EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK in the League of Ireland Premier Division there have been signings over the winter that bring a sense of intrigue.
St Patrick’s Athletic will have Liverpool goalkeeper Marcelo Pitaluga on loan this season.
Those Anfield devotees who want to see the 21-year-old Brazilian in the flesh at Richmond Park will have to be quick given the Inchicore club have recorded record season ticket sales ahead of the 2024 campaign and will have fewer general tickets available than ever before.
The FAI Cup final success in front of a 40,000-plus crowd at Aviva Stadium has only added to the momentum.
Hull City defender Alfie Taylor has also joined the Saints’ ranks on loan after boss Jon Daly lost centre backs Jay McGrath and David Norman.
A couple of Bohemians’ arrivals are vastly contrasting in nature. Experienced defender Rob Cornwall only left Dalymount Park for a new life in America in 2021 but returns to a league that has a new-found vibrancy and intensity.
He will have to lead from the back quickly to bring a feeling of stability. Following the departure of last season’s top scorer, Jonathan Afolabi, Estonian international striker Sten Reinkort will also be under pressure to deliver goals for a side that struggled in the second half of last season.
One frontman returning to the League of Ireland is Padraig Amond. Fourteen years after departing Sligo Rovers for a career that took him to Portugal for two seasons before featuring for seven clubs between League Two and National League level in England, the 35-year-old is set to sign for newly-promoted Waterford after Woking agreed to an early release from his contract.
At the other end of the spectrum, 21-year-old centre back Timi Sobowale is attempting to earn a contract while on trial at Sligo Rovers having been with Norwegian Third Division club Florø SK.
The former underage Manchester City and Republic of Ireland star is facing a similar struggle to so many trying to establish themselves in the game. Goalkeeper Ed McGinty is another and he has returned to the Showgrounds to bolster John Russell’s hopes after agreeing a loan move from League One Oxford United.
Another goalkeeper, Joe Wright, will be aiming to nail down a place at Galway United having joined from Millwall while in Louth there are a raft of newcomers who are unknown quantities.
Dutch midfielder Koen Oosterbrink was one of Stephen O’Donnell’s first signings at Dundalk with winger Robbie Mahon following from Motherwell. Connections in Scotland also saw Jamie Walker impressing enough at third tier Kelty Hearts to warrant a punt while Ross County’s Ross Munro brought their protracted search for a goalkeeper to an end yesterday.
They will have to adapt in a new environment.
Drogheda, meanwhile, will have Hayden Cann and Oisin Gallagher on loan from Lincoln City while South African international goalkeeper Jethren Barr was another left-field signing. Teenager Killian Cailloce, who progressed through Drogs’ academy before spending 18 months with SM Caen in France, has also returned.
Shamrock Rovers’ two most prominent winter loan signings are also players who are getting another taste of League of Ireland football having ventured abroad. Darragh Burns is aiming to re-establish himself with regular football after a frustrating couple of years at MK Dons following his breakthrough in the Premier Division with St Patrick’s Athletic. The tricky winger is only 21 and still under contract with the League Two club.
Aaron McEneff, meanwhile, will turn 29 this July and while his transfer from Perth Glory was not a permanent one he is unlikely to seek a return Down Under.
The lure of Australia, the lifestyle and change of pace, suited the Derry native and his young family when he was offered the chance to relocate in 2022.
His first stint at Tallaght Stadium had already secured him a move to Hearts in Scotland but what transpired at Perth, with infrastructure and money issues, illustrates that such problems are not confined to these shores.
“People watch it on TV but it can be misleading because there’s a lot of travel, the temperatures are warm and teams that are playing away, there’s a time difference as well so you don’t get a true reflection watching on TV,” he said, adding how his own father would call early on wondering about the standard.
“But we’ve had a five-and-a-half-hour flight the day before [the game], dealing with a three-hour time difference and then it’s probably 35-degree heat as well. I found that difficult to adjust to. It’s tough, and you need a strong mentality to just get on with things I suppose. There’s very good players in the league but sometimes it can be misleading for people watching it on TV.
“For me, you’d rather play in a smaller stadium with the fans on top of you. That football feeling gets lost a little bit. You see the infrastructure like the stadiums but then…”
McEneff explained how the club’s 20,500-capacity HBF Stadium was impressive but that training sessions would take place in a local park and would at times be disrupted by members of the public walking their dogs.
“It sort of opened my eyes a little bit because I didn’t expect it,” he said.
“I’m buzzing to get back playing in the league. I never stopped watching the games. Seeing the attendances and just knowing there’ll be that proper bite, that football feeling you get from the fans. The stadiums. The fans will be on top of you. In Tallaght there’s noise and atmosphere and as a player that gives you a real lift and a bit of buzz and that helps you within the game, I’m really looking forward to playing in that again.
“I had that in Scotland. In Tynecastle. We had nearly 20,000 every week. They are loud fans and even the away support was class.There’s a bit of an edge to the game and, as a player, that’s what you want.”
It will be far from perfect as he reacquaints himself with the realities of facilities around the country but there is no doubting that sense of vibrancy.
Perhaps if things worked out differently with Shelbourne’s partnership with Hull City Damien Duff’s seven signings so far would not have come from within the league; Keith Ward and John Martin (Dundalk), Sean Gannon and Liam Burt (Rovers), John O’Sullivan and Dean Williams (Bohs), Lorcan Healy (UCD).
Runners-up Derry City have also only added two to their ranks with right winger Daniel Kelly and striker Patrick Hoban both heading north from Oriel Park.
Better the devil you know for some.
