Pats not one big happy family

Shamrock Rovers winger Sean O'Connor has hinted that things behind the scenes at his former club St Pats are not what they perhaps should be. In an interview for Hoops Scene, Rovers match day programme, he also revealed that himself and Johnny McDonnell weren't on the best of terms during his two and a half year spell at the Inchicore club.

O'Connor likened his situation to that of Stephen Rices towards the end of his time with Bohemians. Speaking about his relationship with the St Pats manager he said " While I'm grateful to Johnny McDonnell for the chance he gave me, we didn't see eye to eye and I ended up out in the cold at the club".

Unhappy with the way things were he sought permission to speak to Shamrock Rovers last July after he was made aware of Pat Scully's interest in him - however his request was declined and from that point onwards matters went even further downhill - "After that things just got worse for me. Johnny is the type of manager that if you're not in his plans he wont bother with you. He didn't speak to me or even look at me in training."

O'Connor seems to have settled well and spoke about the good atmosphere at his new club. He said " I was struck by how well all the players got on. I think thats mainly down to the fact that the players want the same thing and have the same aims". Without giving too much away he then suggested that the team at St Pats was far from unified or together " I know a lot of clubs are like that (like Rovers), but it wasn't really the case at Pats. There were different groups that stuck together and to be honest some of the lads hated each other"

The former Crumlin Utd player seems to be an integral part of Pat Scully's plans. He has started all seven league games to date and was particularly impressive against Cork and Bray. The fans have already taken to him and if he can produce more of an end product and weigh in with a handful of goals over the course of the season then it wont be long before he becomes a real favourite.

Shamrock Rovers take on St Pats on Sunday evening at Tolka Park. Kick off is 7pm.