Transfer Rumours 2015

[Olander]

Cobh apparently announcing a big signing tomorrow. Has played for a number of Premier Clubs. Things looking a lot better this year than last
Uneducated guess, Ian Turner? Ex Cork City/Limerick. Although I'd imagine he could possibly get a bigger club if he was bothered leaving Cork. May suit him to play with Cobh.

[Longfordian]

Shane O'Connor from Limerick

[Jofspring]

Shane O'Connor from Limerick

Excellent signing for Cobh. I think he'll be a big loss for us.

[Longfordian]

Cobh must have a bit more money to spend this year. Could be quite competitive.

[cheifo]

What a signing for Cobh. Presuming they didn't outbid Limerick so other reasons?

[donnrua]

What a signing for Cobh. Presuming they didn't outbid Limerick so other reasons?

He saw the state we're in at the moment and saw Cobh as a safer bet:p

[Lim till i die]

My immediate reaction was he was signing an amateur form to get out of retention.

But I think he's 24??

I dunno, is he joining the navy

[wonder88]

Good signing for Cobh, I noticed Stephen Folan on twitter saying he is too good for 1st Division level. Safe to say that the 1st division has an image problem but is the gap between it and bottom 3rd of premier that big?

[bluewhitearmy]

Good signing for Cobh, I noticed Stephen Folan on twitter saying he is too good for 1st Division level. Safe to say that the 1st division has an image problem but is the gap between it and bottom 3rd of premier that big?

Between Cobh and the bottom 3rd yes it is and he didn't play for a team in the bottom third he played for a team in the top half of prem.

[wonder88]

Longford and Galway will give us a good idea standard-wise anyway. Cobh were very poor last year, but the two teams mentioned and Shels did not have a big gulf between them and UCD, Athlone, Bray and Drogheda I think.

[dublinwanderer]

Bray have confirmed Brian Kane has signed from Malahide! Also re-signed Adam Mitchell

[Mr A]

"Yes We Kane! say Wanderers"

"No place to Malahide in premier division says new Bray Keeper"

[littlebray]

The trouble with unsubstantiated rumours is they sometimes turn out to be true, whatever anyone thought at the time ...

[Eminence Grise]

Malahide Road us rock solid say Tarmonbarry

[Charlie Darwin]

"Kane and able: former Malahide stopper targets starting spot"

[PartySaint]

'Kane signs for Bray'


I'm no good at this.

[Acornvilla]

'Kane signs for Bray'


I'm no good at this.
It's the taking part that counts.

[IrishRossi]

'He Kane do it' says bray manager

[pineapple stu]

Shame he didn't sign for Man City...

[Mr A]

The squad for this year's PFAI trip to Norway:

PFA IRELAND SQUAD 2015

Goalkeepers
1 Adam Murphy Sligo Rovers
16 Lee Steacy Firhouse Clover (Leinster Senior League)

Defenders
2 Michael Barker Bray Wanderers
5 Mick Leahy Limerick
4 Aidan Price Bohemian FC
3 Alan Kehoe Shamrock Rovers
17 David Elebert Derry City

Midfielders
6 Craig Walsh Bohemian FC
7 Eric Foley Athlone Town
8 Peter McGlynn Drogheda United
11 Ian Turner Cork City
15 Jamie McGlynn Malahide United (Leinster Senior League)

Forwards
9 Daryl Kavanagh Sligo Rovers
10 Emeka Onwubiko Shamrock Rovers ‘B’
12 Conor Murphy Shelbourne
14 Jordan Keegan Shelbourne

Manager Stephen Bradley
Coach John Martin
Goalkeeper coach Gary Rogers

[KeepersBall]

I Kane claim credit for being first with the news.

[bluewhitearmy]

There isn't much at all to pick from with that PFAI team.

[ger121]

Shows that the league is more stable contract wise in comparison to previous years.

[nigel-harps1954]

Certainly more for First Division teams to be looking at than Premier sides. Outside of maybe Price, Kavanagh and Walsh, you couldn't really say any of them are guaranteed to get offers from Premier clubs.

[Jofspring]

Turner and Leahy should be able to pick up premier teams Id imagine. Both maybe even coming back here.

[Charlie Darwin]

I would be stunned if Leahy hasn't already signed back at Limerick.

[Longfordian]

There's always a few that end up announcing that they've signed for someone as soon as they return back from this trip. Almost like they're keeping it quiet so they can still go on the free jolly to Norway.

[avvenalaf]

I've never heard of Adam Murphy being a goalie at BitoRed.

[Charlie Darwin]

I've never heard of Adam Murphy being a goalie at BitoRed.
http://www.loi19.com/index.php/league-tables/25-interviews/sligo-rovers/61-adam-murphy

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

I've never heard of Adam Murphy being a goalie at BitoRed.

He was a keeper with the under 19s

[Mr A]

Apparently 9 (or thereabouts) of those players are already close to deals. http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/out-of-contract-irish-players-eye-possible-opportunity-to-play-in-finland-1.2058116

[sulywaterfordfc]

More than likely Stevens will sign for a lower league side in England in the summer, but it potentially opens the door for a return to the LOI in the summer. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-career-over-irish-8111540

[pineapple stu]

Probably a question for a different thread, but anyone got a list of players who've gone to Britain from LoI clubs in the past ten years, and how they've fared? A fair few seem to go to bigger clubs but only get playing time further down the ranks - Enda Stevens, Gary Dicker, Roy O'Donovan, Paul Corry, maybe Dave Mooney to an extent. Others come straight back (let's assume it's because they don't make the grade) - Jason Byrne, Paddy Kavanagh off the top of my head.

Obviously there's plenty who have made an impact at the top - Kevin Doyle, Wes Hoolahan, Seámus Coleman, Stephen Ward, etc.

Just wonder what the success rate is for LoI players going abroad in the last ten years - how many end up playing at the level/league they're signed at, and how many slip down the leagues or come back to Ireland? Would be a factor in deciding transfer fees obviously.

[Charlie Darwin]

Apparently 9 (or thereabouts) of those players are already close to deals. http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/out-of-contract-irish-players-eye-possible-opportunity-to-play-in-finland-1.2058116
"Close to"

[Nesta99]

Not sure if this is what ye mean Stu but anyway,

Dundalk in recent times/players -
Dany Kearns has subsequently been released by Peterborough at West Ham before Dundalk.
Ben McLoughlin is still on the books of Everton going in to year three of his move but has just been loaned out to the conference.
We wait and see how Pat Hoban gets on in L2 at Bristol City before Mervue and Dundalk.
Towell doesnt seem to have had trials become offers and was at Celtic and Hibs before a marquee signing for Dundalk.
Stephen O Donnell was on the books of Arsenal but made no impact before moving to Scotland for a season and then back to the LoI. English league's loss!
Donal McDermot was a Man City youth before bouncing round the English Lower leagues, he was disinterested while at Dundalk and has now signed for Salford City in the 8th tier in England.
Kurtis Byrne was at Hibs and a few lower Socttish league clubs before Dundalk.

Off the top of my head then; Stephen McDonnell returned to Dundalk after a spell in Scotland and has retired due to health reasons.
While not moving from Dundalk Kyle Moran didnt last at Man U or anyone else for that matter.
Going back further David Crawley left Man City after a short spell to return to Dundalk due to home sickness.
Brian McCrystal was released by Leeds the season after winning their youth player of the year, he returned to Irish League then Dundalk I think after the Bowyer/Woodgate stuff and suffered a career ending inury (well he was never the same really after) at Dundalk FC so was an injury waiting to happen type player released by his English club imo.
Stuart Connolly was at Tranmere before Athlone and then Dundalk for a fee, a sore toe meant he never played for Dundalk ...enough siad!!
Cant forget Stan and his career at Liverpool and Villa and Ireland after leaving Dundalk fc
Tony Cousins left Dundalk for Liverpool also but only one senior appearance in the League Cup I think.
Barry Keogh moved to Man United but returned home upon being diagnosed with a serious illness.
Jim Gannon, I presume to Stockport County.

There's bound to be many more but all in all there was limited success for players leaving Dundalk for the UK mainland looking back fleetingly over 20+ years. Players signed by Dundalk have had stints abroad and at least didnt fall out of football entirely and some may get another pop at success in England. Those that did have decent success abroad i'd question whether there was any significant influence by coaching in Dundalk or at Dundalk FC until more recently and going forward there are very good coaching structures in place that can grow and set players up for greater success if they move from among our youth ranks now. Indeed there are some exciting prospects that we shall be looking forward to see how they cope with a step up to the senior side.

Barry Conlon, Conor McCormack, Colin Larkin ive just thought of..
*Shaun Williams now at MK Dons via Fingal.
Michael Daly?. Someone went to Newport County too..
One of Cormac or Chris Malone was at Blackburn Rovers before winning the cup with Dundalk 2002.
Shaun Kelly from Scotland to Dundalk.

I should add that there were a few mercenary types like Barry Ferguson(or Glen, id rather not think too hard about it)(?), Nesovic, O'Callaghan that played with us toward the end of their careers but I dont think thats the type of info ye were thinking of and more to the point no Dundalk fan will want to think of without having some type of breakdown. Gary Haylock a notable exception to this.

[Hitman]

Cork City off the top of my head:

Signed and stayed at the top:
Brian Lenihan, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long

Dropped down:
Brian Carey, Alan Bennett, Roy O' Donovan, Leon McSweeney, Dave Mooney

Signed and played at a lower level:
Brian Barry-Murphy, Joe Gamble, Alan Browne, George O'Callaghan, Colin Healy, Darren Murphy, Graham Cummins, Denis Behan, John O' Flynn, Paul White

Kevin Long has gone up with Burnley, but played most of his football on loan in the lower leagues, and Damien Delaney signed for Leicester in the top flight, but dropped down and worked his way back up. It's too soon to know about Lenihan as well I suppose.

[Acornvilla]

From Longford we've had lots of lads who went over, but only after they played for another Irish club after leaving us, in between, such as Gartland, Dillon, Mooney etc.

We've also had Don Cowan leave to Stevenage in League 1, 3(?) years ago. He barely played, was injured a lot, also went to the 2nd tier of the Scottish leagues for a while, no real impact again, now back with us.
Josh O' Hanlon is with Bournemouth, at the minute, but playing conference on loan or something. Only a young lad, but looked very promising with us.

[pineapple stu]

Not sure if this is what ye mean Stu but anyway,
Exactly like that, yeah. Basically, any players who had played LoI football and who were signed by a professional team in England or Scotland. Ideally having not been over before.

Hadn't realised there were quite so many from Dundalk alone. And not a great success rate really. You could add in Shaun Williams, who has done ok - didn't leave from Dundalk, but played for ye at least.

For UCD, there's -

Conor Sammon (via Derry) from Kilmarnock to Wigan to Derby, each time for a decent sum. Definite hit, despite what those in his thread here would say!
Enda Stevens (via Pat's) - miss
Gary Dicker - UCD to Stockport to Brighton to Crawley to Rochdale to Carlisle. Interesting one really. Did very well at Stockport and Brighton; got a couple of promotions. Regressed since. More hit than miss anyway.
Paddy Kavanagh - UCD to Birmingham. Didn't make an appearance; released at the end of the season. Miss
Clive Delaney - UCD to West Ham. Didn't make an appearance; released at the end of the season. Miss
Paul Corry - UCD to Sheffield Wednesday. Only made a handful of appearances in three years. Miss
Shane McFaul - UCD to Brighton. Had been over in England previously and made 50 or so appearances. Only played once for Brighton as an injury time sub; didn't touch the ball. Miss

Going further back, there's Shay Kelly (a handful of games in two seasons at Cardiff), Joe Hanrahan (one League Cup game at Man Utd; did at least tell Alex Ferguson to get stuffed and live to tell the tale) and Ken O'Doherty, who did ok at Crystal Palace and Huddersfield for a few seasons.

But overall again, not a great return.

[Pablo Escobar]

Cork City off the top of my head:

Signed and stayed at the top:
Brian Lenihan, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long

Dropped down:
Brian Carey, Alan Bennett, Roy O' Donovan, Leon McSweeney, Dave Mooney

Signed and played at a lower level:
Brian Barry-Murphy, Joe Gamble, Alan Browne, George O'Callaghan, Colin Healy, Darren Murphy, Graham Cummins, Denis Behan, John O' Flynn, Paul White

Kevin Long has gone up with Burnley, but played most of his football on loan in the lower leagues, and Damien Delaney signed for Leicester in the top flight, but dropped down and worked his way back up. It's too soon to know about Lenihan as well I suppose.
Dave Meyler and Damien Delaney are at the top level to.

[nigel-harps1954]

There's a few obvious others:

Paddy McCourt - somewhat a hit. Still going at Brighton.
Niall McGinn - flying in the SPL
Stephen McLaughlin - Trouble with injury but going well at Notts County at the minute
Paddy Madden - Found his level at League One it seems.
Paul Keegan - Still going at Doncaster
Richie Foran - Made a decent career at SPL
Daryl Murphy - Really hitting form at Ipswich
David Forde - Ireland number 1, couldn't get much better for him.
Padraig Amond - Playing at League Two level
Brian Murphy - Not really had much of a look in
Noel Hunt - Playing for Ipswich
Stephen Quinn - Clutching at straws here, but as much of an impact at LOI as Shane Long in truth
Stephen Ward - Carved out a decent career for himself too.
Alan Mannus - Still at St Johnstone?
James McClean - Doesn't like poppies.
David Meyler - Going well at Hull.
Mark McChrystal - Bristol Rovers
Eoin Doyle - Scoring a few goals it seems


It's safe to say, more have done well than have not.

[bluewhitearmy]

There's a few obvious others:

Paddy McCourt - somewhat a hit. Still going at Brighton.
Niall McGinn - flying in the SPL
Stephen McLaughlin - Trouble with injury but going well at Notts County at the minute
Paddy Madden - Found his level at League One it seems.
Paul Keegan - Still going at Doncaster
Richie Foran - Made a decent career at SPL
Daryl Murphy - Really hitting form at Ipswich
David Forde - Ireland number 1, couldn't get much better for him.
Padraig Amond - Playing at League Two level
Brian Murphy - Not really had much of a look in
Noel Hunt - Playing for Ipswich
Stephen Quinn - Clutching at straws here, but as much of an impact at LOI as Shane Long in truth
Stephen Ward - Carved out a decent career for himself too.
Alan Mannus - Still at St Johnstone?
James McClean - Doesn't like poppies.
David Meyler - Going well at Hull.
Mark McChrystal - Bristol Rovers
Eoin Doyle - Scoring a few goals it seems


It's safe to say, more have done well than have not.

He is doing far better than I thought he would when he went over being chased by a host of top Championship clubs now Cardiff, Derby and a few more.

[Nesta99]

Hadn't realised there were quite so many from Dundalk alone. And not a great success rate really. You could add in Shaun Williams, who has done ok - didn't leave from Dundalk, but played for ye at least.



There are quite a few more that i cant recall now. Over the years there have been many frustrations with young local lads with bags of potential but lacked the bits n pieces more off the field that would have hampered their success. Dessie Gorman and Chris Lawless to the fore in this regard.

[Charlie Darwin]

Rovers in recent years:

Karl Sheppard - Didn't progress and returned to Ireland
Enda Stevens - Made a few appearances for Aston Villa but had to go down the divisions for games
Don Cowan (via Longford) - As above
Eoin Doyle (via Sligo) - Made slow progress but now Championship-bound
Padraig Amond (via Sligo) - Took the unusual route of going to Portugal but wound up making a decent career in English third and fourth tier
Tadhg Purcell - Went to League Two and didn't kick on, think he's in Australia regional leagues now
Dave Mooney (via Longford and Cork) - Struggled a bit at Reading but became one of the better strikers in League One and unlucky not to be promoted last year
Paddy McCourt (via Derry) - Can't really claim credit for him, and he probably never lived up to his billing at club level abroad

I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple.

edit: Noel Hunt - Played in the Premiership, possibly headed back there with Ipswich

[Captain2007]

Bray
Graham Coughlan - Blackburn,Livingston,Plymouth,Sheff Wed,Rotherham,Shrewsbury,Southend,made a career for himself, coach at Southend now.
Pierce Sweeney - Reading still waiting to break through to first team.
Eamon Zayed - (.......) Al Ahly
Jason Byrne - (.........) Cardiff
Eddie Van Boxtel (.....) Leeds

[littlebray]

Also Bray (via Galway U): Jay O'Shea. After an unsuccessful season and a half with Birmingham City, moved to MK Dons and from there to Chesterfield for whom he makes regular appearances, contributing to their promotion last year to League One.

[PartySaint]

Pats the last few years:

Fahey: Birmingham played in Championship and PL and now back here.

Dave Mcallister: Moved over to Sheffield United in 2011- was sent out on loan to Shrewsbury, then signed for them the following year and is now on loan at Stevenage.

Jake Carroll- Went to Huddersfield in 2013, was then sent out on loan to Bury in league two and is now on loan at Partick Thistle

Conor Pepper- Went to Inverness in 2012, signed for Greenock Morton this year

Dan Connor- He went back to England after being originally with Peterborough, he went from Pats to Hereford (didn't play a game for them) in 2010 and is now with Westfields since 2013.

Enda Stevens (via Rovers)- Covered already.

Sean Hoare (Hull) looks like he will be the next one to go over from us.

There's a few other like Alex Williams, Joe O'Cearuill and Dave Partridge who went back to England/Scotland after playing with us.

[Dodge]

Can add Stephen Quinn to that a few years before hand. He's doing well for himself.

Don't forget Rene ;)

[Ezeikial]

There's a few other like Alex Williams.

If you include guys who flopped in the UK, before coming here to flop and then returning to flop some more, the list will be pretty long.


Since playing here Williams has graced the heights at Stenhousemuir, before a stretch courtesy of HM Prision Service


http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-21474598

[seand]

There are literally hundreds who've had a go across the water, specially if we're including triallists and sign-ups for youth teams.
Another couple that sprang to mind that I don't think have been mentioned, Conor Gethins (now in the Highland League, ex Scottish div 3), Chris Turner (Scots 1 Dumbarton), Richie Byrne ex Rovers lots of SPL football, Barry Prenderville (Pats, Shels) had short spells in England and Scotland, Neale Fenn

[Longfordian]

Yeah no offence to anyone but I think we have enough examples now to establish whatever pattern you want. Time to get back to the transfer rumours.

And the imaginary headlines.