Kilmarnock boss Tommy Wright has secured the services of midfielder Brad Lyons on a two-year deal as he continues to rebuild his squad at Rugby Park.
Lyons, who hails from Ballymoney, arrives at Kilmarnock, who suffered relegation from the Scottish Premiership last season, after being released by Blackburn Rovers last month.
Although the 24-year-old never broke into the first-team at Ewood Park he did enjoy spells on-loan at St. Mirren and, last season, at Morecambe whom he helped gain promotion to League One via the play-off’s at Wembley.
“It feels brilliant to be a Kilmarnock player,” Lyons told the Killie website. “I’m so thankful to the manager for bringing me to such a big club. He’s really well known and respected in Northern Ireland and it was a no brainer to come and play under him.
“I had a great run with Morecambe and to experience Wembley. It was a great experience and one I’ll never forget and hopefully we can experience promotion here too.
“I’m an all-round midfielder. I don’t mind doing the defensive duties and then trying to get forward as much as possible. Hopefully I can help the team and add more goals to my game.”
Former Northern goalkeeper Tommy Wright, who took over the managerial reigns at Rugby Park last February, said: “He’s a strong player with plenty of energy and he’s another who is a good age. He had options but this was where he wanted to be so I’m glad to get Brad in.
“He’s a box-to-box midfielder and I do feel that one area that we can help him with is to get him back to what he did in the Irish League, which was score goals.
“He had a good scoring record with Coleraine, had a decent loan at St Mirren and did well at Morecambe last year.”
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland under-17 defender Euan Devenny is to remain at Kilmarnock after penning a new 12-month contact with the Scottish Championship side.
