Town begin their 2016/17 pre-season friendly programme with their now traditional game against Dublin side Shelbourne at Tolka Park on Saturday afternoon (KO 3pm).

The squad has spent the week training at the Carton House Hotel, as they have during each previous summer since Mick McCarthy took over as boss in November 2012.

Town are likely to field a different side in each half of the game against what in previous years has been a Shels side mainly consisting of their U19s squad, including in 2014 Adam McDonnell, who eventually went on to move to Portman Road and will be up against his old club tomorrow.

The Blues’ first friendly against the SSE Airtricity League First Division side in 2013 ended in a 2-0 victory, the following year Town won 4-0 and last year they ran out 6-0 victors with even Cole Skuse getting on the scoresheet.

Admission is €10 for adults and €5 for children and OAPs with tickets available at the ground on the day. The bar at Tolka Park opens at 1pm.

Meanwhile, the Blues continue to be linked with Burnley winger Michael Kightly, who previously played for McCarthy at Wolves. Rumours linking Kightly with the Blues have been circulating since the end of June.

The 30-year-old is said to have indicated that he would be keen on a reunion with his old boss while on a coaching course with Blues skipper Luke Chambers in Northern Ireland earlier in the summer.

The one-time Grays Athletic and Stoke City man’s opportunities with the Clarets are likely to be limited during 2016/17 following their promotion to the Premier League.

However, if the Blues are interested it would be a tough deal to do with Kightly still having a year left on his contract at Turf Moor and likely to command a fee, while his wages would be significantly higher than Town would be prepared to offer.

Photo: Action Images

blueherts added 10:36 - Jul 8 Kightly is decent - would love that
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MarkFish added 10:38 - Jul 8 Kightly is Shiite . Remember him at Wolves he was useless.
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JimmyJazz added 10:45 - Jul 8 Kightly hardly featured for Burnley last year, his best days are behind him
2

hbergdahl added 10:52 - Jul 8 Cannot wait. Will.be at the match
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Wallingford_Boy added 10:56 - Jul 8 Hardly played for 2 years, suffers with depression, had injury problems, on crazy wages. Yep, seems to tick all the boxes.
6

ITFCFan365 added 11:03 - Jul 8 Kightly made 21 appearances for Burnley last season...would not call that 'Hardly Featured'. Personally I think he would be a great addition and he is creative, which we lack so much of in the team at the moment.
3

Wallingford_Boy added 11:12 - Jul 8 Started 12 out of 46.
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brian_a_mul added 11:14 - Jul 8 Wallingford_Boy: Kightly and Chopra, lets bring thim back too and let the good times roll
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vanmunt added 11:16 - Jul 8 struggling to keep up with all the ITFC transfer news................
8

bongoblue91 added 11:39 - Jul 8 Wallingford_Boy how the hell do you know knightly suffers from depression, are you his doctor or something? Some of the stuff people right on here is laughable, try and make out you know everything, even about the blokes personal health! 😂
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MarkFish added 11:49 - Jul 8 He is double pony I know that.
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GiveusaWave added 12:13 - Jul 8 It would be a tough call for Kightly, given the fact he still has a year left on his contract at Burnley at a considerably higher wage than we could pay him.
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Geoff added 12:19 - Jul 8 Mick must think this will be a tough game and up the opposition again.
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Currie10 added 12:22 - Jul 8 Bongo, a little use of google and I know he suffered from it too........... https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=m The fact that collected an up arrow probably sums up the attitude of many of this forum users in my opinion. As for the player, he was class years ago, no idea how good now. I thought he was older than 30 though!
2

blueherts added 12:31 - Jul 8 On the subject of maitland Niles - I heard in pre season and training last year him and Teddy B had developed a great understanding - If we can keep TB fit that may be a interesting option - Face it we have little or no money and I see ME events division just took a hit plus his UEFA 'fines' for flogging tickets illegally - so players like Kightly , may not enlighten many but we cannot compete to get likes of Roofe etc wth our resources With some of our young players coming through it could be an exciting season ! Positive vibes now boys and girls - I cant take negatives in July !! far too early

3

unknown100 added 12:34 - Jul 8 Expect the bargain bin specials, kightly was decent once, no idea now
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GiveusaWave added 12:52 - Jul 8 See we have been "linked" with four other players. Sounds like someone is just trying to create a story for the sake of it though. No newspaper evidence to suggest these links are valid, most likely just creative journalism. Something to read anyway.... http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/these-4-signings-would-undoubtedly-improve-ipsw
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afcfee added 13:01 - Jul 8 So what if he suffered depression why would you even bring that up
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afcfee added 13:03 - Jul 8 Guenchev what have I just read lol
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itfccymru added 14:01 - Jul 8 Currie10 I can't believe your using depression which happened years ago as a reason for not signing a player. Football players aren't robots, they're all humans like us and go through difficult spells. To use this as a genuine reason about not signing a player is utterly disrespectful and I'm sure the large majority would agree with me. Personally think he would be a great signing, hard worker good delivery from wide areas (which is something we've been missing for a long time) and something to prove in this league. If wages arent out of our reach I would go for it.

3

battyblue added 14:36 - Jul 8 Should be a close game about our standard we have not got one decent test in pre season as normal could be a tough season coming up for us .
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jas0999 added 16:31 - Jul 8 Nothing more than a kick about but a good run out nonetheless. Presumably we are not too worried about testing ourselves as the quality of opposition this year is lacking. Still a bit of a shame we haven't secured more signings in time for the first pre season game. Only Webster the new addition from the squad which finished last season, with plenty departing. We have no chance of signing Kightly. His wage demands well beyond us.

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Seasider added 21:38 - Jul 8 Yes JAS,and he is injured
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GiveusaWave added 03:14 - Jul 9 Shelbourne just lost a friendly to Athlone Town, who also kept a clean sheet against them. I would hope we will win easily.
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