Connor delighted to be at St Patrick's

SETANTA CUP:AFTER A NIGHTMARISH end to a frustrating spell at Cork City, Dan Connor was back in first team action for St Patrick's Athletic on Tuesday night in Inchicore where he played a key part in helping the Dubliners to establish a 4-1 lead over Sligo Rovers ahead of this evening's second Setanta Cup semi-final meeting back at the Showgrounds.

The game, and win, visibly lifted the spirits of a man whose career was derailed by the financial chaos at Turner’s Cross last year and who only completed his move to Richmond Park after sticking around to resolve his situation with the southerners.

“I probably lost three-quarters of my salary in 12 months from the end of Drogheda to the end of Cork and then coming here,” he says. “In fairness, things are changing all over the world and it’s just something you have to do, you’ve got to cut your cloth accordingly. The club are doing the same thing, everyone is.

“I’ve a wife, two kids, mortgage and all the rest. I had a rainy day fund but the fact that Cork didn’t pay us for so long meant it had to turn into a monsoon fund. You soon learn how to stretch things.

“In fairness, though, St Pat’s have been brilliant from the start.

“I’d an opportunity on deadline day to go to Darlington. The only thing you can say about Darlington (who have just been relegated out of League Two) is that you would have got lots to do so it wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world but coming here has been brilliant, they’re good, decent football people who know how to do things around the football club.”

Having arrived late and watched from the sidelines as Gary Rogers kept a succession of clean sheets, Connor has no complaints about being regarded as goalkeeping number two by manager Pete Mahon but is hopeful that he will continue to get run outs in the Setanta Cup, a competition he has already won with Drogheda United.

Barring disaster at the Showgrounds this evening, where the hosts will again be without Richard Brush and Joseph Ndo, his team-mates will be within sight of facing Bohemians or Linfield to come in next month’s final.