Miller agrees contract with Cork City

Cork City FC this morning announced that Republic of Ireland international Liam Miller has agreed a contract with the club. Liam Miller appears to have been signed as a direct replacement for Gearóid Morrissey who left the club earlier this month to play in League 2 with Cambridge City.

The Ballincollig native has been capped 21 times at senior International level, scoring once in a 3-0 victory over Sweden which was Steve Staunton’s first game in charge of the Republic of Ireland back in 2006.

Miller is returning to Leeside having represented a number of clubs in the UK including Celtic, Manchester United, Leeds United, Hibernians, QPR and Sunderland. Since 2011, the midfielder had been plying his trade in the Australian A-League, where he was a member of the Brisbane Roar team which won the 2014 Grand Final along with playing for Perth Glory for a number of years.

The 33 year old ex-international is expected to join his new teammates for pre-season training later in the month, when he will be officially unveiled as a Cork City player.

Miller spoke to corkcityfc.ie earlier this morning to show his happiness at signing for his local club.

“I am delighted to be returning home. I will be proud to wear the Cork City jersey and do what I can for the team in front of all my family and friends. I am best mates with Mark McNulty; I played with both him and Colin Healy since Under 16s and have lots of good memories. I also know Billy Dennehy who I played with at Sunderland.”

His expectations with the club are very straight forward for the season ahead as the midfielder stated that he fully expected Cork “To win the league.”

Cork City boss John Caulfield was also delighted to announce his new signing on the City website this morning.

“We are delighted to sign Liam. Something developed over the last few weeks and it is a real marquee signing for us to get a player of Liam’s quality; he has been playing at the highest level in Australia, winning a league medal there last May. Having a Cork lad like Liam coming home is a major signing and a big boost for us at the start of pre-season. We are all looking forward to Liam coming in, we all know how good a player he is and it is a fantastic signing for us.

“He has played in Europe with Celtic and Man United, and of course he has played internationally with Ireland as well, so he has huge experience, but, most importantly for me, he is still in peak condition, still at the top of his game and full of energy. His all round strengths mean he is going to be a fantastic addition to the squad and we are all looking forward to seeing him in training soon.”

Cork City will have plenty of competition in the middle of the pitch this season with Colin Healy, Gavin Hoolahan, Dave Mulcahy and Gary Buckley all looking for a starting spot this season. Cork City will play their first preseason game of 2015 against PSC Soccer Academy from the States on the 25th of January in O’Shea Park at 1pm.