Town have signed Republic of Ireland U19 international midfielder Conor Hourihane from Sunderland. The 19-year-old turned down a deal at the Stadium of Light and penned a one-year contract at Portman Road this afternoon.

Born in Cork, Hourihane, who was linked with a loan move to the Blues last summer, will be well known to Keane and assistant Tony Loughlan from their time with the Black Cats.

A Republic of Ireland U19 team-mate of Town's Ronan Murray, Hourihane, who has also won caps at U17 level, plays all across the midfield, usually centrally for the Irish side, and can also operate behind the main striker.

While with Sunderland, Roy Keane gave the 5ft 9in tall youngster first team experience in pre-season friendlies, but he is yet to play a competitive senior game.

Town will have to pay Sunderland compensation for Hourihane, who says he felt his chances would be limited on Wearside: "I was offered a new contract at Sunderland but there are a lot of players up there and when I found out about Ipswich's interest, I felt it was the right move for me.

"I know the manager from Sunderland and a few of the lads from Ireland. I have played with Ronan Murray in the U19 team and I've known Shane O'Connor for a long while.

"When I see what Shane has achieved after being given a chance here, that's what I've got to aim for.

"I'm grateful for the chance Ipswich have given me and the manager has told me that I've got to get my head down and work hard and see what develops from there.”

Town's first signing of the summer will not be involved in either the first team game at PSV or the reserve match at Great Yarmouth tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Town have been linked with a move for ex-Republic of Ireland full-back Steve Finnan. The 34-year-old former Welling, Birmingham, Notts County, Fulham, Liverpool and Espanyol man is out of contract having left Portsmouth at the end of the season.

Photo: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

Lightningboy added 12:44 - Jul 17 I thought it was fernando torres from the guy's picture.......it wasn't. So,basically this entire summer,our magnificent big name leader has only managed to attract an irish,ex sunderland youth team player...why am I not surprised?!
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itfc_steve added 12:48 - Jul 17 keane out.
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blues1 added 12:49 - Jul 17 hey guys, this sunderland/irish thing is getting boring. yes, it getting beyond a joke how many players we signing who r 1 or other, or both, but lets b fair, rk has signed sum decent players who 1 or other, leadbitter, colback, brian murphy. & it also has 2 b said that 2 of his worst signings not either, priskin & martin. so think people shld stop slating ex sdrlnd, irish signings, jst 4 the sake of it.

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bedsitfc added 13:02 - Jul 17 blues1 - club take young players from different clubs all the time, look at us with wickham was he not at reading academy. Agree we should be doing betterwith ours but thats not something thats happened overnight as who recently came through our academy and into the first team. I think that is something the club are trying to sort out but it won't happen overnight.
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blue_thru_n_thru added 13:29 - Jul 17 i think this could prove to be a decent signing, dont think hes going to be first teamer yet though. Altho if Keane is signing youngsters for the future, hes obviously thinking hes going to be here long term. Hope he turns out to be another colback and the 1 year contract means if not we're not stuck with him, good option for both parties if it doesnt work out.

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blues1 added 13:29 - Jul 17 bedsitfc. dont disagree with wot u say, but our academy bin there 4 years now, & is supposed 2 b recognised as 1 of the best in the country, yet we not manage 2 bring hardly ne1 thru of our own. wickham the 1st 1 since bent/ambrose. not exactly a gud record. but my point was that we shldnt have 2 sign youngsters frm elsewhere. that we do is an enditement of how poor our academy actually is. lets hope mr pejic can improve this in nxt few years

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ChambersM added 13:42 - Jul 17 TORRES!!
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flyingdutchman added 15:35 - Jul 17 here we go again
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Bobby_Petta added 15:40 - Jul 17 Good luck to the lad, his young so is encouraging sigining. Still concerned though we lack of any sigining, shame we didn't go for Jackson, type of player we need, got bags of pace, good sigining for the Scum, difference is they have a decent manager. Keane still seems to only go with players he as managed, everyone is hoping Chopra will sigin but 4 mill and 20 grant a week, is he worth all that?

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renoble added 15:56 - Jul 17 Funny how the fella on page 2 said his "mate" the taxi driver said this happened weeks ago and yet he didnt mention it on these pages that someone had signed on the quiet. Some people and "their contacts" make me laugh. Probably the same fella who knows the estate agent who sold Curbishley/Hoddle/Gio their houses in Woodbridge.
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bedsitfc added 16:51 - Jul 17 renoble - haha, what can you say some people are sad
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naaridge1coly7 added 17:22 - Jul 17 tractor breezer the late great sir bobby also said keane will never make it as ipswich boss or have you forgotten that bit?
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blues1 added 17:29 - Jul 17 renoble. no, a very reliable source actually. didnt mention nething bcse frankly, didnt think an unheard of youngster was worth mentioning. mind u, if u got ur facts rite, ud know that curbishly has bought a house in woodbridge. nothing strange abt that neither
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tom_the_blue added 17:31 - Jul 17 Apparently he can also play at left-back, so that helps the full back problem as well. And also, for those who say no-one wants to play for Keane: "The 19-year-old former Cork City youngster worked under Town boss and his hero Roy Keane at Sunderland".
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enfieldblue added 17:48 - Jul 17 Spent all season bemoaning the fact we need strikers , and we needed to watch the pennies , so what does he do oh yes buy another midfield player , says it all
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renoble added 18:53 - Jul 17 "didnt think an unheard of youngster was worth mentioning" No, it's not like it would be the top story for two days or attract six pages of comments. As for Curbishley, of course he has, it's right next to Hoddle's.
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TractorBeezer added 18:58 - Jul 17 Naaridge, I didn't forget Sir Booby stating that Keano wouldn't make it because I didn't hear that bit. Anyway, he's ours for at least another year and it's the start of a new season so let's get behind the team and management
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SurreyITFC added 19:22 - Jul 17 "Let's get behind the team and management" Could not agree more! COYB - Keano Keano Keano
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tom_the_blue added 20:02 - Jul 17 renoble- I think it is another example of the anti-Keane bregade making stuff up to use against him when they cannot put a negative twist on an article. Its quite sad really.
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fifeblue added 11:35 - Jul 18 To the tune of of "Come on Eileen" Houri Houri Houri Hourihane! Come on Conor!
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RobbieScarlatti added 13:19 - Jul 18 Good luck matey, hope you turn out to be a good 'un. I do wonder how long Keane can go on mining the same tiny pool of players though? This can't last forever.
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brian_a_mul added 11:47 - Jul 19 There is nothing wrong with signing promising young players. There is no fee and the wages are low. You can be guarenteed he will fight and give 110%. He knows a few of the players and he will settle in quickly. Everyone is frustrated with the lack of player movement but this is same for most clubs at the moment. Transfer activity will pick up when the big clubs start to spend their cash. The transfer window is like a snowball. When the ball finally starts rolling it will get bigger and will we see the transfers!! In the mean time there is nothing wrong with getting promising Youth Internationals!!

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