Pats get their man as the Blue reunite old colleagues

As the festive season approaches, with ongoing discussions about how the Football Association of Ireland can update and improve the domestic game to further drive fan participation and growth, Premier Division clubs are already looking ahead to 2024.

As we entered the weekend, recent FAI Cup winners, St Patrick's Athletic, confirmed that they have already begun putting their plans into place for the New Year, announcing Friday evening's capture of towering centre-half Conor Keeley.

The 26-year-old, 6ft 5" defender comes in from Drogheda United after impressing with his performance levels for the Drogs. He now makes the move to Richmond Park on a multi-year contract, and naturally, the player is delighted with the latest turn his career has taken. For those who like a flutter, it is the right time of year to play the odds on who will end up where, but if you fancy something new, you could try your hand at beginner sports betting or even a few football-themed games on the slots as a viable alternative.

"I'm delighted and once I heard about the interest from the club, it's something that I really wanted to do. I've had good chats with Jon Daly; he's laid out his expectations for me. There are so many good things going on at St Pat's, and I'm really excited to get going. This will be my first experience of full-time football, which I can't wait for. I've always wanted to be a full-time footballer, and to wake up in the morning and go to training, the gym sessions and all that goes with that," Keeley expressed.

After a good year with the club, Keeley received quite a bit of interest from wider League of Ireland clubs, and there was also reportedly interest from a few English and Scottish clubs. But with St Pat's winning the race, the other clubs linked will naturally keep a watching brief on how he does with them now.

Making the switch to the full-time level of football domestically is going to be a big step for the lad, but clearly, St Pat's believe he is more than capable of making the transition and doing a job for them. Although he now moves on and makes the step up, he was rightly full of praise for everything Drogheda had done for him, stating that he really 'enjoyed' his time there and he felt that given the 'very good season' they had just had, now was the right time for them to part ways and both enjoy a new adventure.

Saints boss Jon Daly was understandably happy with the capture, having done his homework on the player, particularly given the injury issues that they had in the back line during last season. They have already been busy in the transfer market this month - Ruairi Keating and Aaron Bolger have come in from relegated Cork City, and they have also paid a fee to Derry City to secure the arrival of Brandon Kavanagh. Keeley becomes another piece in that puzzle.

"Conor is a dominant centre-back, he's very strong and is excellent on both defensive and attacking set pieces. We've been very good on set pieces over the last couple of years, and hopefully, Conor will help us continue that as well as adding to our defensive department," Daly commented.

The name Keeley will be very familiar to St Pat's fans, and probably a few others in the Premier League setup, as his younger brother, Ireland Under-21 international Josh, spent four years at the Inchicore club before the goalkeeper tempted English Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur, to snap him up in the summer of 2022 (July of that year, in fact) to bolster their own goalkeeping ranks.

As Conor makes this new step up of his own, he will undoubtedly be looking to impress in the way his brother did and garner further attention on what he hopes will be a continually growing career.

It was not the only move to go through; earlier this week, it was reported that newly promoted Waterford were very close to tying up a deal for versatile left-sided Dundalk defender Darragh Leahy, and it has now been confirmed that the Blues have now completed that capture for an 'undisclosed fee'. The deal sees him reunited with former Bohemians gaffer, Keith Long.

“I’m absolutely delighted – it’s a massive club that’s on the up, and I can’t wait to get going. I’m only 25, but I’ve played a lot of games [in the Premier Division]. I’d like to think it would stand to the team; they obviously have winners in the squad by winning the play-off and getting promoted, so I can’t wait to get involved and help the team," Leahy said.

Having worked with Long previously in his career, Leahy went on to explain that he felt he played some of his best football under the gaffer at the Bohs, so once he was aware that there was interest in reuniting with him, it was naturally something he wanted to get done and dusted quickly.