John Mahon is the latest League of Ireland export to Scotland after the Sligo Rovers defender signed for Scottish Premiership outfit St Johnstone for an undisclosed fee.
Mahon, 22, had played over 100 times for the Bit O'Red and was last season's club Player of the Year after helping Liam Buckley's side qualify for Europe.
He made made his debut for the club at 17 in the League Cup in 2017, before making his first league appearance the following year.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly five years since making my first-team debut for Rovers," said Mahon, who follows new Celtic recruit Johnny Kenny out of the Showgrounds to the Scottish Premiership.
"It has been the biggest honour to play over 100 times for this special club and I’ve loved it. I hope you all saw what it meant to me on the pitch.
“My ambition to play across the water has always been there and the chance has come along which I feel I have to take.
“I’d like to thank the managers I’ve worked under and all of the staff at the club who work so hard to make it a better place for everyone every single day.
“In leaving today one consolation is Rovers are in a strong place and I know the club is on an upward trajectory. In the last two years in particular you can see the progress we’ve made and it’s been a pleasure to be part of it.
“I’d also like to thank my former club Ballisodare United for their help in developing me as a player and all of the academy coaches at Rovers from before I joined the first-team.
“To all of the Sligo Rovers fans and people in the county and around, I’ve been given fantastic support by you all. It was greatly appreciated by both myself and my family.
"I’ll be watching to see the potential of this squad reached, including the next group of young players coming through, and I’ll be another supporter watching and cheering you on.
"Thank you to the gaffer Liam and John and up the Rovers.”
Buckley paid tribute to Mahon's consistency over the last few seasons.
"At just 22 he evolved into someone who could lead and most importantly defend superbly well," said the Bit O'Red boss.
“We’ve watched him constantly improve over these last few seasons because his talent is there to see.
"Again, John was someone who was attracting interest of clubs for quite some time as he is able to play at a level up certainly. We knew that would be acted upon eventually.
"He’s been a magnificent player for this club and we all wish him well at St Johnstone.”
Buckley says he is confident of securing new signings ahead of the new season.
“We’ve made good progress on new recruitment and we will have more on that quite soon," he stated.
"It’s the nature of the business that squads evolve and change over time. We still have a huge number of quality players here and we will finalise this year’s group and I’m confident it will leave us well-placed to have an exciting year ahead.”
