Sligo Rovers re-sign Regan Donelon

Sligo Rovers have announced the re-signing of Regan Donelon. The 24-year-old will go into his eighth season with the club for the 2021 campaign.

Donelon, who primarily plays as a left back for the club, made his first-team debut in 2014 after coming up through the academy.

The Dunmore native has made over 100 appearances for the ‘Bit O’Red’ and was happy to re-sign with the club for the forthcoming League of Ireland season.

“It’s great to sign again," Donelon told the club's website.

"We have a lot of exciting things in front of us, like European football, and by the looks of it, there’s a very good squad being put together this year.

“Everyone pulled together last season. In pre-season I had what was a freak accident really and injured my shoulder. When the league was halted, it allowed me to strengthen up a bit then and recover from the injury.

“I was able to kick on then when it did restart. We all know we needed to win games because of the position we were in. The final few weeks of the season, Liam and Russ kept us right and they were telling us we were in the mix and to keep believing we could do it. The final game against Dundalk, it just felt like we were going well and it worked out. It was a great finish to the year.

“The squad is going to be better. The new competition will be good to improve the team. We’d like to go one better in the FAI Cup and maybe get to a final. Fourth place was good last year and with the ambition here and the group we have signed, we have to be aiming to improve on that as well.”

Sligo Rovers manager Liam Buckley was keen to re-sign the set-piece specialist for the season ahead.

“We were in negotiations with Regan for quite a while and I’m delighted that a deal has been done," Buckley told the club's website.

“There was no question he was in our plans throughout. He’s a top player, technically very good. He did well for us last year, I think he played 12 of the 14 games when the league did resume and he made an important contribution. We wanted him here. I also see Regan being able to play further up the pitch which we’ve done before.

"We have plenty of options now. As I said before, getting through pre-season and avoiding injuries is important for us. That was difficult last year especially at the start. We have a good deal of versatility as well which is a help. I do feel the group we have is strong.”

Former Cork player Admir Softic: As a footballer, I was disappointed how the new coach handled the situation https://t.co/m5tC9pLUWnpic.twitter.com/cYPmPCbCww

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