Jack Byrne has confirmed his departure from Shamrock Rovers as he prepares to join forces with Mick McCarthy in Cyprus.
His decision was expected and the Ireland midfielder made the announcement in a lengthy social media post, stating it was done with a ‘heavy heart’.
Byrne has already been to Cyprus to tie up a move to APOEL and said news on his next club will be announced in the coming days.
The reigning SWAI and PFAI Player of the Year was out-of-contract with the League of Ireland champions.
And while they offered him a ‘fantastic’ new deal, the Hoops were always resigned to losing him amid interest from his former Ireland boss McCarthy.
Byrne, who also had options in England and America, said: “Today, with the heaviest of hearts, I would like to announce that I have decided to leave Shamrock Rovers.
“I do so with a huge lump in my throat.”
The playmaker, 24, wrote: “When I left Scotland in December 2018 I was in a very low place. I was so unhappy and it’s the lowest I’ve ever felt in football.
“After a few days home in Dublin, Stephen Bradley, Stephen McPhail and Glen Cronin asked myself, my mother and brother to meet them at SRFC training ground.
“They told me if I got my head down they would do everything they could to help me get back to myself and most importantly to love the game again.
“They told my mother mother they would take care of me and help me grow on and off the pitch.
“The reality is that over the past two years, Stephen Bradley and his staff have done far, far more than what they promised.
“In truth they have changed my life. They made me fitter, stronger and a much better footballer.
“They believed in me and helped me feel that I could not just be good but that I could compete with any player at any level.
“They made me relevant to the Irish international squad and helped me fulfill my dream of pulling on the green jersey. A dream that was dead before I met them.
“They are without doubt incredible people, incredible developers of players and I would urge any young player to listen to everything they have to say.
“I spent many years at one of the biggest clubs in the world and Shamrock Rovers have a management team as good as all the great people I worked under at Man City.”
“I played in a team that became invincible in the Airtricity League not just because of the quality of football we played but because of the quality of characters in the dressing room.
“People who I will always regard as an extension of my family. They have made me a better teammate, player and person.”
Byrne went on to thank his family, the management staff at Rovers, the club’s backroom team, players, board and Shamrock Rovers fans.
Although he refused to reveal his new club, it is no secret that Byrne has already been in Cyprus for a medical with APOEL.
“I will make an announcement on my future in the coming days,” he said.
Meanwhile, APOEL have completed the signing of Joe Garner after McCarthy moved for one of his former Ipswich Town strikers.
