Liam Buckley has bolstered his St Patrick’s Athletic squad with the addition of David Cawley and Michael Barker as he looks to kick on from his side’s fourth-placed finish last season.
Sligo Rovers midfielder Cawley has made the switch to Inchicore along with Bray Wanderers defender Barker, while goalkeeper Brendan Clarke has signed a fresh deal with the club.
Cawley [24] joins the Saints having won the SSE Airtricity League, FAI Cup and the Setanta Sports Cup in his time at the Showgrounds.
Barker [22] has previously played with Bohemians, UCD and his most recent club, Bray where he made 32 appearances in the Premier Division last year.
We have agreed terms for 2016 with Brendan Clarke, Michael Barker and David Cawley. #Saints2016 pic.twitter.com/NtKJo492y1
— St Patrick's Ath (@stpatsfc) December 1, 2015
Clarke has made 169 appearances to date between the posts for the club.
He became the first ever Saints goalkeeper to be named the PFAI Goalkeeper of the Year in 2013, while he has also won the SSE Airtricity League, FAI Cup, EA Sports Cup and President’s Cup in what is his second spell with the club.
Buckley is expecting a big impact from the two new signings, and said: “Both David and Michael will be great additions to our squad.
"David was a key player with Sligo Rovers in recent years and will add to our midfield. Michael has been very impressive in recent years, featuring throughout Bray’s campaign last year. He will be a good addition to our defensive group.”
“Re-signing Brendan as well is another huge addition to our group as he has been with the club for a long period of time and has won everything domestically. Brendan and Conor O’Malley work well together from a training point of view too so retaining both of them is great for the 2016 season.”
Cawley and Barker join Mark Timlin, Dinny Corcoran, Graham Kelly and Keith Treacy on the list of new arrivals for St Pat's.
Meanwhile Lloyd Buckley and Mark O'Brien have signed new contracts with Drogheda United.
Buckley made his debut for Drogheda in the opening-day victory away to Bray Wanderers last season made 14 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice.
The highly-rated centre-back, who has represented Ireland at underage level, put pen to paper on a new deal on Tuesday.
"I'm delighted to sign back with the club for next season," Buckley said. "It's a great feeing to have it all sorted and I'm very confident for the year ahead."
Rejoining Buckley at United Park next season will be left-back O'Brien. The 18-year-old featured for Drogheda United U19s last year before making his debut in the home defeat to Sligo Rovers in August.
