Derry City boss admits frustration at missing out on Patrick McEleney

Shiels had discussions with attacking duo, McEleney and Kelly but both opted to sign for league leaders Dundalk yesterday.

“We are disappointed that we missed out on Patrick and Georgie, because we have been after them for some time now,” insisted the Derry boss.

“I have had several discussions with Georgie and I thought I had him, but he told me that he was going to Dundalk and that was soul-destroying.

“We are very keen to get Michael Duffy after losing out on the other two. I put in a lot of man hours on them, but I was just unable to get them and that’s disappointing.”

One man who has joined the Brandywell men until the end of the season is centre-back Danny Seaborne.

The 31-year-old brings much needed experience to the Derry back-line, much to Shiels’ delight.

“Danny brings experience and we can’t go on playing a youth team at the back,” stated the Derry boss.

“It coincides with Gavin Peers coming back from injury, so that gives us two experienced players to go in there.

“We were playing with an U21 back four and you can’t do that in the League of Ireland, it’s not feasible or practical, so you can see the goals that we have been conceding and the lack of the experience that was in there.

“We have good enough young players, but young players need experience in along with them and the age balance is not right in the team. Therefore, as a result there’s more mistakes, there’s more goals conceded and it’s just a domino effect, so we needed to get someone like Dan and obviously Gavin coming back as well has helped.”

Shiels believes the former Southampton man will fit nicely into his defence and his style of play will mean he slots in quickly.

“Dan’s a left sided centre-back, who’s very good in the air,” he added. “He’s got good feet, he passes the ball well and our league will suit him more than League One or Two in England, as it’s much more suitable to how he plays.”