CORK CITY MANAGER John Caulfield has expressed his delight after the club confirmed that Stephen Dooley has signed a contract to remain on Leeside for the 2017 season.
The 25-year-old winger, who moved south from Derry City for the 2016 campaign, enjoyed a good debut season at Turner’s Cross. Dooley scored five times in 26 appearances, including the only goal of the game in a home win over Dundalk last June.
“I am delighted Stephen has signed back,” Caulfield said today. “Like a lot of our top players, there was a lot of interest shown in him but they are all buying into what we are trying to do and where we are trying to go.
“Everyone knows the goals and chances he created, as well as the goals he scored, especially the goal against Dundalk at home when he broke from the halfway line. He is in great shape and really looking forward to the season ahead.
“We saw the best of him in the second half of last season, and it is for him now to push himself on and be better again this season. The way he has applied himself and the condition he has come back in is a credit to him.”
After finishing second to Dundalk for the third year in a row, Dooley is hoping to help Cork City to end a 12-year wait for Premier Division success, as well as contributing to a successful defence of the FAI Cup for John Caulfield’s side, who defeated the Lilywhites after extra-time in November’s final at the Aviva Stadium.
Dooley said: “I’m very happy to sign back. I was working hard during the off-season getting ready for pre-season and I am delighted to get back in and get started.
“Maybe last season there was a settling in period and I found myself in and out of the team, which is fair enough, but I am well settled in now and hopefully this year I can kick on and have a better year.
“We will set ourselves the highest targets; we want to win the league, we want to win the cup again and in Europe we had a good campaign. We would like to go further in Europe this season. If we can improve on all of those aspects, it would make for a very good year.”
