Kevin O'Connor joins Cork City for fourth time; Dylan McGlade re-signs

Both will hope to nail down positions on the left flank under Colin Healy, who has now announced 19 players for his strengthened Cork City squad

Fri, 10 Dec, 2021 - 13:04

Stephen Barry

Cork City have announced two high-profile signings for their 2022 promotion push with Kevin O'Connor rejoining from Shelbourne and Dylan McGlade extending his stay into a third season.

Both will hope to nail down positions on the left flank under Colin Healy, who has now announced 19 players for his strengthened squad.

O'Connor, who joins City for a fourth time since 2015, and McGlade were close to ever-present in the League of Ireland First Division last season. O'Connor played in 25 of Shelbourne's games as they won the title with three games to spare, while McGlade played a part in 26 of City's 27 League fixtures.

“Dylan had a good year last year. We are always wanting more from him, I am always demanding more from him. He has a lot of talent and we hope he will have a big year next year,” said Healy of McGlade, who has been named in the PFAI First Division Team of the Year at three different clubs, Shels, Longford, and Bray.

Healy added: “I have played alongside Kev and also managed him for a short spell, where he did really well for me.

“The minute I spoke to him about coming back, he was delighted to be coming back.

“He’s a very good player, he has experience, he knows what the club is about, and he knows what I’m about.

“He played regularly in this Division last season and has that experience of getting over the line, so it is another good addition to the squad.”

O'Connor is City's second recruit from First Division champions Shelbourne and could renew his role alongside centre-back Ally Gilchrist. That duo played beside each other in defence in all 25 of O'Connor's 2021 appearances.

O’Connor, a Premier Division and FAI Cup winner in his first spell with City, wants to carry his trophy-winning form from Shels to Leeside this season.

“I have been chatting to Colin for a while now and he was a major factor in me coming back,” he said.

“Shelbourne had a good side last year that I was part of, and I want more of that next year.

“Colin is obviously bringing in some experienced players to go along with the talented young players already at the club, so we will be pushing for promotion.

“If the season had been a few games longer, City could well have got into the play-offs and anything can happen from there. It was a slow start but, once they got going, they improved over the course of the season.

“I think Colin has things going really well here, you can see what the club is building, and I want to be part of that.

“When Cork City come calling, you always want to come back and be a part of this club. I want this club to be challenging for trophies and hopefully that is what we will be doing.”

McGlade has a personal target to improve on his four goals last season as well as to push for promotion.

“Last year didn’t really go as we would have liked, but I think we will be much, much stronger next year. We all want to push on and get this club back to where it needs to be,” he said.

“I definitely want to score a few more goals next season. I usually try to hit double figures, and that will be my aim for next year. I just want to help the team climb the table and get promoted.”

Cork City players announced for 2022 season

Goalkeepers: David Harrington, Jimmy Corcoran.

Defenders: Cian Coleman, Ally Gilchrist, Jonas Häkkinen, Gordon Walker, Ronan Hurley, Josh Honohan, Uniss Kargbo, Kevin O'Connor.

Midfielders: Aaron Bolger, James Doona, Alec Byrne, Seán Kennedy.

Forwards: Cian Murphy, Cian Bargary, Darragh Crowley, Ruairi Keating, Dylan McGlade.