He's scarcely the only one to have been considering his future at Richmond Park over the past couple of months but while some of those around him eyed moves to other clubs, Packie Lynch spent the early part of the summer weighing up whether the time was right to hang up his boots.

Having just completed a move between financial institutions, the 27-year-old defender reckoned that the demands of continuing to play at one of the country's most ambitious clubs would prove a little too much to cope with. "I was thinking about it for a while," he said "because I had to decide whether I was being fair to everyone involved, but in the end I think we sorted things out fairly well and I'm looking forward to getting going again."

It could, he feels, be the start of a new era at St Patrick's Athletic which had shown over the past few years that it had learned how to achieve success. "The problem was, I think," that the success wasn't handled well by the club or the players.

"From the time of the European misadventure there was something not quite right around the place, the whole thing had gone stale. After a while it was obvious that there would be people who wanted to move on, who would benefit from a fresh start, and a few have (Thomas Morgan who went to Newry Town over the weekend is the latest to depart), but I think there's a sense within the club now that those who decided to stay have made a renewed commitment to the club and there'll be a bit more hunger about them again."

Out of contract over the summer Lynch could easily have moved on but it didn't take him long to realise that he wanted to stay on too. The decision has meant having to fit in what is probably the most rigorous training schedule in the league with a very demanding career in banking while, in recent weeks, carrying a bit of an injury.

Now the former UCD skipper feels he is in good shape and after coming on against Blackburn Rovers last Saturday night he's hoping to win back his place for the visit to Cork . . . well, win back a place at any rate.

"When I was brought on against Blackburn it was into the centre of the park which was a bit of a shock, I hadn't played there in something like five years. I think part of it was Blackburn were a fairly strong side and they'd given the lads a bit of a running in the first half so he just wanted to settle thing a bit."

"But", he adds "he probably didn't want to break up the partnership (of Stephen McGuinness and Colm Foley) that had played in central defence all through the pre-season."

Like his manager, Pat Dolan, Lynch rates Foley, whose signing was prompted by the departure of Colin Hawkins, highly and sees him as one who could very quickly make a name for himself after the move from Drogheda United.

"There obviously won't be the same level of expectation about us this year but even if it takes a few months for everything to fall into place I still think we can do well this season. I'm not saying that we're going to run away with the league or anything but I firmly believe that we can surprise a few people."

Not as much as they did last season, perhaps, but from here on in the feeling clearly is that the surprises will be of the more pleasant variety.