Dundalk FC are excited to announce the signing of young forward and former Ireland Under-19 international Gbemi Arubi, who spent last season at Waterford, as Ciarán Kilduff’s squad building continues.
The 20-year-old made his senior debut for Shelbourne in 2023, appearing eight times in the Premier Division, and impressed enough to earn a move to Keith Long’s newly-promoted Waterford ahead of last season, after time spent training with Lincoln City.
Dundalk assistant manager Ken Kiernan is very familiar with Gbemi from his time in the Shelbourne Academy, with the attacker having come to prominence in Damien Duff’s young side, after joining the Tolka Park club as a 14-year-old from Cherry Orchard.
Gbemi went on to score 21 goals in the Under-19 League, which earned him a call-up to the Ireland Under-19s, playing for them twice against Iceland in 2022. The following year, he was promoted to the Shels senior squad and earned his first minutes in the top flight.
Last season, having made the move south in search of more regular football, he made 13 league appearances for Waterford, including featuring in both wins over Dundalk at the RSC. He scored in the FAI Cup, while he was also part of the team that won the Blues their first Munster Senior Cup since 2013 in June.
Speaking after his arrival at Oriel Park, Arubi told DFCTV: “I’m very excited. It’s a massive club. I’m happy to be here and get started.
“Ciarán messaged me. He used to play with Shels, so I watched a few of his games there when I was a young kid. When he called me, he told me he got the job at Dundalk and I was over the moon. He didn’t have to tell me too much to get me here.
“He told me how it’s a footballing town and all the fans just love the club, so that’s just perfect for me. I’ll come here and give the fans what they want to see, and give them a smile on their face every weekend.
“It’s a big town, having a couple of thousand maybe coming out to support us every game here, we just want to get the result for them. Dundalk have 14 league titles – it’s a massive club, so I’m just happy to be here.”
Gbemi’s game is built around pace and power, and Dundalk expect that he will be a real threat, with Kiernan saying, “his ability to run at defenders in 1v1 situations to get shots off is a joy and he will have the supporters on the edges of their seats this season”.
Reporting by Eoin Carpenter, video by Chris Clarke, photo by Gerry Scully.
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