Shane Blaney looking to regain his form with Sligo Rovers loan

Shane Blaney has made a return to Sligo Rovers on loan, and the Letterkenny man is hopeful of rekindling his form from his last spell at the Showgrounds.

The defender joined Sligo Rovers initially in 2021 after a spell in England with Doncaster Rovers, playing on loan at a host of clubs in the lower leagues.

Coming through at Illistrin and Donegal Schoolboys, Blaney was part of the Finn Harps academy and played three times for the senior team before making the move across the water.

But his most successful spell was with the Connacht side, scoring a superb free-kick against Motherwell in the Europa Conference League qualifiers as he impressed enough to earn a move to the Fir Park side.

Injuries hampered his progress with the Steelmen despite being a consistent starter when fit, and he joined Livingston on a one-year contract last summer.

But again, injuries limited his playing time, making just eight appearances and none since October.

“It’s no secret that the last year or so, injury-wise, it hasn’t been good for me,” Blaney said after making his first re-appearance for Sligo Rovers in a pre-season friendly win over his former club, Finn Harps, on Saturday.

“I was hit with a knee injury a year ago and came back from that and got back to a stage where I thought I could play, and my hamstring went, so it’s been a torture over the last year.

“That injury this time last year led into the summer, when my contract was finishing up at Motherwell, so it was kind of unfortunate that it ended that way.

“But I was happy to make the move to Livi when they contacted me, and I don’t regret it. I went in, and I felt like I got back fit and back to playing but unfortunately, my body wasn’t right at the time, and the hamstring went.

“But I have to thank them so much because over the last injury, they have been so good with me, all the staff were unreal.

“It’s got to a stage now where I felt I definitely needed to play and the two clubs spoke and I obviously have a really good relationship with everybody in Sligo Rovers and I love the place and how they work so I know it’s a good place for me to play football and I jumped at the chance to come back for the four months and hopefully it can be successful.

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“I had a couple of really good runs over the course of 15-20 games in a row (at Motherwell), and I played in a lot of big games over there as well, and hopefully that will stand to me, and I can get a good, clean run at it now with Sligo.

“Injuries are a part of football, you can’t get away from it, so you need to just make sure you do everything right and thankfully, the last eight weeks of rehab has been really positive, so I feel coming here I can really kick on again.”

The defender came on for Burnfoot native Gareth McElroy in the 62nd minute and donned the captain's armband for the final half an hour of the game.

He helped John Russell’s side keep their clean sheet to win 1-0 on the 4G pitch at Ray MacSharry Park in their final pre-season friendly.

And it gave them a good test ahead of their North West Derby opener away to Derry City on Friday night.

The Candystripes finished second last year to double-winning Shamrock Rovers, but defeated the Dublin side 1-0 at Tallaght Stadium in the President of Ireland’s Cup last weekend and look to have strengthened with heavy investment.

“That was my first week back training, and I had scheduled to get 30 minutes and try break in. I got that over me, and the body felt good, so it’s about blowing a few of the cobwebs off and bouncing into training and go into the Brandywell next Friday in good form.

“It’ll be a good atmosphere, and that’s something we’ll need to silence. The last few weeks with the weather, we've trained on the 4G leading into Derry and it was a good test against that Finn Harps team, they’re a good side and hopefully they have a good year in the First Division, I always keep an eye out for them and I’d love to see them back up, it would be great for Donegal.”

With his contract at Livi expiring in June, Blaney will be hoping to get a new deal on his return, but his hopes may have taken a dent as he will be going back to a new manager, as David Martindale has changed roles.

Having been in charge of the Almondvale side for six years, Martindale was announced on Sunday as the new Sporting Director of the club, with former player Marvin Bartley taking over as team manager.

The West Lothian club were promoted back to the Scottish Premiership at the first attempt via the promotion/relegation play-offs but are in danger of a return to the second tier, as they sit bottom of the table, six points off Kilmarnock in second last.

But for the 27-year-old, his focus until June is with the Bit O’Red, and trying to help them climb the table as he looks to get minutes under his belt.

“It’s only a four-month loan, so it's a short spell of time, but it’s about getting back playing again and loving the game, and we’ll see what happens in the summer.

“I want to leave Sligo in a better spot in where they are able to push on for the rest of the season, and hopefully they’re looking towards those European spots and see what happens.

“But for me, I’m hoping to have a positive effect on the group on and off the pitch and leave them in good shape, and I’ll see what happens in the summer for myself.”