Limerick FC have announced the signing of defender Joe Crowe on a loan deal from English Championship side Norwich City, after advice from Irish international Wes Hoolahan convinced him of the league’s quality.
The announcement was delayed by a few days, but was finally confirmed today.
Belfast-born Crowe played youth football with Saint Oliver Plunkett before moving to Norwich three years ago. The 19-year-old centre-half now comes to Shannonside on-loan until the end of the current season.
The Northern Ireland underage international admits he has little knowledge of the SSE Airtricity League, but that he had enquired about it to 40-times capped Hoolahan, who shone in it with Shelbourne.
“I’m very happy to be here. It will be a great experience for me getting first-team football – I hope it goes well for me and the team,” Joe told LimerickFC.ie.
“I heard about it last Wednesday and obviously it’s first-team experience so I couldn’t really say no, could I? I was happy to get the call to say Limerick were looking for me to come over. I can’t wait to get started. My first few days have been very enjoyable – all the lads have made me feel very welcome.”
“I don’t know much about the league, I’ve just spoken to a couple of people about it. I spoke to Wes Hoolahan and he said it’s a very good standard – it’s a lot better than what people make it out to be. It will be good for me and hopefully it will be good for the team too.”
On his time at Norwich overall so far, Joe added: “It has been good. It was a bit hard at the start, being away from my family and that, but once I settled in I think I’ve done well.”
This is Crowe’s first loan move from the Canaries and asked what his hopes are, and what supporters can expect to see from him, he said: “I want to get as many games as possible, as much experience out of it as possible, win games and hopefully push on up the table.
“I’m tough-tackling, I have a will to win, I try to play a bit but I’ll not take any risks.”
The club are hopeful that Crowe’s move – which is subject to international clearance – will be confirmed in time for him to come into contention for Friday’s Premier Division trip to Galway United.