Ian Turner returns to Turners Cross

Cork City announced their 12^th member of the first team playing staff for next season with the signing of Ian Turner from Limerick earlier today.

The right footed player who played nearly a hundred games for Cork City  from 2010 to 2014 mainly on the right wing returns after having a very successful season with Limerick that resulted in relegation but personal accolades were collected, most notably the SSE Airtricity player of the month for October.

The former Havana Brown’s DJ will be looking to make an impact again on Leeside having left the club at the end of the 2014 season. He is looking forward to the challenge of fighting for a place on the wing with Steven Beattie, since Billy Dennehy left the club at the end of the 2015 season.

“I am delighted to be back. I feel like I have progressed, so I want to come back now, make the step-up and hopefully have a successful year.

“Winning the player of the month award (for October) was a huge personal honour for me and a great achievement as well. Last season for me was all about playing as many games as I could, scoring goals and setting up goals. I was able to do that, so hopefully I can push on next year and do even better.”

The lure of silverware was a big factor in moving to Leeside with Turner having watched the clubs FAI Cup Final defeat last month and having also been impressed with manager John Caulfield’s recent signings Kenny Browne and Greg Bolger.

“That (the chance to win silverware) was one of the main reasons I came back. Fingers crossed we will be able to fight on every front and we want to be able to win silverware; that’s the main goal for us.

“It will be a really good squad. The club has been up there challenging for the last two years and there was a real disappointment after the FAI Cup Final, but it gives you a taste of what is to come and we want to go one better.

Manager John Caulfield who let Turner go at the end of the 2014 season scouted Turner heavily over the past season and was very impressed with the improvement of the player who ended up playing 29 games for Limerick scoring eight times.

“I’m very happy with the signing. When I first came to the club, Ian was a player here and he didn’t feature much so he went out on loan to Limerick. At the start of last season, I felt he needed more games, more goals and more consistency and I was delighted with how well he did at Limerick last season.

“I have watched him more than ten times with Limerick this year and I felt that he stepped up to the mark. He scored a lot of goals and got a lot of assists, as well as winning the player of the month award for October. He needed to perform week-in, week-out at a higher level and I saw a distinct difference in his performances this season. I think the big challenge for Ian is to perform consistently because the pressure at this club is massive, but he knows that, he is a Cork lad and he knows exactly what I am looking for.”

The signing of Turner is hopefully going to give the Rebel Army some more cutting edge in the final third with Caulfield noting that it was area he was looking at improving ahead of the 2016 season.

“Our defensive record in the last two years has been fantastic. At the other end of the pitch, we haven’t been creating enough or scoring enough. We haven’t had real out-and-out wingers, which is why we brought in Steven Beattie in the summer.

“As everyone could see, we were strong defensively but we need to improve in attacking areas. Ian has strength, he’s fantastic crosser of the ball and he has great pace. We have told Ian exactly how we want him to play and he has to go out and perform, but I think he has the confidence from last season and I think he knows that he can do it with us.”

Only time will tell if his signing can help turn City from second placed to first in the league.