Bluebell United striker Dean Ebbe joins Welsh champions TNS

Bluebell United striker Dean Ebbe has sealed a remarkable return to full-time football in the UK after linking up with Welsh champions TNS

The New Saints - formerly known as Total Network Solutions until their merger with English team Oswestry Town - have won the Welsh Premier League in each of the past six seasons.

23-year-old Ebbe has been in spectacular form for the Bell since returning from a spell with Inverness Caledonia Thistle in the Scottish Premiership last year.

The Clondalkin native made four appearances for Callie under former Shelbourne striker Richie Foran but both were let go following the club's relegation at the end of the season.

And the former Shamrock Rovers man turned down offers to return to the League of Ireland in the summer as he set his sights on a return to the UK.

“Inverness got relegated and Richie Foran left the club,” Bluebell boss Andy Noonan told Extratime.ie.

“It was a bit of a clean sweep with a couple of players so Dean was released. When he came back he was training with us in pre-season, got a couple of offers from League of Ireland.

“But he just took a selfish stand with himself and said: 'no, I'm going to stay at Bluebell, get as fit as I possibly can and be in the shop window in January, I want to go back over'.”

The Red Cow-based side are currently second in the Leinster Senior League's top division with just over half the season played, and Ebbe's goals have been key to that.

Bluebell were top of the Senior Sunday division when he left for Inverness 12 months ago and his absence saw them pipped to the title by St Mochta's.

Ebbe has been eqially fine form during his second spell, scoring almost a goal a game and helping the Bell to reach the last eight of the FAI Cup, where they lost to Rovers in Tallaght.

“They were particularly impressed with the level of fitness that Dean had when he went over in December to TNS.

“What I've been told is his level of fitness gained at Bluebell, he didn't look out of place and in some of the drills he stood out. That's down to Dean himself. Dean never, ever missed training.

“If anything, I had to pull him back away from playing matches. He would play a match every day if you let him, and that's down to his attitude and his application and looking after himself.”

Noonan reckons Ebbe has all the tools to succeed at a club with European ambitions and move up the leagues in the UK.

“He was disappointed when he came back from Scotland when it didn't work out the way he thought. He now has a second try at it.

“He has all the tools. He's definitely more focused than when he went over to Inverness, because it was so sudden and maybe it caught him off-guard.

“He had a taste of it, and now he has another chance and I think he's going to kick on.”