Sligo Rovers make double signing in bid to beat drop 

New manager Darren Purse swoops for former Wrexham midfielder Luke Young and attacker Kaiyne Woolery to add experience to rescue mission 

RELEGATION FIGHT: Former Wrexham captain Luke Young has joined Sligo Rovers until the end of the season. Pic: Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

Sligo Rovers have made a double swoop as they make a late-season bid to haul themselves off the bottom of the Premier Division table. 

Rooted down in last place and having lost manager John Russell and captain Will Fitzgerald during a damaging run of results, the Bit O'Red have brought in a double helping of experience to help new manager Darren Purse in his rescue mission. 

The club announced the recruitment of both Luke Young and Kaiyne Woolery to The Showgrounds on Thursday, both of whom have joined on deals until the end of the current season.

Rovers, who have been a fixture in the top flight for 21 years but find themselves six points adrift of both Drogheda United and resurgent Waterford with just nine games remaining in the season. Former Cardiff academy coach Purse has leaned on personal connections to add the veteran English duo. 

Young, 33, is an accomplished central midfielder with almost 600 senior career appearances in English football, including time with Wrexham, Plymouth and Cheltenham Town.

Winger Woolery, who can play up top is 31 and arrives at the Showgrounds following spells in the UK, Greece and Turkey.

Both players have signed subject to international transfer clearance and the club is hopeful both will be available for Saturday’s Club Orange Men’s FAI Cup tie with Kerry at the Showgrounds.

A former club captain at Wrexham, Young began his career alongside his new manager Purse and assistant Warren Feeney at Plymouth. Here, all three helped the Pilgrims survive relegation from the football league with two games to spare, despite being nine points adrift mid-way through the season.

“He’s had an exceptional career and is someone myself and Warren know really well”, Purse said of Young. “Luke is in our position now when we were at Plymouth given that we were the elder statesmen.

“We’ve got some good young talent in our squad but they need some help. Both Luke and Kaiyne are that little but older. I think they’ll help not only the younger boys but also lads like Carl McHugh who is a lone voice a little bit and Gareth McElroy who’s an exceptional young leader and I feel the new boys can bring him on.

“We’ve had a lot of offers of younger players here but I don’t think that’s what we need at this moment. It’s taken a week or two longer to bring them in, but I wasn’t happy with just signing anyone. I want to sign the right ones that give us the best possible chance of getting out of the position we’re in.”