampton.
But before then, Lawlor will be striving to move close towards his other target of a breakthrough season - a place at the World Cup finals next summer - by beating Liechtenstein on Saturday and then North Macedonia in Cardiff three days later.
Yet, two months ago, Lawlor had not even played a single game for Wales until he made his debut in September against Kazakhstan.
“I think being thrown in there was probably the best thing for me,” he says. “I didn’t have time to think about it or expect it. You just take it in your stride and enjoy it.”
That sense of belonging — both to Cardiff and to Wales — seems to ground Lawlor amid the hype.
“I try to stay off social media,” he says. “It’s just me playing football, that’s all. You never get too high, you never get too low.”
That calmness was tested when one single word in a press conference earlier this season made headlines and waves across social media.
Cardiff’s aim, said Lawlor, was to “annihilate” their opposition in League One this season — a phrase that raised eyebrows but captured his openly competitive spirit.
“It just came out, to be honest,” he laughs. “Looking back, it was probably a strong word, but at that time we had that belief — and we still do. We believe we can go on and beat others an win the league.”
It’s that positivity, he adds, that manager Murphy has reintroduced to the club. “There’s been a lot of negativity around Cardiff, so it’s nice for fans to see that optimism again.”
Lawlor’s connection to Cardiff runs deep. Born in Caerphilly, he shares a path taken by Aaron Ramsey before him, having trained with the Bluebirds from just seven years old, before growing up in their academy system.
“At that age you dream of playing first-team football, but you never really believe it’s going to happen,” he says.
“As you get older, that’s all you think about — every time you come in, it’s, how do I get there?”
Among his early mentors was former Cardiff defender Darren Purse.
“He taught me the defensive side of the game — the nasty stuff people don’t really see,” Lawlor recalls.
“Throwing yourself at shots, winning battles, all that. But he helped me develop not just as a defender but as a person, to be comfortable in a first-team environment.”
Lawlor went to the same primary school as Ramsey, Ysgol Gymraeg Caerffili, and their paths crossed when Ramsey rejoined his schoolboy club in 2023, when Lawlor was 17.
“If I have half the career he has had, I’d have a very successful one. He’s an easy person to look up to — someone from Caerphilly who’s gone on and done all that.”
When Ramsey returned to Cardiff, Lawlor found himself training alongside his childhood hero.
“It was surreal,” he admits. “But he passed on so much from his experience — little pointers in training, bits of advice. When it’s someone like Aaron Ramsey, you just want him to keep talking.”
Those roots keep him grounded, even as his career accelerates.
“I’d like to think I’ve got half a sensible head on my shoulders,” he says when asked how he handles advice and expectations.
“You work out who to listen to, who you don’t. Once you know what you believe in, you can work out who’s worth listening to.”
As Cardiff prepare for a decisive few months and Wales chase a second successive World Cup qualification, Lawlor’s focus remains simple.
“It’s just about carrying on the momentum,” he says. “Making as many Cardiff appearances as possible, hopefully getting a few more Wales caps, and helping us get promotion.
“As a team it’s 100% what we want — promotion. We’ve got belief in the dressing room.”
And an appearance at a World Cup finals in the year he turns 20 years old?
“That would be a lovely way to finish it - perfect.”
