Unable to break into the first team at Reading, the former Cork City defender Alan Bennett has completed a loan move to Championship outfit Southampton after training with the club for the past week. He made his debut in last night's pre-season friendly at Millwall, Southampton winning 1-0.
The 25-year-old centre half had been linked with a loan move over the summer but Steve Coppell insisted he wanted to see how Bennett fared in pre-season before making any decision.
Bennett did play in a couple of games but Coppell apparently felt he needed experience playing at the top of the Championship before tackling the Premiership.
"It's a great opportunity for Alan to get regular first-team football at a club with serious designs on . . . promotion," said Coppell.
Bennett himself is delighted at the prospect of stepping up from reserve-team football, which is largely what he was limited to since moving from Cork.
"I've signed until mid-January and I can't wait to get out and start playing matches," he said. "We (the Reading reserves) did really well last season but it's time to push on and I want to make an impression."
City, meanwhile, were still talking to Sunderland yesterday about the future of striker Roy O'Donovan. Niall Quinn and Roy Keane have suggested the deal will be concluded soon, the manager observing yesterday that things were "progressing well" and expressing the hope "we'll all be happy by the end of the week".
Drogheda United have signed the English striker Guy Bates. The 21-year-old came up through the ranks at Newcastle United and has had spells at Darlington and KV Oostende, Belgium.
He arrives as Glen Fitzpatrick leaves United Park for title rivals St Patrick's Athletic, the Dubliners believed to have paid around €10,000 for the striker.
Utility player Greg O'Halloran signed for Galway United yesterday, while Sligo Rovers added two players to their squad: left back James Meredith and former Australian under-21 international midfielder Matthew Gordon.
Sligo have also agreed new, extended contracts with Matthew Judge and Gavin Peers but failed in a bid to bring in a striker or Derry midfielder Alan Moore.
Like O'Halloran, however, striker Peter Hynes has left the Brandywell, joining UCD on loan until the end of the season. Another striker, Paul Murphy of St Patrick's Athletic's, has moved to Belfield, also on loan.
Ford are to sponsor the PFAI's annual awards. The company will provide the winners of the two divisional player-of-the-year trophies with a car for a year.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U-19 SQUAD (for friendlies with Chile on August 7th and 9th at Lissywollen, Athlone): Arter (Charlton Athletic), Berrett (Huddersfield Town), Carolan (Crystal Palace), Earls (Aston Villa), Fagan (Manchester United), Fitzgerald (West Ham), Haverty (St Patrick's Athletic), Harkin (Charlton Athletic), Hughton (Tottenham), Hutton (Tottenham), Donoghue (Sunderland), Liddle (Sunderland), Lowry (Aston Villa), McKeown (Peterborough United), Moloney (Nottingham Forest), Onwubiko (Bray Wanderers), O'Toole (Norwich City), Redmond (Nottingham Forest), Spillane (Norwich City), Joyce (Birmingham City), Lynch (Bohemians).
