Marney ends League of Ireland career with return to England

Paul Marney has this evening ended his near eight-year League of Ireland career by returning to his native England despite having been announced as one of Shelbourne's close season signings last month. Marney's departure comes as the 26-year-old has decided to take up an employment opportunity and he will now return home with his father after the pair moved here following his arrival at Saint Patrick's Athletic in 2001.

The announcement was made on Shels' official website tonight. Shelbourne FC wish to announce that, due to unforeseen circumstances, Paul Marney will be unable to join us for the forthcoming season. We wish him the very best of luck with his upcoming move to England.

Marney first came to prominence in Ireland for all the wrong reasons during the 2001/02 season when his "improper" registration for Saint Patrick's Athletic ended in a court case which the Inchicore club eventually won after nine points had been initially deducted by the league. They were later docked 15 points for further irregularities. Marney made 29 appearances and scored one goal during that league campaign for the Saints, and while Shels eventually took the title due to the aforementioned points deduction, the versatile player admitted that the players still treated the season as a league winning one. He made 16 appearances the following season but after falling out of favour at Richmond Park, Marney was plucked from there before the closure of the final 2003 transfer window when Trevor Anderson signed him for Dundalk.

London-born Marney, who had spent time at both West Ham United and Sutton United in England before arriving in Ireland, made a promising debut for the Whites, but suffered a foot injury that kept him out of action towards the end of the 2003 season. Marney played 28 times (26 starts, two as substitute) during the 2004 campaign and found his first goal for the club against Galway United on 29 April that year. It was a contribution which resulted in Jim Gannon pursuing the midfielder to retain his services for the following season, and 2005 saw Paul play in every one of Dundalk’s league games - where he was employed increasingly as a central defender - his performances earning him the ‘Oriel Travel Club Player of the Year’.

John Gill continued to play him in the back four in the 2006 season, but after the return to fitness of captain Aidan Lynch, Marney reverted to his more preferred role of midfield - although he was used in many positions during the remainder of the campaign. The Londoner brought the phrase "versatile player" to a whole new meaning, and played in the following positions wth Dundalk: goalkeeper, central defence, right-back, left-back, right-midfield, left-midfield and central-midfield. He continued to be an ever-present and made 41 appearances in 2006 and 35 appearances in 2007 in all competitions, while in his final campaign at Oriel Park, he made 27 league appearances (12 starts/15 subs) as he helped the Lilywhites to First Division title glory.