St Mirren fans will "really love" Oisin Smyth following his move from Oxford United, says his new teammate Caolan Boyd-Munce.
Midfielder Smyth was linked with a move to the Scottish Premiership side at the end of May, and made the permanent switch for an undisclosed fee in June.
The 24-year-old found regular game time hard to come by after joining the U’s from Dungannon Swifts in January 2022 on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Despite the lack of minutes, he was well though of by the club, including by head coach Des Buckingham, and was set for a more prominent role next season if the club was still in League One.
However, promotion to the Championship likely limited opportunities even further.
He scored one goal in 25 appearances across all competitions for the club - a wonder strike against Charlton Athletic on New Year’s Day which earned him the club’s goal of the season award.
Oxford United players celebrate with Oisin Smyth after his goal against Charlton Athletic (Image: Steve Edmunds)
He will now reunite with his former Northern Ireland Under-21 team-mate Boyd-Munce at the Paisley club.
Boyd-Munce, speaking from St Mirren’s training base in Spain, said: "Oisin will slot in perfectly here.
"You can see already about the place, everyone has taken to him brilliantly.
“I played with him for the [Northern Ireland] under-21s, he was my midfield partner for a while, cracking player.
“He’s a machine, can run. He’s going to bring a bit of quality to the middle as well and I think the fans will really love him.
“I’ve always kept in contact with him. Once I knew there was a chance of him coming here and he knew, it was a no-brainer. He was asking about coming, how he would fit in and I knew it would fit perfectly.”
Former Birmingham and Middlesbrough player Boyd-Munce made his Northern Ireland debut against Spain last month.
He made an immediate impact by setting up Dan Ballard for the opener after little more than a minute before Spain bounced back to win 5-1.
He earned his second cap after coming off the bench in a 2-0 win over Andorra.
He said: “I’ve been there since I was 11, 12, I started really young. Being from Belfast, to get that chance to finally play for my country and to start the way it started, with the assist and going 1-0 up against one of the world’s best and favourites for the Euros was some feeling.
"Hopefully there’s more of them to come. The roar when that goal went in will live with me. I think it is achievable for Oisin too.”
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