Glentoran Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Rhys Marshall from Shamrock Rovers on a three and a half year full time professional contract.
Rhys (25) will be no stranger to Glentoran supporters, having spent six years as a first team regular at his first club, Glenavon. During his time with the Mourneview club he played was a key figure for Gary Hamilton’s side with his ability to play in a range of positions, although he was predominantly utilised at right back. Rhys racked up 225 league appearances for the Lurgan Blues, helping Glenavon to Irish Cup wins in 2014 and 2016 and to a number of European qualifications. He has also represented Northern Ireland at underage levels, up to Under21.
Mick McDermott: “This is a great signing for Glentoran. Paul Millar worked very closely with him throughout his carer at Glenavon and Gary Hamilton is on record as saying Rhys is the best player he has every played with. Given Gary’s career, praise doesn’t come any higher than that. Also Rhys was clear from the start that he didn’t want to get involved in speculation or a bidding war as he was only interested in joining us at Glentoran. His enthusiasm for what we are doing here was evident from the first minute we spoke to him.
I know there is an expectation of immediate success at our club, but Rhys is typical of the sort of player we want here – young, highly talented, highly professional and completely committed to the major project here to take this club right back to the top of Irish football and – even more importantly – keep it there.
We want the best possible young players at the Oval as we continue with our project. The lads we’ve signed in recent months and the contracts we’ve extended demonstrate clearly what strategy we have in place. Rhys is the latest very exciting addition to what will be the best squad in Ireland, north or south.”
GlensTV will have a full interview with Rhys later this evening.
Welcome to the Oval Rhys
