ALAN Judge says he is looking forward to following in the footsteps of fellow Republic of Ireland international Mark Kinsella and shining in Colchester United’s midfield.

Dublin-born midfielder Judge, who joined the U’s on a two-year deal from Ipswich Town last week, has played for his country on nine occasions, since 2016.

Now the 32-year-old will be following his compatriot and U’s legend Kinsella, who made nearly 300 appearances for Colchester between 1989 and 1997 and went on to have a glittering career for club and country, including representing Eire in every game at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Judge, who also played at under-23, under-21, under-19, under-18 and under-17 level for Ireland, says he is relishing his new challenge at the U’s.

Judge said: “Mark was here too - he was always someone who was playing in the centre of the pitch.

“He always turned up to the big games.

“I just want to help the young lads come through, I want to enjoy my football preferably in my position and just enjoy everything.

“Don’t forget that this club is big for bringing the young players through and that this club does help the young players quite a lot.

“There’s definitely plenty more left in the legs.

“I played more or less all the games last year when I was fit.

“I keep myself in top shape and I like to look after myself, so I don’t think there’s any problem there.”

Gazette:

Meanwhile, Judge says he is looking forward to playing in a central attacking midfield position for his new club Colchester, this season.

“One of the main things about coming here was playing in my position,” added Judge, who made 91 league and cup appearances for Ipswich after joining them from Brentford in January, 2019.

“It’s not going to be on the wing or other stuff anymore.

“When I was supposed to be playing in that position at Ipswich, it didn’t happen.

“I would play where the manager tells me to and I still will but they (Colchester) were certain that they wanted me playing through the middle, so it was another big box ticked for me.

“Players now don’t just look at contracts – they look at the training facilities, how they can improve themselves, the positions they’d like to play in.

“Everything comes into consideration, not just signing a contract.

“We’ve got a good training ground with everything we need, a good stadium and hopefully we’re going to have a good team this year, as well.”