Roy Carroll highlights ‘pull’ behind Dungannon Swifts deal

Carroll - who counts Manchester United on his list of past clubs during a professional career that included time in Greece, Scotland and Denmark - has highlighted the chance to work with the Swifts’ young goalkeepers as part of the appeal behind an Irish League return at 43 years old.

“I’m coming back to play in the Irish League and no matter what team you sign for, it’s just great to get back out and play football,” said Carroll, who previously won Irish League honours with Linfield before his departure in 2019 following injury. “A real pull for me to Dungannon is that the Club has two young keepers and I feel it would be good for me to come in and help them as much as I can.

“I know Connor (Byrne) very well as I’ve been working up at Dungannon Youth, in the NIFL Academy, with him.

“Hopefully I can help develop him and Sam (Johnston) for the future of the club.

“My first experience of the Irish League was open minded, every league I’ve played in, I’ve played in so many different leagues, I’m always open minded.

“I’ve played in all the English leagues, Greece, Denmark, and I was up in Scotland as well.

“No matter what league you play in, you have to respect the league.

“I had a few injuries at Linfield, the worst one being rupturing my ACL, but I feel great and I’m looking forward to a new challenge in the next few months.

“My coaching school has been closed down and there’s been no football at all for me to play or coach. I was watching football on TV the other day and I said to myself I want to get back playing again.

“I want to get out at the weekends and enjoy the games and that’s what I want to do.

“I want to try and bring my knowledge to the young players at Dungannon.

“As a team I want to try get as many points on the board as possible, it’s not just down to me it’s a team performance.

“You have to go out and give everything you can for the team, and that’s what I’ll be trying to do with the rest of the squad, go out and try to get as many points as we can for the remainder of the season.”

It marks a third signing of the January transfer window for Swifts boss Kris Lindsay.

“I’m delighted to get Roy in on a short-term deal,” Lindsay told the official club website. “Obviously he comes with mountains of experience and I know he’ll be very good in our dressing room.

“We have a lot of young players, his experience will be invaluable for us and I’m thoroughly delighted to be able to get working with him.”

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