BOHEMIAN FC HAS announced the return of Paddy Kirk on a multi-year deal.
The defender rejoins from Sligo Rovers.
Kirk, 24, came through the Bohs U19s before making his first-team bow in 2018.
He returns to Dalymount Park after two years away — including spells at Longford Town and Sligo — and is the club’s third season ahead of the 2023 season following the arrivals of Keith Buckley and Adam McDonnell.
“I am proud and grateful to have the opportunity to play for the club again,” Kirk said.
“Having seen last year, I wanted to come back and try and make things better. To have the opportunity to do that, it means more now, and I am as excited as I have ever been.
“I feel I’m coming back a better player, a better person, and with a different mentality.
“When I came through the club, initially through the U19s, I never expected to get the kind of praise and support that I got. It was unbelievable. That’s what made it so difficult to leave, so it was definitely a huge factor in me coming back here.
“Obviously when I left, having come through the U19s, I was always trying to prove myself and establish myself here. But going away for a couple of years and actually going and playing regularly has allowed me to disconnect and really focus on myself and my football, and where I could improve on that.
“I perhaps focused too much on the emotions, on this being my club when I was here first, so going away really allowed me to focus on my game and, coming back now, I feel I am a more rounded footballer as a result of that.”
So grateful to be returning home❤️🖤 @bfcdublin https://t.co/Qpay6Y5swe
— Paddy Kirk (@Paddy__Kirk) November 14, 2022
The full-back says he is impressed with the plans of new manager Declan Devine.
He is relishing his future in Phibsborough, and the club returning to a full-time and morning training set-up in the new year.
“It was always in my head that I wanted to come back but it’s not something I wanted to rush either, and I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t feel the club was going to be in the right place next year.
“From talking to Declan, what he wants for the club, and the players he wants to bring in, it was clear it was the right time to come back. If we implement everything Declan says and that the group wants, qualifying for Europe will hopefully become a natural step in that.”
Devine noted: “He is a player I wanted to get in from the start. I said when I took over that I wanted players who knew what the club and its values were about, and Paddy fits that bill.
“I feel that he is coming back to the club a better player than when he left having played for a few seasons at other clubs.
“I am really looking forward to working with him. I feel he is a player that will excite the fans, but also excite the players we have at the club and excite the kind of player we are trying to attract to the club in terms of his quality as a player and qualities as a person.
“He is another really, really important part of the jigsaw for next season, but we know we have much more work to do too.”
