'The Derry Pele' to line out for Dundalk as work begins on Oriel Park pitch

Paddy McCourt is likely to be involved for the Lilywhites this evening as they take on his former club Glenavon in a friendly.

PADDY MCCOURT WILL be given a chance to impress Dundalk boss Stephen Kenny in a pre-season friendly tonight.

The 33-year-old former Celtic, Rochdale and Barnsley winger is a free agent since leaving Glenavon in December, but he’s been training with the Lilywhites for the past week in a bid to earn a contract.

Kenny knows former Northern Ireland international McCourt well, having brought the cult hero from Shamrock Rovers to Derry City in 2005 before a move to Glasgow followed three years later.

The SSE Airtricity League Premier Division champions meet Glenavon at Mourneview Park this evening (7.45pm) and McCourt is expected to play some part.

Dundalk then head to Spain for a pre-season training camp ahead of the President’s Cup final against Cork City on 17 February and the league opener with Shamrock Rovers a week later.

Meanwhile, work has commenced on the pitch at Oriel Park.

The club posted pictures of their old surface being pulled up today after it was recently announced that a state-of-the-art artificial pitch will be in place for the start of the season.

Oriel pitch 1 Twitter / DundalkFC Twitter / DundalkFC / DundalkFC