Bray bolster squad with addition of McCabe and Greene

Bray Wanderers have bolstered their squad by signing the experienced Gary McCabe from Shamrock Rovers on Saturday, coming just 24 hours after confirming the capture of Aaron Greene from Limerick.

McCabe makes returns from Rovers to Bray

28-year-old McCabe began his career at the Carlisle Grounds in 2007 where he was top scorer for Bray in 2009 before enjoying trophy winning spells at both Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers.

At the Showgrounds McCabe won an FAI Cup and League Cup in 2010 with the Bit O’Red. He was one of just two players to score in a remarkable penalty shoot-out against Shamrock Rovers in front of a crowd in excess of 36,000 at the first FAI Cup final at the redeveloped Aviva Stadium on Lansdowne Road.

McCabe subsequently switched sides to play for Shamrock Rovers the following year playing a central part in the Hoops’ incredible 2011 season. McCabe’s superb goal in Tallaght in the first leg draw against Partizan Belgrade was central to Rovers beating Belgrade over two legs to become the first League of Ireland side to qualify for the Europa League group stages.

At different times in his Rovers career, McCabe wore the captain’s armband for the Hoops but with his departure, there is now no player left at the club who took part in that European League campaign.

Scoring six league goals from midfield in 2011, McCabe helped the Hoops to their 17th and last league title. He also picked up a winners medal with Rovers in the Setanta Sports Cup that season and in 2013.

In the last three league campaigns out of four, McCabe has topped the goalscoring charts in Tallaght.  He scored eight league goals in both 2013 (along with Ronan Finn) and 2014. This year he was top scorer again getting ten goals as he moved into the top 20 all-time league goalscorers for the Hoops.

Half of his league goals in 2016 were penalties and he slotted home seven of his 12 goals in all competitions from the penalty spot, converting each penalty he took. All told he scored 42 league goals for Rovers in 170 Premier Division appearances for the Hoops.

Wanderer Greene joins Bray

Aaron Greene meanwhile makes the move from Limerick’s Markets Field to the Carlisle Grounds to work under manager Harry Kenny in the new campaign.

The switch to Bray means the 26-year-old player will line out for his seventh club from the 12 who make up the 2017 SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

The Dubliner had dropped down a division in 2016 and helped Limerick return to the top flight at the first attempt in an incredible season where they lost just one solitary league game. He was instrumental in Limerick’s promotion scoring 11 goals in the campaign from 22 games.

Prior to his time with Limerick, he had two spells at Sligo Rovers where he won a couple of FAI Cups. He began his career with Galway United where he scored five goals in 15 appearances in the 2009 season.

He subsequently moved to Bohemians where he finished runners up in the 2010 campaign as the Gypsies lost the league on goal difference to Shamrock Rovers.

The following year he played with St. Patrick’s Athletic, before moving to Shamrock Rovers, where he was a teammate of Gary McCabe. With the Hoops in Tallaght he won a Leinster Senior Cup in 2012 scoring the winner in the final.

S&C appointment

In addition to signing McCabe and Greene, Bray also confirmed this week the appointment of Sami Dowling as the club’s Fitness and Performance Coach.

Dowling joins Bray with an impressive strength and conditioning (S&C) CV having worked with the Leinster Rugby Academy for a decade, as well as serving as National Head S&C coach to the Irish rugby U18 and U19 men’s teams and the Irish Women’s Rugby team. He has also worked as an S&C coach with both the Down and Dublin GAA teams.