2024 Season, Arrivals and Departures

[Strongbow10]

Athlone sign 20 year old Ruben Candal. Formerly of Porto and capped in every age group up to Under 19 by Portugal. Supposedly a bit of a coup by all account.

Last seasons top scorer Frantz Pierrot has joined Drogheda.

[Nesta99]

Did anyone have Wilfred Zahibo suing Dundalk in their LOI off season bingo card? :)

https://thecurrency.news/articles/138645/wilfred-zahibo-played-18-games-for-dundalf-fc-the-international-footballer-is-now-suing-the-club/

Well this has GLITW potential! Could get a few pointers from patsdad...

[Knocklyonhoop]

For what it’s worth, I am definitely on the same page as this in terms of how anxious I am about the season ahead. The lack of activity in areas that were issues last year is boggling to me, in addition to my concerns around Devine as our manager. I'm also not sure is it Fenlon or Devine who is supposed to be identifying and getting players into the squad? If not Fenlon, then what does he do?

given your form in 2nd half and loss of Afelobi, agree not much to be excited about but surely not sucked into a play off discussion, as much as one might hope so

[joey B]

Chris Lotefa joined us on loan from Bohs,don’t know much about him but hopefully he can do well for us….

[SkStu]

given your form in 2nd half and loss of Afelobi, agree not much to be excited about but surely not sucked into a play off discussion, as much as one might hope so

Maybe not and to be honest, im not sure how good/bad Galway and Waterford are but a few on here suggest they'll be fairly bad. I just dont see much reason for optimism with the season 6 weeks away and some massive problem positions for us.

[joey B]

Pats signed Marcelo Pitaluga from Liverpool on loan,was on the first team bench a few times this season but is probably 4/5th choice there,Pats will hope it goes as well as the last keeper they got from there…

[total hoofball]

I'd assume that is Lyness gone then as like with Jaros Liverpool would be expecting this newly loaned keeper to be first choice, I also think Rogers and Odumosu are also under contract at Pats

[joey B]

Lyness was offered a contract that obviously wasn’t accepted if they’re signing him,I remember Jon Daly talking about the lack of accommodation for players like Lyness with families that was making it tougher to sign players…..

[Jack B]

Apparently the club have found it difficult to find a house for Lyness and his family. They have a place in Celbridge that they offer as accommodation to players but Daly was saying that naturally this appeals more to young lads than older family men. Worked for Lyness as a stop-gap last season but he doesn't want to be away from the wife and kids again which is understandable. It's a shame as obviously he was great, but seems to be a broader issue for sides this off-season in particular, believe I saw Lambert say Bohs were struggling to get certain targets because of the general housing issues in the country.

Interesting signing all the same. If you read twitter you'd think we're now nailed on for the league going off of the reactions of Liverpool fans. Given that he's well-regarded there and the success of Jaros previously it's reason for optimism, but he has little-to-no experience of men's professional football so jury will be out. Rogers isn't special but is dependable enough with good experience to also have around at least, with Odumosu I believe his contract will be up but the club have an option to extend it so there's no clarity on that yet.

[Longfordian]

You'd think Kelleher would throw up an oul apartment building for them in Inchicore somewhere. He obviously doesn't care enough!

[Kingswood Rover]

Rovers really going for it, Kenny coming back on loan from Celtic looking likely, Mc Eneff now possibly returning and Marcus Poom deal with Flora almost across the line .....

[sulywaterfordfc]

Looks like Coughlan to Fleetwood to be confirmed shortly . Don’t know what the link is doing for Waterford.

Coughlan would have left regardless who the owners are though. He didn’t want to be in Ireland this year, heard a rumour he wanted a move to England this year to be closer to his missus who apparently is English. He was a free agent, turned down a new contract. Not much more Waterford could do tbh, if a player doesn’t want to be here there’s little the club can do.

Would have been million times worse if this whole news about him leaving was because he was moving e to England and then he signed for another LOI club.

[SPXcyan]

Well let's hope he's good enough for League 1 football, we could very well find out tomorrow afternoon if he makes his debut at Fleetwood.

[Jd2793]

Rovers really going for it, Kenny coming back on loan from Celtic looking likely, Mc Eneff now possibly returning and Marcus Poom deal with Flora almost across the line .....

wonder what physical shape mceneff is in now. ye havent been the same team since he left imo. he had an unbelievable engine and work rate. total beast in duels and wasnt half bad at popping up with a goal here and there. great signing if his legs are still there.

[Bunny Kelly]

Does it feel similar to Towell? Their drive/athleticism a big part of what they were first time round but at the back end of their career & having a tough time away of the league is there enough left in tank?

Maybe there is still a player there but for the contract you’d prob give out to sign him I’m not sure it would be a smart move

[joey B]

Since he left Rovers in 2020 he’s had 42 appearances and completed 90 minutes only 14 times,he’s only 28 aswell ,I can’t see him having any bother in terms of physical shape,match fitness is a different one but that’ll come in due course….

[ontheotherhand]

Does it feel similar to Towell? Their drive/athleticism a big part of what they were first time round but at the back end of their career & having a tough time away of the league is there enough left in tank?

Maybe there is still a player there but for the contract you’d prob give out to sign him I’m not sure it would be a smart move

Not sure it's Towell's drive/athleticism that's changed to be honest. He's still well capable of getting around the pitch. I think the rest of the league may just have improved on that front since Dundalk showed what was possible in terms of conditioning.

McEneff would be an amazing signing but I hear you on the risk. He's had a fair amount of injuries since he left and hasn't played much. Bradley takes a few too many risks on players like that for my liking...but we've never replaced McEneff as Jd says. Been crying out for someone who has the engine to get up and down but is also clued in enough to know when to stay disciplined. That's where Towell falls down for me. Bit headless at times.

[total hoofball]

Waterford have signed Gbemi Arbui who was with Shels last season and in our U19s for a few seasons. He made 8 brief substitute appearances in the league, scored 2 goals in the LSC but other than that not much of a sample seen of him. Duff was quoted last season that he was still on amateur terms and he was over on trial with Lincoln City recently

I don't think he would be a direct replacement for Coughlan so I'd still expect Waterford to sign another forward with more experience probably from UK or abroad


https://waterfordfc.ie/gbemi-arubi-becomes-a-blue/

[Shinkicker]

Maybe not and to be honest, im not sure how good/bad Galway and Waterford are but a few on here suggest they'll be fairly bad. I just dont see much reason for optimism with the season 6 weeks away and some massive problem positions for us.
I'm Not very optimistic either. We let a lot go as well as losing our top goal scorer. We haven't brought in anyone who will add quality and better the squad. Other clubs all seem to be announcing new signings. We need to see some quality announcements soon.
We offered LONG TREM contracts to players who didn't perform and now we are rebuilding again.

[ontheotherhand]

any truth to Fenlon and Devine not agreeing on multiple signings? not ideal if that's the case. I wouldn't have thought Devine had enough credit in the bank to be rejecting signings for the DoF but I'm not sure what the set up is there.

[Jd2793]

Not sure it's Towell's drive/athleticism that's changed to be honest. He's still well capable of getting around the pitch. I think the rest of the league may just have improved on that front since Dundalk showed what was possible in terms of conditioning.

McEneff would be an amazing signing but I hear you on the risk. He's had a fair amount of injuries since he left and hasn't played much. Bradley takes a few too many risks on players like that for my liking...but we've never replaced McEneff as Jd says. Been crying out for someone who has the engine to get up and down but is also clued in enough to know when to stay disciplined. That's where Towell falls down for me. Bit headless at times.

towell got too big imo. very hard to move that frame around once you get older. was a beast with dundalk tbf

[joey B]

Shane Griffin joined Bray from Waterford,good signing for them….

[Bunny Kelly]

Shane Griffin joined Bray from Waterford,good signing for them….

Surprised Waterford didn't re sign him, injuries more than anything held him back last season & with Baggley gone back to Fleetwood there would have been a role for him

[ontheotherhand]

towell got too big imo. very hard to move that frame around once you get older. was a beast with dundalk tbf

yeah I'd agree with that as well to be fair. he was always a bit more jacked up than others but he's taken it too far. loves the social media a bit too much.

[outspoken]

yeah I'd agree with that as well to be fair. he was always a bit more jacked up than others but he's taken it too far. loves the social media a bit too much.

I've seen that so often with young Irish players that go to the UK, they come back over built like ****houses but can't get around the pitch.

[WeAreRovers]

Lot of ill-informed opinions of Towell around. He was fantastic last season, the 3-2 win at home against Pats stands out but he was like a terrier all year.

He’s very mobile and plays a big part of Rovers press. Also scored Rovers goal of the season away against Derry in a team move that he started and finished.

He’s a different animal than he was at Dundalk but that’s what happens to players.

The longer people underrate Rovers players the better. See also Gary O’Neill, Lee Grace, Rory Gaffney, Markus Poom, all best in class and massively underrated.

[RealJohn91]

Those players aren't underrated at all

[ontheotherhand]

Lot of ill-informed opinions of Towell around. He was fantastic last season, the 3-2 win at home against Pats stands out but he was like a terrier all year.

He’s very mobile and plays a big part of Rovers press. Also scored Rovers goal of the season away against Derry in a team move that he started and finished.

He’s a different animal than he was at Dundalk but that’s what happens to players.

The longer people underrate Rovers players the better. See also Gary O’Neill, Lee Grace, Rory Gaffney, Markus Poom, all best in class and massively underrated.

Absolutely. He might be a bit more mobile without the big arms but his contribution on the pitch was brilliant, particularly at the start and end of the season. He's added a real bite to his game. We've been missing that since Bolger left.

[Bunny Kelly]

Towell must be in the top 3/4 paid players at the club as they would have had to give him a nice deal at the time to bring him home, 15 starts last season isn't really the return they would have been expecting from their investment.

My original point comparing McEneff to Towell was not that these players cannot be useful but probably you will overpay for where they are now in their career

[oriel]

Towell must be in the top 3/4 paid players at the club as they would have had to give him a nice deal at the time to bring him home, 15 starts last season isn't really the return they would have been expecting from their investment.

My original point comparing McEneff to Towell was not that these players cannot be useful but probably you will overpay for where they are now in their career

Think I heard at the time when he had the choice to re-join DFC (but in P6 part 2 madness, he was right not to go back) and Rovers, the deal at the time with euro bonuses would be just under 500k for the duration of his contract. Big money.

I always think of Towell of having almost 4 careers, under the radar at Hibs (after Celtic), but he ran up some serious starts to be fair in a good standard Hibs side in a tough SPL season, then almost 'Blitzkrieg' pace at Dundalk 2013 - 2015, back to UK, did ok then again completely different level of football mainly at Salford, but a totally different role at Rovers last few seasons and to be fair he has been solid albeit pace going a little, I'd still pick him every week.

When he winds down his playing days, I think fair to say he can look back at having a very good career, always liked him as a player, was more than decent to towards kids / photos etc, good luck to him.

[ontheotherhand]

Think I heard at the time when he had the choice to re-join DFC (but in P6 part 2 madness, he was right not to go back) and Rovers, the deal at the time with euro bonuses would be just under 500k for the duration of his contract. Big money.

I always think of Towell of having almost 4 careers, under the radar at Hibs (after Celtic), but he ran up some serious starts to be fair in a good standard Hibs side in a tough SPL season, then almost 'Blitzkrieg' pace at Dundalk 2013 - 2015, back to UK, did ok then again completely different level of football mainly at Salford, but a totally different role at Rovers last few seasons and to be fair he has been solid albeit pace going a little, I'd still pick him every week.

When he winds down his playing days, I think fair to say he can look back at having a very good career, always liked him as a player, was more than decent to towards kids / photos etc, good luck to him.

Now you know why we like to go out of Europe early doors.

[2 Year Contract]

Cork's Gordon Walker has signed for Arbroath in the Scottish championship on an 18 month deal

[oriel]

Now you know why we like to go out of Europe early doors.


That's not the attitude, keep Towell fit and revved up and you get a better chance of a first ever group stage euro win!

[ontheotherhand]

That's not the attitude, keep Towell fit and revved up and you get a better chance of a first ever group stage euro win!

We can't afford to win if he plays!

[Shearer]

Callum McNamara returns to Treaty United after a year injured while on the books of Galway United.

In 2022 he would have been Treaty's player of the year only for one Enda Curran scoring 20 goals.

[Jack B]

Hitting the point now where it's going to be difficult to gauge certain business done by teams as the players coming in are completely unknown quantities in the league.

Seen Dundalk getting linked to players who have played mostly in the lower end of the Scottish leagues and Bohs have apparently gotten an Estonian defender who has good pedigree on paper, but the likes of Rovers, Pats and Sligo have recruited similar in the last year with extremely varying success on that front. Similarly, keeper was a big position for Pats to get right but the jury will firmly be out on Pitaluga until he gets going despite how highly-rated he seems to be.

For Bohs and Dundalk especially it feels like these signings in the next couple of weeks could make or break their seasons. They could each put out a decent starting eleven with what they have already but the squads are bare beyond that.

[oriel]

Hitting the point now where it's going to be difficult to gauge certain business done by teams as the players coming in are completely unknown quantities in the league.

Seen Dundalk getting linked to players who have played mostly in the lower end of the Scottish leagues and Bohs have apparently gotten an Estonian defender who has good pedigree on paper, but the likes of Rovers, Pats and Sligo have recruited similar in the last year with extremely varying success on that front. Similarly, keeper was a big position for Pats to get right but the jury will firmly be out on Pitaluga until he gets going despite how highly-rated he seems to be.

For Bohs and Dundalk especially it feels like these signings in the next couple of weeks could make or break their seasons. They could each put out a decent starting eleven with what they have already but the squads are bare beyond that.


From DFC perspective, you are spot on with that analysis.

[joey B]

Bohs released a statement on James Talbot and him currently facing mental health issues,missing for an unspecified period of time but it could be quite a while,hopefully he can get the help he needs and is back playing sooner rather than later…..

[D24Saint]

Bohs released a statement on James Talbot and him currently facing mental health issues,missing for an unspecified period of time but it could be quite a while,hopefully he can get the help he needs and is back playing sooner rather than later…..

Best of luck to the chap in his recovery. Who have Bohs got to fill in while he is out ?

[RealJohn91]

Luke Dennison is the back up keeper

[Stuttgart88]

Absolutely. He might be a bit more mobile without the big arms but his contribution on the pitch was brilliant, particularly at the start and end of the season. He's added a real bite to his game. We've been missing that since Bolger left.

I don't agree at all. Towell was indeed superb in the 3-2 win against Pats and scored a great goal up in Derry but I thought he was ordinary for the most part and even outright poor. Coughed up possession stupidly to let Bohs back into it at Dalymount, acted the maggott in Cork and was frequently careless in possession. I think he cost us a goal against Drogs at home too but I can't remember if it was he who it was that gave the ball away. I want more from him. I feel we're keeping him just so someone else doesn't have him.

[WeAreRovers]

Poor when he came on in Dalymount alright but a key part of another title-winning squad. Us 'keeping him' is more to do with being able to afford a larger, more experienced squad - that's how you win multiple leagues.

Lack of depth in other areas, specifically at wing back, hurt us in Europe for instance but Towell is by no means a luxury IMO. Granted, if the rumoured new midfield signing is confirmed it becomes harder to see how he gets much game time.

[trevy]

Joseph Forde versatile defender age 20 joins Waterford from Perth Glory. He's been capped for Australia at under 20 level.

[ontheotherhand]

I don't agree at all. Towell was indeed superb in the 3-2 win against Pats and scored a great goal up in Derry but I thought he was ordinary for the most part and even outright poor. Coughed up possession stupidly to let Bohs back into it at Dalymount, acted the maggott in Cork and was frequently careless in possession. I think he cost us a goal against Drogs at home too but I can't remember if it was he who it was that gave the ball away. I want more from him. I feel we're keeping him just so someone else doesn't have him.

Surprised by that Stutts. I think he was one of our better players, towards the end in particular. Fairly sure he was up for PotM at least once? Has a mistake in him alright. Not sure he's the brightest lad.

To your other point, I think we signed him because any team in their right mind would sign him budget willing. Nice bonus that he didn't go to Dundalk but Bradley doesn't really make decisions based on what other teams do. Remember we let Cleary go to Dundalk after having him on trial?

Won't even talk about Cork outside of saying Sean Grant only reffed one more time after that.

[Nesta99]

I think the expectation of Towell from fans (and probably himself) was that he would have the impact returning to the league that he had first time with Dundalk. That was the bar and anything else, no matter how good, was going to cause some grumbling. The league changed as had the player. I dont think Towell was ever a tidy player, could be sloppy, but he had both O'Donnell roaring at him and he he had the tenacity and physicality to work after a sloppy ball. You'd hear him being instructed at times at Dundalk to play it safe, probably give it to a real baller and delay those runs in to the box. Put him beside Byrne and he'd have looked like an Offaly hurler, he'd a big hole to fill in midfield when he arrived and he did try to hard and looked too often caught out of position, was poorly timing his runs. When he reverted to being a spoiler, getting around to put himself in the way, which is what Rovers needed when they werent playing well, he showed his value again imo.

If its anything of a guage, I was obviously very disappointed if unsurprised considering the messing at Oriel, that he didnt sign back. After a while that disappointment had ebbed away. He would have had a bigger impact returning to Dudalk than Rovers in relative terms but I dont think he'd have been the game changer that we needed or that we'd have expected. The context being the Mad Bill era, and that his roll with the leading side in the country wouldnt stand out as much. When he settled in to the side and accepted rotation he was arguably worth his wage in title winning squad. Id have him in a heartbeat now again!!!

[WeAreRovers]

Very fair assessment Nesta but, just for context, Towell's second LOI coming has seen him win 3 League medals.

[Another Bohemia]

Very fair assessment Nesta but, just for context, Towell's second LOI coming has seen him win 3 League medals.

Not sure what that adds other than getting to brag about Rovers winning the league. Johnny Kenny has a league medal from last year but all you see on this forum in regards to him is that he had a poor season other than the odd flash. Winning a league is a team achievement and a bad player or a bit part player can win one in spite of what they achieved personally during a season. The question is have Towells performances deliver on what Rovers staff & Fans expected and likely what he expected?

[sbgawa]

Very fair assessment Nesta but, just for context, Towell's second LOI coming has seen him win 3 League medals.


In fairness Leon Pohls had at least 3 medals having played probably 6 games over the years.
Towell hasnt been a starting 11 player when all are fit. that wouldnt have beem expected i reckon.

Not saying he has been terible or anything but expectations were high

[joey B]

Lecce signed UCD left-back Jesse Dempsey.

[trevy]

Waterford signed 19 year old striker Gbemi Arubi from Shelbourne. He made a few sub appearances for Shels last year.