Sean Hoare signs for Dundalk

Champions Dundalk have announced the signing of defender Sean Hoare from St. Patrick’s Athletic.

The Irish u21 international has signed on the dotted line assumedly to replace the departing Andy Boyle, who the club have confirmed will join Preston North End, alongside team mate Daryl Horgan, on January 1^st.

Hoare has spent his entire senior career with the Inchicore outfit having made his senior bow for the club during their title winning season of 2013.

It was the following season that the Dubliner really came to the fore though following the departure of Conor Kenna to Shamrock Rovers at the start of the season.

Hoare built a solid partnership with Kenny Browne as St. Pats won the FAI Cup in 2014.

The centre-half clearly has the pedigree that Stephen Kenny is looking for to replace Boyle. Hoare made almost 100 league appearances for St. Pats during his stint with the club while the 22-year-old also had intervarsity success with NUI Maynooth in Harding Cup.

Hoare becomes the first new addition to the Lilywhites’ roster ahead of 2017 and he admits that it would have been “very tough” to turn down Kenny’s advances for his services.

“I am delighted to sign for Dundalk. It was very tough to turn down the chance to join the club. The club is huge at the moment. In my opinion bigger than everyone else,” Hoare told dundalkfc.com.

“The European games that the club played this year have been brilliant. It has caught the eye of everyone around the league. The club has done really well. People probably thought that clubs in the league of Ireland can’t compete like that in Europe but they have shown they can and it would be great to be a part of something similar next year.

“I have been on the outside looking in over the last few years and it’s going to be nice to see what it’s like working with the club and the players from the inside now. I am looking forward to getting started.

“I want to win things. I want to win the big trophies. I won the FAI Cup in 2014 and a couple of EA Sports Cups in the past two seasons but I want to win more. Dundalk have been winning everything over the last few years and I want to win more. “

Dundalk will be chasing a fourth title in consecutive seasons in 2017, a feat last achieved by Shamrock Rovers more than three decades ago.