Ian Foster has further strengthened his squad with the acquisition of former Cobh Ramblers, Sporting Fingal and Drogheda United left-sided winger/striker Ross Gaynor. The 22-year-old, a native of Ardee, had agreed to make a permanent switch to Drogheda last month having spent the second-half of last season on loan at United Park, however, he has now decided to switch to Dundalk, agreeing a one-year deal on Tuesday evening. Gaynor pleasure “I’m very happy to be here, it’s such a big club, with the fans and that, it’s great to be involved,” Gaynor told dundalkfc.com. “The Gaffer is a good man and I’m looking forward to working with him – I can’t wait to get started. I want to score as many goals as I can, play well and hopefully just to improve on last year. I think we can improve on the fifth place that the club achieved last year. I’m just looking forward to the start of the season and, hopefully, starting off with a win.” Foster also spoke on his new addition: “Ross is an exciting player, I liked him every time I saw him playing, and I’m delighted to get him. He has a lot of ability, a lot of pace and he brings balance to your team, with him being on the left-hand side and him being left-footed. I think he comes here with a decent pedigree.” Millwall start Gaynor (born: 9 September 1987), who played with Ardee Celtic in his younger days, began his professional football career with Millwall in England before – following three league and three FA Cup outings – being released from The New Den at the end of the 2007/08 season.

However, six goals in 14 outings (against UCD, Galway United, Cork, Shamrock Rovers, Saint Patrick’s Athletic and Derry City) were not enough to prevent Stephen Henderson’s side from relegation.

Fingal switch
His impressive performances did earn him a move to Sporting Fingal, though, and he scored three goals in the first half of last season (against Kildare County, Longford Town and Wexford Youths – all incidentally in wins) before moving back to the top flight in the July transfer window when going on loan to Drogheda. Gaynor was an ever-present between then and the end of the season and his performances helped the Boynesiders to safety, as they eventually defeated Bray Wanderers in the promotion/relegation playoff semi-final to preserve their Premier Division status.

International experience
He looked set to make that move permanent last month but has instead switched to Dundalk, becoming squad member no9 of Foster’s reign. Gaynor has plenty of experience on the international scene. He was part of the Republic of Ireland U17 squad which won the 2003 Eight Nation Tournament in Hungary. Gaynor played in all four games, against Slovakia, Israel and Hungary in the group stage before defeating Czech Republic in the decider. He later that year featured in the UEFA U17 Championship four-team mini-group in Switzerland, and in February 2004 he played against Italy, Spain and hosts Gran Canaria at the Four Nation Tournament in Spain. He also represented his country at U19 level.

U21 debut
At the age of just 18 he was capped at U21 level and scored twice on his debut to salvage a 2-2 draw with Madeira at the Madeira Invitational Tournament. The team that day interestingly included Michael Synnott, as well as other well-known League of Ireland stars Conor Powell, Ronan Finn, Billy Dennehy and James Chambers. Two days later, he earned his second cap when again starting, this time against Portugal, but the Irish suffered a 1-0 defeat. His performances for Cobh also saw him selected by Pat Fenlon for the Ireland U23 squad and he made his debut against Belgium in October 2008 when entering midway through the second-half in place of Killian Brennan.