Town boss Mick McCarthy says new signing Jack Doherty was far from overawed when he trained with the Blues squad at Carton House in Kildare earlier this month. In fact, he says the 18-year-old stood out.
Doherty has agreed a two-year contract at Town with the formalities relating to his switch from Waterford United set to be completed in the next day or so.
McCarthy says he was impressed by the Clonmel-born midfielder during his trial: "There’s real potential in him. He’s about the size of Tabby, he needs to put a bit of weight on, but he’s a nice left-footed player.
"He came and trained with us for two days in Ireland and he wasn’t embarrassed by being with us, in fact he kind of stood out, which was good. It’s a nice little punt with him really and I think he’s got a real chance.”
McCarthy, whose family come from Waterford, says he hopes Doherty follows in the footsteps of Daryl Murphy, who the Blues boss signed from the Airtricity Division One side back in 2005 when he was in charge at Sunderland.
"My Dad was from Waterford, but I’m not trying to keep my old fella’s club going or anything like that because he was a hurling player,” he said.
"Murph came from there and he’s had a really good career. If Jack gets anywhere near as good as Murph’s done then we’ll be delighted.”
McCarthy says he views Doherty not just as a ‘chalk on his boots’ wideman: "I think he can do that, but I think he’s got more than that.
"Wingers, lots of them, come and play on the inside. I think he’s just got a nice bit of awareness about him as well. He can do that, I’m looking forward to seeing him with us.”
Meanwhile, the Blues boss says skipper Carlos Edwards is currently having some downtime after Trinidad and Tobago’s exit from the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the US: "I think he’s chilling. I spoke to him on Monday and he was in Trinidad.
"We’d love to see him before the weekend. If not, he’s fit, he’s played games and we’ll have to manage him as well because he’s done a lot of work, Carlos.”
Photo: ITFC