Kevin O’Connor joins Fleetwood Town on loan

Former Cork City player is making the move down to League One to get more game time

Republic of Ireland Under-21 international Kevin O’Connor has signed for League One side Fleetwood Town on loan from Preston North End until the end of the season.

The 22 year-old left back moved to England from Cork City last summer along with Sean Maguire and has featured in nine first team games, the last of them on St Stephen's Day when he played all 90 minutes of the scoreless draw at Barnsley.

Three days later, however, the return of Galwayman Greg Cunningham from long term injury suddenly curtailed his opportunities to get game time and Preston have now allowed the defender, won made the headlines internationally a few weeks back when he won the lottery with a ticket bought for him by his uncle, to go leave temporarily in order to play more.

"He is very talented, has a great left foot and brings everything we want to the team," says Fleetwood boss, Uwe Rosler, who could hand him his debut in the league game away to Gillingham on Saturday. "We've been monitoring him for a while now and are delighted to have him at Fleetwood Town."

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O'Connor's former Cork City teammate, Darren Dennehy, has signed for Limerick, meanwhile. The 29 year-old who was at st Patrick's Athletic last season, follows his brother Billy, who joined the Premier Division club last week.

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times