Charlton and Ireland goalkeeper Darren Randolph has signed for Motherwell on a three-year deal
The 23 year-old comes recommend by former Scotland and Charlton player Christian Daily who speaks highly of the Bray born player.
The Ireland U-21 international had grown frustrated at a lack of first team action last season.
But after featuring and impressing in the club's last 11 games last season was expected to compete with the Addicks Rob Eliot for the No. 1 jersey.
Earlier in the week Motherwell boss Brown said his best bet of bringing in new faces lay with the sale of defender Mark Reynolds.
The 23-year-old Irishman is available under freedom of contract and former Scotland boss Brown has pulled off something of a coup in persuading Randolph to leave League 1 outfit Charlton.
Randolph has played at every level for Ireland youths and earned a B cap but has yet to make the full senior squad.
Motherwell winger Jim O'Brien is determined to break into the Ireland senior squad - even if he suffers the same abuse dished out to James McCarthy & Aidan McGeady.
The Fir Park winger has, like Hamilton rival McCarthy, opted to represent Ireland on the international stage.
Jim lived with his grandad John, who moved to Scotland at 18, for a decade before his death in 2000. From that moment the ex-Celtic kid vowed to play for Ireland and has represented ‘The Boys In Green’ at U19 & U21 levels.
Now a regular for Motherwell, O'Brien believes he can catch the eye of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni and force his way into the Italian's plans for the future.
If he succeeds, Jim is likely to face the same sectarianism endured every week by Hamilton wonderkid James McCarthy, from fans who seem intent on bringing shame on the SPL.
But the 21-year-old insists he's ready for anything the bigots throw at him if it means a call-up.
Jim said: "The international scene has never left my mind. I believe I can make the Ireland set-up but it's about playing consistently well here, If I'm playing every week here I don't see why I can't break in to the squad. There are guys in the Irish league who have been capped and the SPL is a better standard.
"The stick James gets is poor. But if fans believe they can put someone off their game they'll do it. I used to get abuse warming-up at Ibrox but you have to get on with it. It doesn't seem to bother James because he is doing well. And if I get stick, it won't bother me".
"I've made a decision I'm willing to stick to. I had a great connection with my grandad and wanted to play for him after he died. Hopefully a cap will come."
After a slow start at Fir Park, O'Brien is now starting to fulfil the potential he showed at Celtic. He was tipped to make an impact in Gordon Strachan's side but the breakthrough never came. O'Brien spent time on loan at Dunfermline two years ago and helped them reach the Scottish Cup Final against the Hoops.
He was devastated when Strachan refused him permission to play at Hampden because of fears he wouldn't be accepted by Celtic fans if he'd prevented them winning the trophy.
O’Brien said: "The cup final was probably the end of my Celtic career. You want to play on the big occasions but I didn't get the chance at Hampden. Gordon didn't want me to miss out but after thinking it through, he changed his mind".
"I might have been the difference that day because it was a tight game that Celtic won 1-0. Gordon said I could hardly play in the cup final, do something against them, then go back and expect to get in the team. I don't hold grudges. But last season I didn't get a fair crack of the whip at Celtic".
"There were cup games where I felt I could have played and people were telling me my chance was coming. Aiden McGeady was suspended for an Old Firm match and I was tipped to start. Sadly Phil O'Donnell died and the game was postponed. But I got a clean break by coming here and want to do well."
O'Brien is adamant he can help the Steelmen put a serious dent in Celtic's title hopes today on Fir Park's dodgy pitch.
Jim said: "We can have a say in the title race by getting results against Rangers and Celtic, especially on that pitch.
"We're on a good run and Celtic have hit a sticky patch. I want to show what they missed out on."
There will be no place for Cillian Sheridan in the Motherwell attack against Celtic on Sunday – the young Irishman is on loan from the club and cannot play against them – but that could work against the Parkhead side, according to Mark McGhee.
The Motherwell manager said: "To be truthful, if Cillian had been OK to turn out I would probably have played 4-4-2 with him and David Clarkson up front.
"But now I'll maybe leave Clarkson on his own and as a result we should be a bit stuffier. The fact that we can't play him might not help Celtic."
There is no official rule about loan players being prohibited from facing their main employers, but Scottish clubs observe a self-denying ordinance. "If Sheridan played against us it would be an awful lot of pressure on him," said Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager.
"What if he got a penalty kick in the last minute and cost us points? Or what if he fouled in the Motherwell box and we got a last-minute winner from that?"
Strachan, though, believes that Motherwell pose considerable threat even without Sheridan. "They weren't doing well earlier in the season but that's because Mark had a lot of players missing from a small squad. Since they've come back you can see the difference in Motherwell's form – they're on a run now and we have to be very careful."
Cillian Sheridan added an Ireland U21 cap to a list of achievements from this season which included Champions League football and his debut SPL goal for Celtic.
But the County Cavan striker admits that he has a long way to go before he can find his way into Giovanni Trapattoni's senior squad at international level.
Sheridan, who played the full 90 minutes in Motherwell's 1-0 win over Hamilton today, after his loan move from Celtic, made his U21 debut in Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Germany in Cork and the 19-year-old played a role as Ireland came from a goal down and earned a creditable draw against a more experienced German side.
"The senior Ireland squad is a long way away for me even though I've had a decent run in the Celtic team this season and a bit of exposure with those games in the Champions League against Manchester United," says the Ulster man.
"There is so much competition up front with Ireland now, you have Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle as the established two up front. But then you have a lot of people who are fighting to get a run, lads like Shane Long and Noel Hunt, who have done very well for their clubs and played for Ireland already.
"There are also people who can't even get into the senior Ireland squad now, lads like Anthony Stokes, so up front there are a lot of people looking to play for Ireland and only two can start, so I know I am down the pecking order.
"But if I can prove myself to Mr Trapattoni at U21 level and get a few goals for my club, then he might take notice. But I know I have a lot of work to do.
"There is a chance there with Ireland. Trapattoni is in contact with Don Givens to know how the U21 players are doing and there are a lot of young players in the senior squad already.
"I think I need to take a step backwards so I can get forward and that's the case with my loan move to Motherwell.
"I need to go and prove that I can play on a weekly basis, because I've had such a bad run with injuries, and then go and do that for Celtic," added Sheridan, who was relieved to finally make his debut for the Irish U21s in that draw against Germany, over a year after he was first called into the U21 panel by Don Givens.
"It was nice to get the debut out of the way, good to have under my belt. I have been in the U21 squad for the last year or so but because of injuries I wasn't able to come over and play -- thankfully I've managed to do that now," he says. "I have missed a lot of football with Ireland due to all my injuries. I think the last time I played was with the U19s in Dublin last year, when we played Germany.
"So Tuesday in Cork was a good result for us. Germany are a good side, they have players with all the top clubs in Germany, their lads have played in the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the UEFA Cup and most of our players don't have that experience."
Sheridan is now in his third season of first team football, having made his Celtic debut in March 2007, just two days after his 18th birthday. Last season was a write-off for the former Belvedere player as he managed just one appearance for Celtic due to injuries, but he emerged earlier this season due to a shortage of senior strikers at Parkhead, Sheridan making 16 first team appearances including two Champions League outings against Manchester United.
The return from injury of Strachan's crocked strikers has pushed Sheridan down the ladder so he's been sent out on loan to Mark McGhee's Motherwell to gain experience.
"It's a good move for me as it's a chance to get games, which I might not have been able to do at Celtic because the squad is so big," Sheridan says.
"I know I still have a future at Celtic and I think the staff there will be watching me at Motherwell. Hopefully I can have a good four months at Motherwell, score a few goals, have a good break over the summer and go back to Parkhead fresh for the new season."
Motherwell have taken Ireland forward Cillian Sheridan on loan from Celtic until the end of the season.
Sheridan, 19, an Ireland youth international striker who played for Celtic in the Champions League this season, will remain with Motherwell for the remainder of the season.
The young County Cavan striker will bolster the Steelmen's frontline after the departure of top-scorer Chris Porter to Derby County.
has made 19 appearances this term, including two against Motherwell, scoring four goals.
The majority of his appearances have come from the bench however, with competition for places rife at Parkhead.
