EOIN Toal believes he picked the right time to launch a career in English football with Wanderers.

The Northern Irish centre-half made his long-awaited debut for the Whites in Tuesday night’s 4-1 win against Crewe in the Papa Johns Trophy, resuming a season which had begun in the colours of Derry City in mid-February.

Toal was one of only two permanent signings made by Ian Evatt this summer and the 23-year-old defender was pleased his former club gave their blessing for him to make the move to League One.

“I left there, I’d done everything, and I have a lot of respect for the people there,” he told The Bolton News. “The way it ended was fine, no bad blood or anything. They wished me luck and it was basically plain sailing.

“I loved Derry and I’d played there since I was in junior football, really, but it was my first full-time environment, and I was there for nearly six seasons.

“It was the right time for me and I think everyone over there agreed.

“I probably felt done where I was - if that makes sense. I needed to go if I was going to kick on in my career and it was too hard to say no to a club like this.

“Coming to England was something I had always wanted to do.”

Toal finished up his career at Derry in the Europa Conference qualifiers, which finished up with a two-legged defeat against Latvian side Riga FC.

Wanderers’ interest materialised at the same time but Toal tried hard to keep his excitement to a minimum.

“I put it to the back of my head,” he said. “We were trying to get to the next stage so I tried to be as professional as I could. I wanted to try and keep it quiet, I didn’t want people talking about it.

“Once the manager had found out then we talked about it and he was happy for me.

“For me, as soon as Bolton said they were interested I wanted to go. But I had a job to do.”

Toal says he is “loving” life in the English third tier and is now getting to grips with the possession-based football Evatt and his side are playing.

He hopes too that success at the University of Bolton Stadium could help him catch the eye of the Northern Ireland selectors, who are already checking up on Dion Charles and Conor Bradley.

“Definitely. Anyone would want to play international football and if the opportunity came about then I’d be delighted to do it,” he added.