Existing crop the priority for Mahon
DROGHEDA United boss Pete Mahon says he hopes to retain more than half of this year’s squad despite the club’s relegation to the First Division.
The Boynesiders competed in the top flight with a large number of players in the 18 to 21 age bracket and the manager feels that their experience will stand to them in the long run.
While there will be departures, Mahon has already stated his intent to retain players such as Stephen McGuinness, Thomas Byrne, Dave Mulcahy and Chris Mulhall, and others on his radar will surely include Adam Wixted, Stephen Dunne, Luke Gallagher, Conor Kane, Shane Elworthy and Mark Doyle.
Nothing will happen in the next few days as the manager is currently on a short break in Spain, but on his return he intends meeting chairman Fiachra Kierans to agree a budget, after which he can begin to put together a squad for 2018.
‘In fairness to the chairman, he said to take a week’s break and I said okay, so I’ll let things settle down for a few days,’ said Mahon, speaking on Sunday evening.
‘There’s not much rush because I would say that the clubs are signing their own players first and we will be something similar in that we’ll get our own lads tied up first.
‘I need to see the budget and that will be crucial.’
Asked how many players from last year’s squad he was anxious to sign for 2018, Mahon responded: ‘Between 12 and 14. We had 23 players at the end [of last season] and some lads will be going and that’s the nature of the beast.
‘But the players who decide to stay should reap the benefits of the experience of playing in the Premier Division which was a big learning curve for them.
‘I’m hoping that the ones we want to keep will stay because they know they’re going to get game time, and somewhere else that might not be the case, but all the players are free agents and it’s outside of my control where they go.’