Speculation around Rory Gaffney's future has ended after the striker agreed a new deal with Shamrock Rovers that will keep him at the Hoops for the 2024 campaign.
Gaffney has developed into a key figure in Stephen Bradley's dressing room since signing from Salford City in 2020.
Last year the 34-year-old won the PFAI Players' Player of the Year and SSE Airtricity League Player of the Year awards as Rovers clinched the title.
He shone again this season to help the Dublin outfit to their fourth league crown in a row.
With Ronan Finn leaving for UCD and Alan Mannus retired, Bradley will be relieved to tie down such an important figure.
Plenty of clubs had been monitoring Gaffney's situation closely.
On Wednesday, Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins admitted he'd explored the possibility of signing the experienced and highly rated frontman.
"There were a couple of conversations had with his representative," Higgins told the Derry Journal.
"We were obviously fighting with [Rovers] up until the last few weeks so it was mainly [talks] with his agent.
"Listen, they are going for five in a row and I always felt it would be a stretch. It is what it is. We move on and we have other targets that we are actively pursuing and we're on it and trying to make sure we go into next season with a team that's capable of winning the league."
Elsewhere, 16-year-old Mason Melia has signed his first professional contract, penning a three-year deal with St Pat's.
Melia became Pat's youngest ever league debutant - and the third youngest in League of Ireland history - when he came off the bench in a 3-0 victory over Drogheda United at Richmond Park last May, aged 15 years, seven months and 20 days.
Later that month he scored his first league goal in a 7-0 win against UCD to become the youngest ever scorer in LOI history.
"It feels amazing to be officially signed and I'm looking forward to the next three years, I've made this commitment and I'm really happy," said Melia, who joined the Saints' academy in January 2022 from Bray Wanderers.
"It's been a really good two years so far at Pat's. I felt very quickly after joining that this is the place I wanted to be and I knew I'd progress here."
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