Young Donegal goalkeeper Ed McGinty has made a dream move to Oxford United.
The 22-year-old Ballyshannon man has been in great form for Sligo Rovers.
Now he has put pen to paper on a three year deal with the League One side.
The past week has been a bit of a whirlwind of McGinty whose father is from Donegal Town but had lived in Scotland before moving back to Donegal with his family.
Ed said: “It was a quick turnaround, I only found out on Saturday.
“I know the clubs were talking with the agent for a while, but when I heard about it I thought ‘yeah, it’s a great opportunity’ and I’m just happy to get it done.
“The League of Ireland’s very good, it’s a good stepping stone – obviously you come here and it’s a big jump.
“I was speaking to Luke (McNally) about the club and it helped me make my decision.
“I reached out to him, I know him from Ireland – he gave me a rundown of the place and I thought it sounded good.”
McGinty was born in Scotland and played youth football for Celtic and Hibernian, before joining Sligo in 2016.
The youngster began in the Under 19 team but quickly progressed to the senior side, with his performances earning a call-up to the Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad in 2020.
McGinty signed off in style at Sligo, saving two penalties in last Thursday’s Europa Conference League shoot-out win over Bala Town.
And he is hungry for more success as United aim to mount another promotion push in Sky Bet League One.
He said: “From what I’ve heard, they’ve been close to getting promoted a few times and have been in and around it.
“I want to win so it suits me down to the ground, I don’t want to be at the bottom end, I want to be at the top end and hopefully get promoted.
“I’m leaving on a high with the European games, so it was emotional but once you get past all that, a decision has been made.
“I think there were other clubs – I just told my dad and my agent not to tell me anything – just tell me when there’s something you think’s right.
“I heard there was other stuff on the table but I didn’t really want to go there, I wanted to come here.”
