Galway United landed the deal of the summer transfer window this week when the Tribesmen announced on Tuesday morning that Galway native and former Republic of Ireland international, Greg Cunningham, had put pen to paper with the club on an 18-month deal.

The Carnmore native was capped four times for the Republic of Ireland, and played in the Premier League with Manchester City, before enjoying a stellar career in the English Championship with the likes of Bristol City, Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City, and Preston North End during a 17-year spell across the water.

There was a touch of the Dorothy and the ruby slippers to the move to United, with Cunningham admitting at his unveiling in the Connacht Hotel in the city on Tuesday morning that the lure of returning home after almost two decades in England and Wales was far too strong to resist.

“It is a great honour for me to be here, it is great to be home. A lot of factors have come in to play but for me, that is huge, being back home. I have been away for a long time, for 17 years, way longer than I have been at home, so it is nice to be back.

“I have a young family, I’m married, and we are both from Galway so there was always that enticement to come home,” he said – he is married to Craughwell native, Cathriona Farrell, herself a highly accomplished athletics star who competed for Ireland at the European Youth Olympics, and set five national records in the high jump during her career, and United’s new man says it was a ‘team’ decision to return home.

“We are delighted with the deciison we have made, we did speak about going back to England, and certainly from a financial point of view, that would have been the move to make, but it is important that the dialogue stays open, we have had honest conservations about my future over the last few years.

“The club [United] is in a position where it is an exciting time, and I am at an age where I feel I can still offer so much on the playing front. I am not coming home to retire or just tick away a few boxes, I still have a lot of football in me,” he said.

Pictured: New Galway United signing Greg Cunningham pictured at Eamonn Deacy Park this week. Photo: Ray Ryan/Sportsfile.