Thrilled to have signed a new deal as Galway United manager, Tommy Dunne now reckons the Tribesmen can make further progress in 2016.
Retaining SSE Airtricity League Premier Division status and an appearance in the EA Sports Cup final ensured United enjoyed a reasonable return to the top flight so Dunne is delighted to have a contract sorted.
“It is always good to know what is ahead, and in football any uncertainty can be tough so I’m really glad this is sorted,” Dunne said. “We need to push on as a club to be the best we can possibly be. That is what we will be trying to do. I’m very happy to be the manager of Galway United and I think that there is great potential here, we saw that at different stages of this season.”
Conor Winn, Colm Horgan, Ryan Connolly, and Padraic Cunningham have already committed for the 2016 campaign, and Dunne hopes to announce further re-signings soon.
“While it doesn’t always work out exactly the way you want it to I’m hoping to get the majority of what we need to do done by the end of November. We have a few weeks until then so I will be busy talking to players. I’ll be trying to get as many done as I can so we can put them on fitness programmes to ensure we are ready for pre-season.”
Dunne is keen to bolster the United squad. “I’ve spoken to a few outside of the group we had, overall I’ve chatted with five or six players. It is an awkward one in that a lot of these guys have a few clubs chasing them. That is generally what happens when you want to sign good players, but we need to get the right players. For us it is vital that we get the right players that will benefit us, and what we are trying to achieve.
“We will be working off roughly the same budget as we had so we aren’t going to rush into just signing players for the sake of it. We don’t need to jump into anything, it is important that we remain patient, and if we have to wait until the New Year then so be it. We have to do things correctly.”
Pre-season training will commence in January according to Dunne. “At the moment it looks as if we will start on January 11, it may even be slightly earlier, I will decide fully soon. Whoever signs for us will be brought here so we can check them out so they can be put on a proper fitness programme. It will be a vital season for the club and we want to make sure it is a good one.”
