Limerick FC begin a new era on Saturday night when they face UCD in Market's Field on the opening weekend of the First Division season.
Martin Russell's side spent three years in the Premier Division before losing the promotion-relegation play-off against Finn Harps last November. While the club will be focused on returning to the top-flight at the first attempt, their new Scottish striker Jordan Moore will simply be delighted to be playing football.
The 22-year-old has returned to the professional game after previously being given a 1% chance of playing football again after being diagnosed with Melanoma twice. Moore joined Dundee United as a schoolboy, before impressing on loan spells with Airdrie United, Dunfermline and Queen's Park. His contract was due to expire this summer bus was given the chance to find a new club in January.
"I jumped at the chance to go to Limerick on trial because I knew how big the club was. I knew getting relegated would give me a chance to play games and get my confidence and fitness back up. Hopefully, we will get ourselves promoted and win the league this season."
Moore has called his return to football "a gamble". The Glasgow native has forgone the chance for further treatment to make sure the cancer doesn't return to get back on the football field. "Football is my life. I just want to do well for the club and score goals and make my family proud again."
Moore is action for Dunfermline against Rangers' Lee McCulloch. Picture by: Danny Lawson / PA Archive/Press Association Images
Understandably after returning from melanoma, Moore claims that "mental toughness" is his strongest asset. "There's a lot more important things than football of course but it's something I love doing. Football got me through cancer because if I didn't have football, I wouldn't know what to do."
The British footballing community got behind Moore during his battle with cancer and he received messages from around the game including from Rio Ferdinand, Scott Brown, Ally McCoist and clubs throughout Scotland. "I cannot thank the Scottish PFA enough. They cared so much for you".
Despite only moving to the league this year, Moore revealed he spoke to former Sligo Rovers captain and Dundee United teammate Richie Ryan about the league. "I was surprised how good the standard was at Limerick. I didn't know what to expect."
"The players we have at Limerick, especially the captain Duggy (Shane Duggan) are excellent. I was pleasantly surprised how good they were. It's going to be very hard to get into the team but once I am fit and strong, I think I will be able to contribute and score a lot of goals.
"I think we have a great squad that can do the nice stuff on the pitch, but also if it's a dirty, physical game, we have the players to go and win those games too. Hopefully if we all play well and have a good season, I don't see why we can't go well in the league and hopefully win it."
Moore hopes to feature against UCD, but he feels he is another three of four weeks away from full fitness. Limerick begin their First Division campaign in Market's Field on Saturday night against UCD at 6.30pm.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
