Shane Tracy says he is “happy to be back” at his hometown club having returned to Limerick on Wednesday afternoon, after enduring his longest period of uncertainty in the game. The former Arsenal youngster had been with the Shannonsiders since joining on a permanent deal during the 2009 season, and made 52 competitive appearances – scoring ten goals – over the last two years since their return to the Premier Division.
Due to an injury in the middle of last season, Tracy played limited time under his new boss Martin Russell in the closing stages of the campaign, his last outing coming with a start in the final-day trip to Shamrock Rovers.
But the 26-year-old versatile midfielder has now agreed a deal to rejoin the club and, after putting pen to paper, he turned his attention to Friday’s important match with his former club Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park.
“I’m delighted to be back,” Tracy – who joined up with the squad for training on Tuesday – told LimerickFC.ie. “I’m looking forward to it now.
“I’ve missed the last couple of months and I picked up an injury last year, so I’m looking forward to getting back in, hopefully starting on Friday night.
“I’m working in a gym so I have easy access to keep myself fit. I’ve been involved in it for the last 10-15 years so I’ve kept myself ticking over and made sure to keep fit just in case a deal did materialise.”
Tracy says the past two seasons have been “very frustrating” having been forced to sit on the sidelines for spells, and this has been “the longest” he has been unsure of what his future held in the game. But he says he is raring to go for this weekend’s short journey.
“The last two seasons have been very frustrating; I’ve picked up injuries in the middle of both seasons,” Shane – who coaches local club Herbertstown at Under-17 level – said. “But that’s just football – it’s the way it goes.
“Especially in Ireland, you’re on 36-week deals so every off-season you’re wondering if you’re going to get that deal. It’s the longest I’ve gone without knowing if I was going to get a deal and what the situation was. I’m happy now it’s after getting resolved.
“It was great to be back in around the lads on Tuesday; obviously, there are a few new faces that haven’t been there before. I was happy to be back, rather than be stuck in a gym doing an individual session. It was good to get a touch of a ball and get in amongst the group.
“Match fitness is always different. It’s going to take a couple of weeks to get your match-level of fitness up when not having a pre-season under your belt. As I said, I’ve kept myself ticking over and as fit as I can be.
“I’ll do a bit of work with Derek (McCarthy) and it’s up to Martin to basically make the call. But I’d happily get back into the mix on Friday. I’ll just wait and see; I’ll bide my time and obviously keep training away in the meantime and see the way things go.”
Tracy took in the recent 1-1 draw with reigning Champions Dundalk at Jackman Park and he was impressed with what he saw.
“I’ve been struggling with work on Saturdays to make it to games,” he said. “I was very impressed with them in the Dundalk game. To be fair, Dundalk are the best side in the league, being the Champions. I thought Limerick fully deserved a draw.
“Richie Towell hit a wonder strike from nearly 30-yards into the top corner and they went one down. But in fairness, they responded well. It’s an overhaul of players coming in so it’s going to take time to gel.
“It’s a young, inexperienced squad as well so it might take a bit of time to get up and running but you can see the kind of quality they showed in that game.
“If you can cut out a couple of defensive errors and start scoring a couple of goals, and get that bit of luck, things will change quickly enough.”
‘Trace’ will again wear the No11 jersey.
