Defender delighted to seal Dungannon Swifts return after 'one of my best years in football'

The 25-year-old, who previously spent time in the academies of Oldham Athletic and Motherwell, made 33 Championship appearances for Kevin Deery’s side as they finished second before narrowly losing out in a promotion play-off to Ballymena United.

King played his part in the second-tier’s best defence with ‘Stute conceding 43 times in 38 games as they impressively turned their fortunes around from the previous campaign, which the County Londonderry outfit ended in 11th.

Ex-Glenavon centre-back King spent three years with Dungannon after signing from Coleraine in 2019, where he worked with new boss Rodney McAree, and wants to help the club push on following their strong end to the 2023/24 campaign having penned a two-year deal.

Dylan King has returned to Dungannon Swifts after signing a two-year deal. PIC: Dungannon Swifts

"It feels great to be back,” he told the club’s media channel. “It's a great club and I've had great times here in the past so I'm looking forward to it.

"I had a great year with Institute and met some great people...it was probably one of my best years in football. There are a lot of people there that I will keep in touch with and I thank them for allowing me to come and play in the Premiership. I wish them all the best for the upcoming season.

"It's always good to have a strong end to the season because hopefully you can come right back in and pick up where you left off. At Institute we had a really good finish and were unlucky in the play-offs.

"Looking at Dungannon last season too, I was checking results and they finished really strongly too and were unlucky not to get into the European spots. It's only going to benefit us coming in and picking up where we left off last year and push on."

On his goals for the upcoming season, King added: "I just want to put a good run of games together and I'm looking forward to challenging myself.

"There are a lot of big fixtures, a lot of teams are full-time in the league now and the standard is going to get better. I want to do the best for the team and that's the aim."