We take a look at the 2018 Seagulls squad
Hayes and Co. enjoy Bray’s opening training session
IT is a case of better late than never for Dylan Hayes who has finally joined his boyhood club Bray Wanderers.
The 22-year-old is a former season ticket holder and mascot for the Seagulls and now, in his fourth year in the League of Ireland, the Bray native will get to run out at the Carlisle Grounds on a regular basis.
The ex-Derby County starlet was on trial with Harry Kenny’s side last term but a knee injury before a pre-season friendly brought his hopes of joining his local club to an end. Hayes had been closely monitoring the situation at the Co. Wicklow club over the off-season and jumped at the chance to join Dave Mackey’s side.
“I’m delighted to get the deal done and get going. I’ve been a supporter from a very young age. As a kid supporting Bray, it always was a dream to play for Bray and now i’m absolutely delighted to be involved with the club!”
After returning from Derby, Hayes joined Keith Long at Athlone Town in a bid to keep them in the top flight but it was unsuccesful. Long would bring Hayes to Bohemians with him where he spent three years but now that he is with Bray, he is looking forward to the chance of playing in front of friends and family each week.
“Yeah of course, that’s always been on my mind! Hopefully I can hit the ground running and get myself into the team!
“I signed for Athlone for the last series of games following my return from England and although I was only there for a short period it still hurt an awful lot to be relegated. It’s definitely something i never want to experience again!”
Hayes, predominantly a rightback, had the misfortune of competing with Bohemians club captain Derek Pender for his favoured position but he still got plenty of minutes thanks in no small part to his versatility.
“Yeah I suppose you could say I wasn’t a certainty to start every week at Bohs due to Pender, who is an excellent footballer, starting ahead of me however I did end up playing a good bit. I always took my chance when it came and played in roughly 20 games a season or so. I did really enjoy my three years at Bohs but i think it was the right time for a fresh start.
I have played a lot of my football at right-back in recent years but I’m also comfortable in midfield where i played on occasion for Bohs. There is competition at every club! It’s always healthy to have competition which gets the best out of players and competition pushes players to be better because everybody wants to be in that starting 11 come 7:45 on a Friday night!”.
Modern day full-backs can be critisiced for focussing too much on attacking but Hayes loves nothing more than a healthy tackle as most League of Ireland referees know and he is excited about the team-mates around him thus far.
“I enjoy both aspects of fullback but I really do relish defending. I love a good test and being up again quality opposition. And I do love a tackle! I do enjoy getting forward and getting involved in attacks but I’m still waiting for my first League of Ireland goal!
“I think Dave Mackey has done a great job to keep the core of last year’s squad together and added some more quality to it too.
“There is a lot of good players within the squad and we just can’t wait until our first match on the 16th of February, away to Dundalk, but a lot of hard work has to be done between now and then!”
Other names signed up for the new season are as follows: after the end of the season so it could well be his final time doing this. joined in the summer of 2016 with his overlapping runs and wicked deliveries. Lynch is well-built for a full-back and will have a few points to prove this year as his 2017 completely failed to live up to expectatios and he found himself benched in favour of midfielder Karl Moore. spell at Longford Town.