Donegal teenager Shane Blaney signs for Doncaster Rovers

Shane Blaney is taking his shot.

The Donegal man turns 19 on Saturday and, on the week of his birthday, he's become a professional footballer. Doncaster Rovers have placed good faith in the Finn Harps defender with a two-year contract where he will now link up with Darren Ferguson, son of the great Alex. https://twitter.com/drfc_official/status/953235132118380544 Doncaster currently sit 12th in League One, just five points behind Chris Forrester's Peterborough but the challenge of jumping from Ballybofey across the Irish Sea to play professionally in England isn't daunting Blaney.

“The aim is just to get as fit and strong as I can using the facilities here and put in the hard work," he told Finn Harps. "If I keep working hard I can eventually get into the first-team.  I’m working with the fitness coaches now, then hopefully I can get a few games for the development team and show the manager and the lads what I can do."

But he doesn't forget who helped to get him into this position.

"They played a big role after going from my schoolboy club Illistrin," he said. "Finn Harps was a big step up as I was going to play in the League of Ireland. “The coaches there, Joe Boyle and Declan Boyle the U19 and U17 managers as well as the Finn Harps senior manager Ollie Horgan, were all brilliant with me and I can’t thank them enough."

He's come a long way from the hills of Donegal. And his new manager Darren Ferguson is excited to have the defender on board.

"I’m very happy that Shane is now joining us here at Doncaster," the manager commented. "We have been watching his progress at Finn Harps and have had him over here a couple of times. Shane wants to take his football career to the next stage so the coaching staff and management here are very much looking forward to helping him realize his ambitions with us at Doncaster Rovers. "Our Chief Executive and the Chairperson would like to thank Finn Harps for their help in the negotiations and it’s refreshing to see a Club that wants to see players like Shane progress in their careers"