The news comes as no surprise given the former Waterford boss, who stepped down from the role at the RSC just seven days, had been linked with the post in Louth, as well as a possible gig with the Republic of Ireland U21s.

The Airtricity League champions had an opening on their staff after assistant manager Ruaidhri Higgins was appointed to Stephen Kenny's senior Republic of Ireland management structure last month.

Reynolds will join an operation headed by manager Vinny Perth and first-team coach John Gill at Oriel Park.

“Dundalk is a fantastic club and I’ll be working with a fantastic group of players so it would have been hard to turn down an offer like this,” Reynolds told dundalkfc.com.

“In fairness to Vinny and Dundalk, they went about things the right way. They asked Waterford for permission to speak to me and that was granted by the club. We’ve spoken a few times over the past couple of weeks and I’m just happy it’s done now.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I need to adapt to becoming an assistant again and helping Vinny and John. It’s something I’ll have to get used to again but I’m looking forward to getting stuck in now.”

Reynolds did an excellent job at Waterford, taking the club back up to the Premier Division in his first season in charge and securing a fourth-place finish in their next campaign. A place in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League was denied them due to a technicality arising from Uefa's Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.

A player with Waterford, Longford Town, Cork City, Shamrock Rovers, and Shelbourne, he took over as player-coach with Waterford in 2004 and took them to an FAI Cup final where they were beaten by Longford.

His apprenticeship in the dugout included spells at Derry City, St Pats, and Cork City before taking over at Waterford again. He departed the Blues last week after three-and-a-half years in charge.

The south-east club has temporarily laid off its players and management as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and the club expressed its understanding at Reynolds' decision to leave and thanked him for his contribution while in charge.

Dundalk have also announced the short-term signing, pending international clearance, of former USA international winger Joshua Gatt who featured for the Irish champions in a pre-season friendly against Longford Town back in February.

Now 28, Gatt played twice for the USA at senior level back in 2012 and 2013 and has enjoyed a nomadic club career. His first European port of call was in Austria with SC Rheindorf Altach before a move on to Molde in Norway, who were then managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Injury ruined his ambitions there and there have also been spells since with Minnesota United, Colorado Rapids, and Detroit City, as well as another at SC Rheindorf Altach before going back to the USA in May 2019.