Conor McCarthy has moved to Saint Mirren from Cork City, after agreeing a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Scottish side.
The 21-year-old centre-half had been on the books at Cork since joining as a schoolboy in 2014 and made 50 appearances over the last two seasons.
Saint Mirren will pay undisclosed compensation to the League of Ireland club.
“I have loved my time at Cork City FC," McCarthy told Cork City's website.
Since I joined from my schoolboy club, Blarney United, I have really enjoyed representing my hometown team, and it was a particular honour to be captain last season.
"Now is the time for me to move on to the next stage of my career, but I would like to thank everyone I have worked with during my time at Cork City and wish the club the very best of luck for 2020 and beyond.”
City boss Neale Fenn has wished the defender well on his move to Scotland:
“Conor has been with the club for a number of years now, but the chance has arisen for him to move on and it was a move he was keen to make.
"He has been an excellent player for the club, and he leaves with our thanks and very best wishes for the future.”
Saint Mirren manager Jim Godwin has revealed they were tracking McCarthy for some time:
"Conor is one that we looked at in the summer but couldn't do anything about it then. But with the Irish League finishing in November we were able to put things in motion and thankfully we have been able to agree a deal with Cork City and with Conor.
"I have seen him in the flesh, Gus has seen him in the flesh and we have watched a lot of footage on him. The references that we got from people that I know over there were fantastic as well."
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