Two years after leaving Celtic Ritchie Towell looks to have his career back on track.
Starring performances for Dundalk have been noted by English scouts who have been updating their records on the former Irish youth and u-21 internationalist.
Towell made just one first team appearance for Celtic but was the regular right-back in the 2009/10 youth side that won the double.
His second loan spell at Hibs came to an abrupt end when Pat Fenlon took over but after dusting himself down, via a brief spell in non-league football at Bluebell United in Dublin, his career is on the rise again with Dundalk leading the League of Ireland playing an exciting brand of football under one-time Dunfermline manager Stephen Kenny.
“I have had setbacks in my career, no doubt about that,” Towell told The Herald. “But I firmly believe that setbacks make you stronger, and help you learn more, than your achievements do.
“I am enjoying this season with Dundalk, I have played in every league game so far and I want to play in as many games as I can.
“There has been talk and speculation about a move in the summer but nothing concrete so to me it’s all just talk.
“I am keeping my mind on my football with Dundalk and I won’t let anything side-track me. You can let speculation like that get to you, your game will be affected, you can start thinking about things that may not happen.
“If I was younger and had never been away before it might get into my head, when you hear rumours and speculation, but I am 22 now, I was abroad for six years so I am able to deal with all this, put it all out of my mind and do my job, which is helping Dundalk to win matches,”
Last night Towell scored the second goal in Dundalk’s 2-0 win away at Bohemians which maintains their place at the top of the table ahead of Cork City where former Celt Colin Healy is currently playing.
