Adam Lecky joins Crusaders as Paul McElroy goes to Ballymena

The big striker made the switch to the Crues with Paul McElroy going the opposite way to Ballymena United in what was a surprise deal between the two clubs.

Lecky was the subject of interest from Glentoran last season with the Sky Blues turning down an offer for the striker.

But it seems the lure of the opportunity of winning trophies was too much to turn down this time around as Lecy made to move to Seaview.

"It all happened very quickly and I am looking forward now to getting stuck in and working my way into the team and helping them to do well," he told the club's social media channel.

"I feel I am at the right age now to join a big club like Crusaders and push on to win trophies."

Crusaders boss Stephen Baxter is delighted to have brought the player to the club.

"We are thrilled and delighted obviously to get a player of Adam's quality to come here.

"He has proven at the highest level the calibre of player that he is and he is a handful for any defence.

"We have brought Adam here to score goals and we have a lot of quality players who will provide that service to him for sure."

Ballymena United boss David Jeffrey explained the deal came about after Lecky indicated that he felt his future lay elsewhere.

"Earlier last season we spoke to Adam about extending his contract here, but he stated that he wanted to look at other options that were available to him," he told the club website.

"He has since spoken to Crusaders and agreed a deal to move there. Given he was contracted to us, we had to approve the move with Crusaders, and we are absolutely delighted to agree a deal for McElroy, plus cash and incentives that leaves a situation which is in the best interests of all concerned.

"Compared to this time last week, in McCartan and McElroy we've secured the services now of two young, hungry forwards who will strive to take us to the next level.

"We tried to sign Paul when he was at Dungannon, and are absolutely delighted to get him here now.

"He plays with great pace and gives another dimension to our attack. He meets the profile of player we are aiming to attract here, young, energetic and eager to prove what he can achieve at the highest of levels."

It was a busy night for the Sky Blues as they also announced a loan deal for centre half Ciaran Kelly from Bohemian FC.

'With the departure of Kyle Owens at the end of last year, we were looking to strengthen our options at centre back. Ciaran comes highly recommended to us following his time at Drogheda, St Patricks and Bohemian, and at this moment it is a situation that suits all parties.

"Initially he is here until January - he's tall, commending, good left foot, pacey and certainly will help us as we face the challenges of a new season.

"He and his dad came up on Monday evening, we showed him the facilities, talked though our journey and ambitions and described how he could help us and how we could help him.

"I've got to say thank you to Keith Long who allowed him to come and join us and we look forward to working with Ciaran."

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