Dundalk FC’s young star Shane Tracey has his sights set on 2027

Dundalk’s season might be winding to a close against Shamrock Rovers this Friday night, but for Shane Tracey, it’s just the beginning.
Should he featured against the Hoops, it will be the midfielder from the St Alphonsus Road’s 50th competitive appearance for his home town club.
While that’s a nice landmark for someone who doesn’t turn 21 until next April, Tracey has no intention of resting on his laurels following a good first Premier Division campaign, insisting he will be putting in plenty of work in the off-season to ensure he continues to build up the appearances for his beloved Lilywhites in 2027 having recently put pen to paper on a new three-year deal.
“That’s nice to be fair,” he said when informed of his impending appearance landmark.
“I wasn’t expecting that. That’s flew since last year but it’s nice to be building momentum.
“I’m here for the long run, the next three years at least, so I’m just looking to kick on now.”
Indeed, Tracey is hoping to take inspiration from his former team-mates and close pals, Eoin Kenny and Gbemi Arubi (now of Portsmouth and Burton Albion respectively), who earned cross channel moves having come of age at Oriel Park.
“I’ll be looking to do what Eoin and Gbemi are doing,” he said.
“Obviously Gbemi scored last week, then Eoin came on the other night to play so it’s good to look at that and see it can be in your future and hopefully that’ll be me now in the next while.
“It’s a big step up, but I’m just looking forward now to the off-season and building myself up. I’ve had a few niggles at me so I’ll get some rest and get ready for next season and pre-season.”
Before his 50th game, Tracey at least waves goodbye on the 2026 season with some great memories, including a birthday weekend goal in a victory over St Patrick’s Athletic last April and his latest strike against Derry City last weekend.
“That was hard to beat,” he said of his birthday strike.
“It’s been a tough couple of months but it has still been good. Before we went through our rough patch though, it was brilliant. Hopefully now though we can just draw a line under that and build on it next season.
“This is my second time scoring in Derry so it’s been a good venue for me. Overall, I enjoy the Premier Division a lot more because it’s more technical and probably more tactical and not as physical as the First Division. It’s a big step up and it’s tough but it’s good.”
On his goal Tracey said: “It just kind of opened up for me and I gave it a go on my right foot. I’m probably not used to doing that but it just shows you have a chance if you hit it. I thought, to be fair, we reacted well to the second goal so it’s just unfortunate that we did lose because we definitely could have got at least a point out of it.”
Tracey admits he “wants to play more games” but is thankful that will be in the Premier Division after Dundalk defied their pre-season tag of relegation favourites.
“It’s still an achievement to stay up but we always wanted more, particularly when we were doing well,” he said.
“We were pushing and pushing and pushing but unfortunately we haven’t been able to get to Europe or win the league, but at least we’re safe and that’s another step compared to last year,” said the midfielder.