Cork City re-sign Stephen Kenny

Cork City have announced that Stephen Kenny is the latest player to sign on for the 2013 season.

The winger, who hails from Passage in Cork, made the step up to first-team football last season after being an integral member of the double-winning U19 squad of 2011/12, but found opportunities relatively limited within the first-team setup – making just one start and 13 substitute appearances in the 2012 season.

Kenny also tried his luck on trial in England, but is now fully dedicated to the Rebel Army cause and focussed on cracking the starting XI, he told the official club website CorkCityFC.net.

“I am pleased to have signed a new deal with the club. Looking ahead to next season, I am aiming to be in the first team squad every week and hope to play more regularly than I did last season. I want to build on what I did last year and keep improving, and I would hope that as a club we will be aiming to finish higher up the table than last season also.”

Cork City manager Tommy Dunne also spoke of how pleased he was that Kenny is committed to the club, and how integral he sees youth in City’s future.

“Stephen is an exciting young talent who was an integral part of the success the club had at Under 19 level last season, and I am happy that he has signed a new contract with the club.

“Since he has come into the first team squad, his attitude and application in training has been excellent and I have high hopes for him.

“I believe he will continue to progress and will feature in the first team over the coming season and you never know what doors might open for him after that.

“I am also pleased that this is another player who has come through our underage set-up at the club. With the current climate that is something we have to do, but it is also the way we want to run our club. 

“Young players are the future of the club, and we are prepared to give them the time to develop and make the step-up, and I think the fact that we have recently announced a partnership with UCC means that we can also help players develop on the academic side as well as on the footballing side.”

Cork City 2013 squad (to date): Mark McNulty, Ian Turner, Danny Murphy, Gearoid Morrissey, Colin Healy, Shane Duggan, John Dunleavy, Kalen Spillane, Kevin Murray, Daryl Horgan, Kevin Burns, Danny Furlong, Daryl Kavanagh, Brian Lenihan, Stephen Kenny.