Former Blues left-back or left midfielder Shane O’Connor has joined his hometown club Cork City. O’Connor, who hit out at Town boss Paul Jewell in a Twitter outburst last night, had his contract at Portman Road terminated by mutual consent earlier in the month and had been interesting Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers in addition to the Leesiders and a number of English sides.
The 21-year-old said: "I did have other offers, but I am very pleased to have signed for Cork City. I would know some of the players here, I played with Gearóid Morrissey at international level and obviously played with Colin Healy at Ipswich, and Colin was a big influence on my decision to sign here.
"I was at a few games when I was younger, before I went to England, and I am aware of the history of the club and some of the players who have played here before. I want to enjoy my football, but I’m also ambitious and I wanted to sign for a club where I believe we can challenge to win things, and I believe I can do that at Cork City.”
Cork City boss Tommy Dunne added: "I think we have done well in the transfer window this year. He is an exciting left-footed player, and gives the team a nice balance.
"As a club, we are growing, we are trying to progress and get ourselves back to where we were previously but without the problems that entailed. He is direct, he is fit, he delivers the ball well from the wing, and I think he will be a good addition to our squad.
"He’s another Cork lad, and I think that is important that we have a lot of Cork lads in the squad to have a team that the supporters can identify with. There was competition from other clubs in Ireland, so we are delighted that he has come here.”