ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC have announced that captain Ian Bermingham has signed a new contract with the club.
The defender, 30, who joined the Saints in January 2010, will remain a part of Stephen O’Donnell’s squad as they look to improve on a disappointing season.
St Pat’s finished fifth in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division table and exited the FAI Cup at the hands of UCD in the second round.
“Obviously last season was a bit disappointing for us as a club. To be fair, we had a lot of quality, but Stephen has come in now, put his own stamp on things, and I’m delighted to be back and looking forward to getting going,” said Bermingham.
St Patrick's Athletic FC / Twitter
St Patrick's Athletic FC / Twitter / Twitter
“I met Stephen straight after the season finished, and he wanted me to be a part of things going forward, so I was delighted we agreed. He came in last year, put his own stamp on things, and I was impressed by the sort of stuff he was getting across to us. Hopefully we can go on and be successful now going forward.”
Having finished 34 points behind league winners Dundalk and 23 off second placed Shamrock Rovers, the Saints need a major upturn in results if they are to close the gap on the top two next season.
Manager Harry Kenny resigned in late August with seven games left in the season, and was replaced by O’Donnell a few days later.
“This club needs to be up challenging, I say it all the time,” Bermingham said.
“Obviously the last couple of years we’ve kind of gone off the boil a little bit, and we haven’t got close enough to the top two. But we’ve got to keep aiming for that and I know Stephen is adamant to go and get after them. The standards he has set since he came in, the way he wants to play, I think we can go on and get that bit closer to the top two.
“I’m not saying that we’re going to go and win the league this year, but I firmly believe we can go and get close enough to them and see can we have a bash off them.”
Bermingham has won one League of Ireland title and one FAI Cup during his time at the club.
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