Carrigaline’s Josh Honohan joins EFL League One side Lincoln City 

Carrigaline native and Cork City academy graduate Josh Honohan has joined EFL League One side Lincoln City.

The defender moves across the Channel to a side sitting in second place in their division, three points from Brian Barry Murphy’s Cardiff City.

The defender has ambitions of playing international football after being called up to the Republic of Ireland squad for a series of friendlies last June against Senegal and Luxembourg.

Honohan, who recently lined out for Shamrock Rovers, came through at Carrigaline United before moving to the Cork City and later Tallaght Stadium. The full-back also featured for St Francis College Rochestown, where he won the All-Ireland Schools Junior Cup and the Tom Ticher trophy in 2017.

The move to Lincoln has been a long time coming, and the defender is excited to get started in England once his international clearance comes through.

"We've been speaking for a long time so I'm excited to get the deal done and get over here ready to get going once I’ve returned to full training,” he said.

"There were a lot of factors as to why Lincoln City was the move I wanted to make. The way the club has progressed over the past few years is really impressive and I always wanted to be part of it once I found out about the interest."

"I've watched the games before I got here and love the way the team are playing. I can see it's a very progressive style of play, full of intensity and the way I want to play,” he added.

"The fans have got right behind the team and there's been a really intimidating atmosphere in the stadium at times - I can't wait to play in front of them.

"It's clearly a group full of running and pressing, a real determined group, and I think I fit that mould."

Director of football Jez George added: “I would just ask for some patience with Josh in that he picked up a load-related injury towards the back end of Shamrock’s season, after the deal had already been completed, and Josh subsequently hasn’t played since 9 November.

"We have been in full dialogue with Shamrock’s medical department to ensure a smooth handover in Josh’s rehab and we will take our time now to ensure Josh comes back symptom and pain free, followed by a gradual introduction to pitch-based training before he is considered for selection.

"We will not put a timeframe on his return to playing but we are extremely positive that Josh will be able to make a significant contribution to the team this season. We signed Josh on a long-term contract for a reason, so we won’t rush this process for the matter of a few weeks.”