General
- Friday December 15th, 2023 @ 17:45
Conor Keeley Signs For The Saints
St Patrick's Athletic continued their preparations for the new season with the addition of defender Conor Keeley on a multi-year contract.
The 26-year-old arrives at Richmond Park having spent last season with Drogheda United where he made 33 Premier Division appearances in 2023.
The 6 foot 5 inch centre-back began his League of Ireland career with Shelbourne before moving to Cabinteely where he played over 80 times during his four seasons there.
Keeley's next stop was the NIFL Premiership and Ballymena United, he spent two years in Northern Ireland before moving back to the League of Ireland and Drogheda United at the beginning of the 2023 campaign.
Conor and The Keeley family are no strangers to Richmond Park, his younger brother Josh spent a four years in our Academy and made two senior appearances before joining Tottenham Hotspur in July 2022.
Conor spoke to our Youtube channel shortly after putting pen to paper at Richmond Park:
"I'm absolutely delighted, once I heard about the interest from the club, it's something that I really wanted to do.
I've had good chats with Jon Daly, he's laid out his expectations for me coming into the club, there is so many good things going on at St Pat's too and I'm really excited to get going.
This will be my first experience on full-time football which I can't wait for. I've always wanted to be a full-time footballer, and to wake up in the morning and go to training, the gym sessions and all that goes with that.
I enjoyed my time at Drogheda United, they are a great club and we had a very good season, I thank them for everything they've done for me, it's time now for me to take the next step in my career and the chance to move to Pat's was something I couldn't turn down."
Watch Conor's full interview below.
Keeley is the fifth new signing made by Manager Jon Daly this month, with Ruairi Keating, Cian Kavanagh, Brandon Kavanagh and Aaron Bolger also arriving in Inchicore.
Jon has been telling us more about his latest recruit:
"We're really pleased to welcome Conor to the club.
He had an excellent campaign with Drogheda United last season, playing 33 of their 36 league games, he'll be a good addition to our group.
We've known Conor for a number of years and he and his family are familiar to the club already given his brother Josh spent a number of years here before moving to Tottenham, so he'll settle in straight away.
Conor is a dominant centre-back, he's very strong and is excellent on both defensive and attacking set pieces.
We've been very good on set pieces over the last couple of years and hopefully Conor will help us continue that as well as adding to our defensive department overall."
