Shamrock Rovers F.C. is delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Ed McGinty to the men’s first team squad on a multi-year contract.
Ed joins from Oxford United, having spent 2024 on loan to Sligo Rovers. This is Stephen Bradley’s second signing ahead of the 2025 season, following the arrival of Danny Grant in December.
Speaking to shamrockrovers.ie head coach, Stephen Bradley, said:
“Yes, we’re delighted. We’ve been talking to Ed for some time, also talking to Oxford, and these things take time when he’s signed somewhere else. But we are delighted to get Ed in, he was the standout keeper in the league last season and he’s grown and matured over the years, so he’s a player we think will really help us grow.”
His loan spell at Sligo was his second spell there and he made over 100 appearances for them, so he’s an established LOI goalkeeper and, at 25, a really good age for a keeper.
“Yes he’s a really good age and you can see when he came back into the league he showed real growth, personality and maturity in his game. As I said we’ve been after Ed for some time, so we’re delighted to get him in and we’re really looking forward to working with him.”
What attributes impressed you to the extent he might be part of the group?
“I think you only need to look at the points haul he helped Sligo get and the impact he had. He’s good in most aspects of what he does, and he has a real personality in how he plays the game. I think you need that to play for this club and he has that so we look forward to getting Ed in.”
Ed’s signing will be both competition and assistance for current Rovers number 1, Leon Pohls. Will you continue with the three goalkeeping options for next season which we saw last season with regularly having two substitute keepers in games?
“You need competition for places all over the team and Ed will certainly bring that. If you look at last season, we had Leon, Lee Stacey and Alex Noonan who were around it all the time. So, with Ed adding to that, I can see all four pushing each other in training and that will only help standards. Alex is obviously a younger one, but one we really like, and we think has real potential to be a top goalkeeper so Alex will be around it a lot more. So we’ll have real competition for places which is what’s needed.”
Rovers’ fans will be delighted at Ed’s signing. With the new season only a matter of five weeks away, are you hoping to get a few more new signings through the door given the departures of Neil Farrugia, Seán Hoare and Johnny Kenny?
“We’ve brought Danny Grant in before the end of last season and now Ed McGinty but we’re obviously talking to a couple more. These things take time but hopefully we’re not too far away with them. But they take as long as they take but you can be assured, we’re working in the background to try and get some signings in. But it’s only ones we target and that’s the way we always operate, we won’t sign players just to sign players, we sign the people and the players we think will improve us. That work is ongoing and we hope to make progress on them in the next week or two.”
Ed also spoke to shamrockrovers.ie on today’s announcement:
Ed, you’re very welcome to Shamrock Rovers, you must be excited to have signed for the club?
“I’m very happy to sign for the club, with the size of the club and where it’s going. I’m just really happy to be on board.”
Stephen Bradley stated you’ve been on his radar for some time. Was it an easy or difficult decision to leave Oxford United and remain in the LOI having been on loan for your second spell last season at Sligo Rovers?
“It wasn’t too difficult leaving Oxford, but it was always difficult leaving Sligo Rovers. It’s been a big part of my life so that was a tough part. At the same time, Shamrock Rovers is the biggest club in Ireland, what they’ve done in Europe is incredible, so I want to come and help them and improve them. When Stephen rang me, I could sense his level of drive and ambition, and that matches mine. So, in a sense, it was an easy decision.”
Stephen also stated he saw a maturity and personality in your goalkeeping in your spell last season at Sligo. Would you agree with your new gaffer’s assessment?
“I suppose so! To be honest I hadn’t played for 16-18 months at Oxford, so when I came back to Sligo it was like I had more leadership about me as I’d been at Sligo before, and I wanted to help the club as you do with any club. So maybe that’s what Stephen has sensed about me. I hope to bring that now to Rovers but my main aim is to keep the ball out of the net.”
Having played over 100 games for Sligo, you know the league well. How do you view the prospect of training and playing with the Rovers group as against facing them as you have regularly in previous years?
“I’m really excited about that. I’d know players on a one-to-one basis, there are so many great players in the league. When you’re opposing them, you get an idea about them and I’d get on with them anyway, so I’m really looking forward to getting in and working with the Rovers lads.”
You’ll need to hit the ground running as pre-season gets going. As well as the League kick off against Bohs at the Aviva, Rovers will still be in the Conference League in February as a two-leg play-off with Molde comes either side of the Bohs game. How exciting is that start to the season?
“It’s brilliant, really exciting to get over and hit the ground running is what we’ll want to do as a team and what I’ll personally plan on doing. It’s massive credit to what Stephen and the group has done over the past years to get these European games and it’s brilliant to see the league growing in general. The Bohs game at the Aviva should bring more fans for the beginning of the season and hopefully retain them from there. So it’s all very exciting.”
Finally, were you always a goalkeeper growing up and who were the keepers you looked up to and who do you consider the current top goalkeepers in world football at the moment?
“I’ve two older brothers so I was always stuck in the goals! But I did enjoy that. At school and with my mates I played outfield, then I went back into goals when I went over to Sligo at 16. My favourite goalkeeper growing up was and always will be former Celtic and Poland keeper Artur Boruc, he was my idol growing up. It’s hard to look past Liverpool’s Allison as the best right now and Manuel Neuer is up there too.”
Player Profile:
Ed McGinty (25) was born in Scotland and was on Celtic’s books before moving to Donegal as a teenager. He first joined Sligo Rovers in 2016 and went on to become a firm favourite at the Showgrounds.
The goalkeeper made his senior debut the following year and established himself as number one midway through the 2020 campaign, being a major part of the club’s fourth place finish and European qualification.
In the 2021 season, he earned two caps for the Republic of Ireland Under-21 team and played alongside another Sligo academy graduate, Johnny Kenny but it wasn’t until a year later that McGinty made his first appearance in Europe, a penalty shootout win over Bala Town in the Conference League qualifiers.
The Bit O’Red caused an upset against his native Motherwell in the next round but, by August 2022, he had departed the club for Oxford United.
McGinty made 10 appearances in 18 months for the League One side, the last of those coming in an FA Cup defeat to Arsenal in January 2023. He rejoined Sligo from Oxford in January 2024 on a six-month loan deal, which was extended during the summer as his parent club were promoted to the Championship.
Last season, McGinty started every league game for Sligo. He kept 12 clean sheets, the joint fourth highest of any Premier Division goalkeeper and made the highest number of saves (144). McGinty was nominated for the league’s goalkeeper of the year award, also winning the club’s supporters’ Player of the Year.
