Teenagers Terry Devlin & James Convie have both been rewarded for their hard work and determination on the training pitch over the past season, by signing their first professional football contracts.
Sixteen year old Devlin and seventeen year old Convie have agreed three and a half year deals with Dungannon Swifts.
Both boys have come up through the ranks of Dungannon United Youth and made their way into the Swifts set up over the past couple of seasons.
Chatting to us during the week, Devlin had this to say;
“It is a very proud moment for me to sign my first professional contract. I have been at Dungannon for about five years now and have been putting a lot of hard work into playing here. I would like to thank all the coaches I have played under over the years, who have improved my game and helped me get to this stage.
My main aim now is to get more appearances and experience with the first team the rest of the season ahead.”
Convie was as equally happy to get his contract signed and is eager to get his debut for Dungannon Swifts;
“I’m really delighted signing my first professional contract with a club like Dungannon Swifts. I’ve been at this club all of my life and to come up through the ranks to the first team is great.
My goals for the season is to make my Irish league debut and hopefully get appearances throughout the season. Another goal from the start of the season was to hit 20+ goals which I’m not far off and will keep working hard in order to achieve that.“
Manager Kris Lindsay had plenty of praise for both of the lads;
“I’m glad to get Terry and James signed on their first professional contracts. They are two really good kids, with big futures ahead of them.
Terry has obviously made a number of appearances off the bench for the first team and did extremely well. James has got real quality, he’s played in a few Mid Ulster Cup games and shown that. This is the start of the journey for both of the lads, if they continue to work hard and continue to develop. I’ve no doubt they will do that, they are two good lads who listen and want to learn.
I must pay full credit to our under age coaching structure. The coaches at our under age levels, Dixie as Head of Youth Development, have done a tremendous job, not only with Terry and James but with a number of young players who are coming through. Massive thanks and credit goes to them all, for a Club likes ours, it is vitally important that we continue to produce our own players. We have a number of home grown players who have come up through the ranks in the first team squad at the moment, and for us to survive and progress we need to continue to do that. So as I say full credit goes to all the coaching staff at underage levels in Dungannon.”
Congratulations to James and Terry.