ED McGINTY has swapped Sligo Rovers for Shamrock Rovers with Hoops boss Stephen Bradley believing it is a statement signing.
But he insisted that McGinty will have to earn the No. 1 shirt off Leon Pohls.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper joins from Oxford United, having spent last season on loan at Sligo Rovers where he first made his mark before moving to England in 2022.
And Rovers’ boss Bradley believes he has landed a top goalkeeper having tracked him for some time.
He said: “We’ve been talking to Ed for some time, also talking to Oxford, and these things take time when he’s signed somewhere else.
“But we are delighted to get Ed in, he was the standout keeper in the league last season and he’s grown and matured over the years, so he’s a player we think will really help us grow.
“He’s a really good age and you can see when he came back into the league he showed real growth, personality and maturity in his game.
“I think you only need to look at the points haul he helped Sligo get and the impact he had.
“He’s good in most aspects of what he does, and he has a real personality in how he plays the game.
“I think you need that to play for this club and he has that so we look forward to getting Ed in.”
But Bradley stressed that he expects a goalkeeping competition this season with McGinty adding competition alongside Pohls, who played all but one game last season.
Bradley added: “You need competition for places all over the team and Ed will certainly bring that.
“If you look at last season, we had Leon, Lee Stacey and Alex Noonan who were around it all the time.
“So, with Ed adding to that, I can see all four pushing each other in training and that will only help standards.
“Alex is obviously a younger one, but one we really like, and we think has real potential to be a top goalkeeper so Alex will be around it a lot more.
“So we’ll have real competition for places which is what’s needed.”
EASY DECISION
Former Ireland Under-21 goalkeeper McGinty revealed that joining the Hoops was an easy decision once he had spoken to Bradley.
McGinty told club media: “It wasn’t too difficult leaving Oxford, but it was always difficult leaving Sligo Rovers. It’s been a big part of my life so that was a tough part.
“At the same time, Shamrock Rovers is the biggest club in Ireland, what they’ve done in Europe is incredible, so I want to come and help them and improve them.
“When Stephen rang me, I could sense his level of drive and ambition, and that matches mine. So, in a sense, it was an easy decision.”
He now joins the club for pre-season training with the season set to start on February 13 with the Conference League play-off first leg in Molde before a league opener with Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium.
McGinty added: “It’s brilliant, really exciting to get over and hit the ground running is what we’ll want to do as a team and what I’ll personally plan on doing.
“It’s massive credit to what Stephen and the group has done over the past years to get these European games and it’s brilliant to see the league growing in general.
“The Bohs game at the Aviva should bring more fans for the beginning of the season and hopefully retain them from there. So it’s all very exciting.”
McGinty is the second new arrival at Tallaght ahead of the 2025 season with Danny Grant already signed from Bohemians.
Neil Farrugia has left the club for Barnsley, Seán Hoare moved to St Patrick’s Athletic and Richie Towell has also departed.
But Bradley – who still hopes to retain loan signings Johnny Kenny, Markus Poom and Darragh Burns – revealed he hopes to bring in one or two more in the coming week.
He added: “These things take time but hopefully we’re not too far away with them. We’re working in the background to try and get some signings in.
“But it’s only ones we target and that’s the way we always operate, we won’t sign players just to sign players, we sign the people and the players we think will improve us.
“That work is ongoing and we hope to make progress on them in the next week or two.”
