Cardiff City land Striker (finally)

Republic of Ireland striker Jason Byrne will today join Cardiff City after agreeing terms with the Championship Club. The forward impressed sufficiently during a 3 day trial, and having missed out on previous targets, manager Dave Jones swooped for the Eircom league`s top scorer.

Byrne has agreed personal terms and will sign today (Tuesday) subject to a medical. His club Shelbourne have accepted an undisclosed offer, after their manager was a guest at Ninian Park for the visit of Southend United. Perhaps the Shels boss felt sorry for us after witnessing a woeful attacking display from the Bluebirds.

Byrne, 29 in February, has scored 83 goals over 4 seasons for Shelbourne and was voted PFAI player of the year for 2003 after topping the scoring charts in the Eircom league. He also scored 5 in the Champions League qualifying rounds in 2005 again winning the PFAI award.

Byrne is not an immediate saviour to City`s goalscoring crisis after Jones admitted it would take the Irishman a couple of weeks to regain match fitness:

"His season ended in November so he needs to get fit,' said Jones.
'He needs a few weeks hard training under his belt and then we'll give him an opportunity. He's scored a lot of goals at the level he's played, can he do it at this level? We'll find out soon.'

An official Shelbourne statement read: "We wish to thank Jason for the many great moments he gave us over the last number of years and wish him every success in the future.'

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