Ex-Carrick Rangers and Dungannon Swifts attacker reveals role played by former team-mate in Irish League return
Former Carrick Rangers and Dungannon Swifts attacker Abby Sanusi has returned to the Irish League after five years away following his arrival at Lisburn Distillery – and revealed a former team-mate played a key role in the transfer.
Sanusi came through the ranks at Shamrock Rovers before joining Carrick and made 20 Premiership appearances for the Swifts throughout the 2014/15 season.
The 33-year-old enjoyed a spell in America with Miami Dade and briefly returned to Carrick in 2019 before moving to England, where Sanusi most recently played for Manchester-based Hyde United.
During his time with Dungannon, Sanusi played alongside Fra Brennan, who went on to feature for the likes of Cliftonville and now serves as assistant manager at Distillery.
Sanusi joins Benny Igiehon as a summer signing at New Grosvenor and says Brennan played an important part in his move to the Premier Intermediate League club.
"It was a good conversation with Fra,” Sanusi told DistilleryTV. “He knew I was home so he asked if I wanted to come down.
"The project is very interesting, it’s a big club that has a lot of potential and it’s good to be linking up with Fra again, he’s a very good friend of mine.
"We played together at Dungannon Swifts – sometimes we were best of friends and sometimes best of enemies! He keeps you on your toes.”
Distillery have a rich history, winning six top-flight titles and 12 Irish Cups alongside playing in Europe as recently as 2009, but they’ve spent the past nine years plying their trade in Northern Ireland’s third-tier.
The division continues to become increasingly more competitive with the likes of Newry City and Ballyclare Comrades both dropping down from the Championship, but Sanusi has high hopes for his new club next season.
“You can feel this is a big club and before coming here I knew the history, playing in Europe and things like that,” he added. “It’s a big project but if you can be successful with it you can go down in the history books, so that’s key for me.
"It’s going to be tough, but I think we have a lot of good players in the team. I’m coming in and with the likes of Benny and others coming in, you’d like to think we’re going to get stronger.
"It’s going to be tough but you want to look to that and where the management and club are looking.”
Elsewhere, Rathfriland Rangers have confirmed a triple signing with former Ballymacash Rangers and Dundela midfielder Jack Smith, ex-Carrick Rangers goalkeeper Ben McCauley and Ryan Dalzell all arriving at Iveagh Park.