GALWAY UNITED HAVE confirmed the signing of previously capped Republic of Ireland defender Greg Cunningham after he completed his contract with Preston North End in the English Championship.
Cunningham returns home to Galway where he began his career at Cregmore and Mervue United before moving to Manchester City at the age of 16 in 2007.
Now 33, Cunningham earned four caps for his country between 2010 and 2013 and made over 350 appearances in the top three divisions in England throughout his career across the channel.
Cunningham, who can play as a centre-back or left-back, spent the last four years at Preston, for whom he made 12 appearances in the Championship during his final season.
“I’ve always given everything every time I’m on the pitch,” Cunningham said. “I think I understand the game quite well. I’ll just try to give everything to the club and help share my experience with the boys.
“It’s really important to help the younger players as much as I can, trying to improve everyone as you go along.”
Cunningham made two Premier League appearances for Manchester City at the end of the 2009/2010 season before enjoying loan spells at Leicester and Nottingham Forest.
He moved to Bristol City on a four-year contract in 2012/13 and suffered relegation to League One during his first season but he was also part of the squad that gained promotion back to the Championship in 2014/15.
Cunningham would enjoy the best years of his career at Preston, where he had two spells spanning seven seasons. He became a fan favourite at Deepdale until the conclusion of his contract this summer, at which stage Cunningham decided to return home to Galway and play for the first time in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Elsewhere today, Sligo Rovers announced the signing of Arsenal midfielder Jack Henry-Francis on loan until the end of the season. The 20-year-old ‘box-to-box’ midfielder joined the Gunners in 2016 from Fulham when he was 13.
Henry-Francis has played underage for Ireland and qualifies internationally through his parents’ Mayo and Leitrim heritage.
Dundalk have also revealed today that they have signed Aodh Dervin from Galway United. The 24-year-old Longford native arrives on a permanent deal.
He progressed through the ranks at his hometown club before joining Shelbourne ahead of the 2022 season.
A loan spell back at Longford Town followed before he moved west to Galway in July 2023, helping the club to promotion last season.
Well done. Great Cause
Could have come first if he didn’t stop to take the bloody selfie….Great man. Great cause. Lovely story.
Selfie mehole. Soon as the picture was taken, he hopped on a sleigh with 12 huskies pulling him along, and cracked open a bottle of powers
The only reason he didn’t win was because he spent the first 3 days going in the wrong direction.
Wow! There really are some fantastic human beings around! And he is one!!
What a lazy fecker.
SECOND?
Fair play to him, great cause and a great performance to match
I know, whats with the article he didn’t even win like?
Hadn’t have slept those 6 hours he might have won lazy fecker. Congratulations though that’s some achievement.
And the race is from where to where?
Exactly! Any chance of including what’s actually involved in the race?
As his medal says “finisher” coz most people can’t finish the toughest course in the world (probably) And that little boy will smile ear to ear after he recovers Fair fox ta ya man fair fox ta ya.
Respect …. Wow ….. Well done
Cmon the tribesmen
North to Alaska/Johhny Horton
Sam crossed the majestic mountains (mush)
To the valleys far below (mush)
He talked to his team of huskies (mush)
As he mushed on through the snow (mush)
With the northern lights a-runnin’ wild (mush)
In the land of the midnight sun (mush)
Yes, Sam McCord was a mighty man (mush)
In the year of nineteen-one (mush)
………And so is Gavan Hannigan a Mighty Man too.Well done Gavan!
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
(Robert Service poem).
@Pat Gorman…….
The Spell of the Yukon
I wanted the gold, and I sought it, I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy — I fought it; I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it — Came out with a fortune last fall, —
Yet somehow life’s not what I thought it, And somehow the gold isn’t all.
No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?) It’s the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it; Some say it’s a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it For no land on earth — and I’m one.
-
-A Great Week-end to You Pat Gorman.
Who came third?
Great cause but to come second should be ashamed of himself
Phenomenal performance!! Tough race to finish let alone finish 2nd, well done
Superb Gavin , I suppose they’ll expect you to win the all Ireland for Galway now.
Fair dues man :)
If your not first your last!! Great achievement.while fitness is important its the will and desire to keep going that is most impressive,well done.
Well done. Inspirational.
Amazing stuff.. but yes we need more info please !
Some achievement. . Well done. .
Where in galway is he from?
He came second out of 2
people were still finishing 3 days after he finished!, more detail about this gruelling event is needed in the article.
The Yukon!
The land of the Sourdough.
One of the toughest places on earth.
Recommended Good Read:
Micí Mac Gabhann’s “Rotha Mór an tSaoil”.
That procedure not available here in Nirvana, no?