Liam Burns has made a welcome return to Dundalk by signing a one-year full-time contract at Oriel Park on Tuesday evening. The 31-year-old was a key player in the Lilywhites securing fifth place in the Premier Division last season and was a leading contender for the club’s Player of the Year award, but it looked unlikely that he would extend his stay at the border ground and he recently spent time training with Shamrock Rovers. However, the central defender has agreed a deal with Ian Foster and becomes squad member No10.

Burns ‘delighted’
“I’m delighted to be back,” Burns told dundalkfc.com moments after signing. “I never wanted to leave. I always kept in contact with the club, we came to an agreement and it was just a matter of putting pen to paper. It’s like anything, football surprises you sometimes. I knew the place and I knew the players that the management team were trying to get in. I just want to concentrate on playing football and training now. It was a bit of compromise. At the end of the day, I want to play football. I just want to get back into training. When you’re out of the game for a few weeks and people start training, you get itchy feet - you just want to get back in and start training hard and playing games.”

Aiming high
The signing of Burns bring the squad to 11 players – with Peter Cherrie, Matt Gregg, Shaun Kelly, Garry Breen, Wayne Hatswell, Stephen Maher, Alan Cawley, Ross Gaynor, Tiarnán Mulvenna and Neale Fenn also added – and the latest acquisition feels that Dundalk can improve on their fifth-placed finish from last year. “Ian is putting together a good squad,” Liam said, “but there are a lot of players still out there and available. The league is going to be very competitive. I think everyone realises the money situation at the club, so players have obviously had to come to some sort of agreement. I seen the potential here last year, obviously it’s a new team and we’ll need to gel, but if you look at the quality of players here, they’re good players and I don’t see why we can’t improve on last year.”

Double winner
Burns was part of the League & FAI Cup double-winning Bohemians team of 2008, before he signed for Dundalk last January to rejoin forces with his former Sligo Rovers and Bohs boss, Sean Connor. Liam began his career in England at Port Vale, where he spent seven years, and he also played for Bristol Rovers, Shrewsbury Town, Kidderminster Harriers and Forest Green Rovers. He returned to Ireland in 2005 and signed for Sligo, where he won the First Division title in his first season.

Dundalk switch
Burns remained at the Showgrounds for their return to the top flight and helped the Bit O’ Red to fifth position before he followed Connor out the exit door to Bohs. His first goal for the Gypsies came against Sligo in a 2-1 win on 21 March 2008 and they went on to ease to victory in the league before adding the cup with a penalty shootout-win over Derry City at the RDS. Despite that feat, however, Burns left in January after rejecting a contract renewal and soon arrived at Dundalk. He made his debut for the Lilywhites in the opening night loss at home to Bohemians on 6 March and scored his first club goal a month later in a 3-1 win at Sligo on 4 April. He went on to make 34 appearances in all competitions. The centre-half has represented Northern Ireland at U21 level.