Saints make ninth signing, while Byrne & O'Brien re-sign

St. Patrick’s Athletic have announced the signing of Shelbourne midfielder Dylan McGlade, while both Conan Byrne and captain Ger O’Brien have re-signed with the club for the 2016 season.

McGlade ends a two and a half year spell with Shelbourne in the First Division following a previous spell at Championship side Middlesbrough in England.

The 20-year-old made 21 appearances for Kevin Doherty’s side last season, scoring four goals and earning a place in the PFAI First Division Team of the Year for 2015.

Captain Ger O’Brien has re-signed for the Saints and now heads into his fifth season at Richmond Park having joined in 2012. In that time he won every domestic honour available, including the Premier Division, FAI Cup, EA Sports Cup, Presidents Cup and Leinster Senior Cup – making 149 appearances.

Winger Conan Byrne re-signs having joined the club in 2013. He, like O’Brien, has amassed a full trophy haul across the domestic sphere in that time.

The 30-year-old has scored a total of 47 goals across all competitions in his 131 appearances for the club, including an impressive 20 goal haul from midfield in St. Pats’ FAI Cup-winning 2014 campaign.

Speaking to st.patsfc.com manager Liam Buckley expressed his delight at his three most recent signings.

“We’re delighted to have Ger and Conan back onboard for next season. They both work well together on the right side of midfield and are good pros”, he said. “They’re both experienced players and are still hungry for more success so they’re looking forward to the season ahead.

“Dylan McGlade is a really young, exciting talent and we feel he can blossom at St Pat’s.  He had a terrific year for Shels last season and has experience from playing in England and with Ireland at underage level.  

“We’ve a number of young players at the club and we feel they can all develop at the club so we look forward to seeing Dylan play in Inchicore in 2016.”

McGlade is St. Pats’ ninth signing so far this season, while O’Brien and Byrne join fellow Saints veterans Brendan Clarke and Ian Bermingham in re-signing with the club for 2016.