Having made the short journey from the family home in Belfast to his new base in Galway by way of, what you might call, a scenic route, Republic of Ireland under-21 international Ger Crossley's search for a club he can call his own finally appears to have ended in Terryland Park.
The 20-year-old has played seven friendly games for Don O'Riordan's side since arriving at the club in mid-July and, after a year that involved trials at Derby and Grimsby as well as a rather eventful longer spell at Hamilton, he is beginning to feel comfortably at home in the west of Ireland.
Tonight, the midfielder, who may be a father by the time this evening's Eircom-sponsored Premier League game against Finn Harps kicks off, is due to make his competitive debut for the club, although a phone call from his girlfriend Kirsty in Motherwell could prompt a quick dash to the airport and some late switches to the home-side's team-sheet.
"I'm just sort of on hold at the moment," he laughs. "The baby was due on Sunday so now it's just a question of waiting for the call." Should he play, then expectations will be high for the youngster who was such an impressive performer in the successful European Youth Championship campaigns of 1998 and '99.
On each occasion, his tireless work, fierce tackling and perceptive passing made him a central figure, and in Sweden last summer his performances were impressive enough to earn him a place in UEFA's team of the tournament.
By then, he'd already been released by Celtic and, though Derby showed a good deal of interest, a deal was never done. From then on, things went downhill somewhat. Even after he arrived at Hamilton, where he ended up starting about a dozen games, a knee injury kept him out for 10 weeks.
"Before the end of the season, though, the (Galway) manager here gave me a ring and then he sort of kept getting on, the way managers do, so I came over and had a look at the place in July with my family. Right from the start, Don and the chairman impressed me with the ambitions they had for the club and I felt it would be a good move for me and, so far, it's all been working out well."
Eventually, the hope, for a player of whom great things were once expected at Celtic, is to attract the attention of one of the bigger clubs across the water, as Dessie Byrne recently did through a combination of performances for the Irish youth team and St Patrick's Athletic.
Having tried to sign him themselves last summer, Harps won't need any warning about the possibilities and Gavin Dykes might be as happy that the young player's waiting on the family front ends sooner rather than later.
