Billy King returns to Inchicore

St. Patrick's Athletic have announced the re-signing of forward Billy King for the 2022 League of Ireland season. 

The Edinburgh native joined the club from Morton in January 2020 and has made 55 appearances across the last two seasons finding the net on 11 occasions (including seven in the league last season).

King played a crucial role in the Saints’ recent FAI Cup final victory, scoring their second penalty of the shootout to help beat Bohemians. 

The 27-year-old spoke to the club’s media team about his decision to stay. "I'm absolutely buzzing to have signed back for next year and I'm looking forward to getting back over to start pre-season with the lads,” said King.

“I'm also excited to work with Tim (Clancy), Jon (Daly), Alan (Mathes) and the coaching staff.

“We had a successful season in 2021. We ended on a high with a brilliant win in the cup final so we will be looking to carry that momentum into the start of the new campaign.”

Pat’s new-look management team were happy to get their man. First Team Manager Tim Clancy said "Billy is a top player, he has got plenty of experience. He is versatile and can play on either wing or up through the middle as a striker. 

“He scored lots of crucial goals for St Pat's last season. The younger attacking players can learn from his professionalism too and see how he does things on and off the pitch.”

Alan Mathews added "we are delighted that Billy is back on board again. He made a great contribution in 2021 in a number of different positions. Billy scored some important goals too. We look forward to seeing him playing a key role again in the coming season."

With the departure of the Stephen O’Donnell from Richmond Park, the Athletic have assigned the title Technical Director to Alan Mathews – last year he was noted as the club’s manager - with Tim Clancy as First Team Manager.

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— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) December 22, 2021