Galway United have announced their latest new addition for the upcoming year, nabbing midfielder Shane Duggan from Waterford FC.
The 30 year old Limerick man is coming to Galway United having spent the 2019 season with Waterford, where he made 39 appearance and scored six times.
Duggan began his professional career at Plymouth Argyle before returning to Ireland to play with UCD for a short spell.
Those short stretches at UCD and Waterford were anomalies in his, with Duggan typically spending a significant amount of the time with a team.
He spent five seasons at Turners Cross with Cork City before signing with his hometown club, Limerick FC.
Duggan then stayed at Limerick for another five seasons, and captained the club for his entire tenure at the Markets Field.
After a season where the club consolidated and developed academy players in 2019, Duggan felt excited by the challenge of coming in and trying to help the Tribesmen challenge at the top end of the table, and he believes there is huge untapped potential at Eamonn Deacy Park.
“Alan showed me the plans that he has for the club next year and they excited me,” Duggan explained.
“There is huge potential in Galway, you see the fan base that can come out when the club is doing well, it’s an unbelievable place to play, it’s a great stadium with a fantastic pitch.”
“Throughout the years I’ve had some good battles against the club and I think Galway United should be in the Premier Division.”
“I’m not signing here to stay down in the First Division, I want the club to get promoted straight away, that is my ambition and that’s what I’ll be looking to try and do.”
Duggan won First Division Trophies while at both Limerick and Cork, and was voted the First Division Player of the Year in 2016 after his impressive displays for the Shannonsiders.
The 30 year old Limerick man has made over 300 appearances in the League of Ireland, and Galway United manager Alan Murphy was delighted to secure the midfielder, who he described as a natural born leader.
“It’s a statement of intent to bring a player of Shane Duggan’s calibre to Galway United for the 2020 season,” Murphy said.
“Shane is a model professional, he’s a player with really high standards and he’s a character that I admire in terms of his application, hard work and honesty.”
“He will be a huge asset to the club as both a leader on and off the pitch and also as a really experienced player to guide the younger members of our squad.”
