Feely returns home to sign for Cork

After spending the last two seasons cross channel Rory Feely has decided to return to Ireland and he begins the latest phase of his professional career with Cork City in the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland. The Athy man had quite a successful time with English Football League club, Barrow before signing for EFL League One side Crawley Town in January of this year. Injuries and a change of manager at Crawley meant that Feely saw limited game time and upon realising that he didn’t fit into the new manager’s plans he decided to seek a new club and he starts for Cork City, who are managed by Confey man, Gerard Nash, on this Tuesday, 1 July.

Although there was some interest from other cross channel clubs it was the direct approach of Nash which convinced the 28-year-old defender to settle in Turners Cross.

“He was very interested in me coming home and although at the time I was still thinking that England would be my priority as I spoke more to Gerard, I liked the idea he was talking about,” Rory Feely explained. 

“Cork City is obviously a massive club in the League of Ireland and it's a place where it's been up and down the last few years, where it should be one of the big clubs in Ireland each year, being in Europe and trying to win League titles. That's the journey that Gerard wants to take with the club. I was thinking of what would be best for my career at this time and for my personal life so what he was saying was kind of hitting all the right spots,” he explained.

The Athy man is a “veteran” of League of Ireland football having played for Waterford, St Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians.

“Greg Bolger is a player/coach there now and I played against him for years in the League of Ireland so I know there's definitely quality in the club and with the staff he's bringing in, it looks like it can only get better,” Feely added.

The Athy man watched his new club, who are bottom of the League at the moment, play out a scoreless draw with St Pat’s on Friday night. “There's definitely some work to be done with the League position but I think they've definitely got the players to do it. Hopefully we’ll start picking up some results over the next few games,” he said.

Reflecting on his cross-channel career Rory Feely said, “I went over with bigger ambitions than what I had. I thought I could make myself a bit of a career over there for a period of time. Results and maybe an injury here or there didn't make me as satisfied as I'd like to be but I really enjoyed my time over there.” 

Continuing Feely said, “I knew it was going to be a really big challenge and it did prove to be that challenge. There were times where I was up to that challenge when I played quite well and was happy with where I was in my football. Then there were times I didn’t make the standard I would have like to and that’s the hard part.”

Highlights for the defender included scoring his first goal for Barrow in a 1-1 draw with Swindon in October 2024, playing as stand in keeper when the regular keeper was sent off and playing against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup at Stamford Bridge.

Feely is fit and he is in a good space at the moment. “I'm really excited. I've a chance to go and make a difference at Cork. I think with the new signings he's made and there's some good players coming in, I'm excited for the opportunity to get myself into the team there and get myself back playing regular football and hopefully we can do something positive with the club.” 

With older brother, Kevin, now captaining Kildare in the Tailteann Cup Final on Sunday week, Rory Feely is looking forward to the game and to seeing more Kildare games now that he has returned home. Although his focus is on Cork City for the foreseeable future, as a gifted underage GAA player with Kildare don’t rule out the possibility of Rory joining Kevin in the red of Athy whenever his professional career ends.