Stephen O'Donnell praises young guns as Saints continue their unbeaten start to the season

St Patrick’s Athletic boss Stephen O’Donnell has praised his sides young guns after they maintained their unbeaten start to the 2021 season.

The Saints find themselves joint-top after six games and have won their opening three games on the spin at Richmond Park.

However, despite his side’s quick start to the 2021 campaign, O’Donnell is refusing to get carried away just yet.

“We were the dominant team for the majority of the game but at one-nil you’re always on edge – a strike from distance or a set-piece could catch you out,” he said after the game on Tuesday night.

“We didn’t look like we were holding on; we were the ones pressing at the end. We’re happy to have the win, we can’t take any wins in this league for granted. That’s three out of three at Richmond so we’re happy with that.”

It was another clean sheet for the Saints who have looked strong at the back since the arrival of Liverpool loanee Viteslav Jaros.

“(I’m) very happy with the defence,” he added. “They had a couple of efforts from long-range but that was about it so we’re happy.

“It’s always a good platform when you’re not conceding many at the back, you’ll always have a chance of scoring with our attacking players. We’re happy with the win but we know we can improve.

“It’s a good start but there’s only six games gone. Nobody remembers the league table after six games – it’s about staying there and just improving week on week in training. The league table will look after itself.”

The Athletic also handed starts to teenage duo Darragh Burns and Ben McCormack – with the latter making his first competitive start for the club.

“He done well,” O’Donnell said on Burns. “He’s got off to a flyer. He likes that goal down there where he scored against Derry so we’re very happy with him.

“He just needs to keep going. The easy part is getting there. He needs to keep there and improving – that’s the hard part.

“Ben McCormack was very good as well I thought. He was excellent for the 65/70 minutes he played.

“He had some really good spatial awareness and picked up some very good pockets of space so he can be delighted with himself.”