Former Templeogue player Sean Murphy signs for Shamrock Rovers from UCD

Shamrock Rovers have signed 18 year old defender and former Templeogue United player Sean Murphy from UCD.

Murphy came through the ranks of Templeogue United before joining UCD at the beginning of this season, he made his debut for UCD against Finn Harps in February of this year.

Primarily a centre back but also capable of filling in at left wing back, Murphy has also made progress at international level earning an U19 call up in March and made his debut that month in a European Championship qualifier against Scotland.

That match finished 3-3 and also featured Rovers goalkeeper Alex Noonan.

The move is another example of the positive relationship between UCD and Shamrock Rovers, a relationship that has been particularly notable since the arrival of Ronan Finn as Director of Football.

Under the reign of Finn, Rovers have signed Adam Brennan, Luke O’Regan and now Sean Murphy from UCD.

Brennan has gone on to be a first time starter and O’Regan has returned to the Rovers fold following the end of his loan back to UCD upon signing. He got on the scoresheet against Hibernians in a pre-season friendly last week.

Manager Stephen Bradley commented on the signing.

“Seán has been on our radar for some time. I saw him play for his school team some time back and kept tabs on him.

‘Also Ronan Finn, during his time with UCD knew Seán quite well from training with him.

‘So he’s one we’ve been really keen on for a while and Ronan has worked really hard to make it happen.

‘Credit to Seán, his family and the agent, for understanding the next stage of his development is with this club and that they see that,  as he had a lot of options away also.

So I’m really pleased Seán has decided to come here and we’re looking forward to start working with him.”

Bradley also commented on the future of Murphy and whether he will follow in the footsteps of Luke O’Regan who also was recently signed for the club before being loaned back to UCD.

“We will all have that discussion, we have that option and we have seen how well that worked with Luke.

‘He has played regularly with UCD and that’s been great for his development but now he’s back in with us full-time. So we will definitely look if that is an option for Seán”

Do you see his immediate plan similar to Luke O’Regan, who we signed but returned to UCD on loan in order to get some game time?

“We will all have that discussion, we have that option and we have seen how well that worked with Luke.

‘He has played regularly with UCD and that’s been great for his development but now he’s back in with us full-time. So we will definitely look if that is an option for Seán”