General
- Wednesday April 17th, 2013 @ 8:26
RYAN OFF TO A FLYER
St Pats' 4-0 win victory against Shelbourne on Monday was a good night for Saints' fans as Liam Buckley's side climbed into third place in the Airtricity League.
However the night also proved a special one for goalkeeper Dave Ryan as the close season signing from Limerick made his full league debut.
In making his opening league appearance, Ryan followed in the footsteps of older brother Barry by playing in goals for the Inchicore side.
The 24 year old, who started in place of the injured Brendan Clarke, eased through the game for the most part as a Chris Forrester hat-trick and a Conan Byrne goal saw the Saints record their biggest victory to date in 2013.
Speaking to stpatsfc.com after the win, keeper Ryan admitted he remained in high spirits for a while after the game.
“After I left the ground and went home, I was very busy on the phone all night as I had family and friends and other people ringing me with messages about the game.
I was buzzing for a good while as it was great to get the three points and play in my first game too.”
The Clare born player admitted that having played against Glentoran in the Setanta Cup in February, only to suffer a hand hand shortly after, having the opportunity to make his debut so soon after recovering to full fitness made his debut all the more special.
“Yeah it was big for me to come back from injury and get back playing. It was really unfortunate then for Clarkey to get a knock and miss out, so once I got the call on Monday afternoon saying that I was going to play, I just wanted to take my chance.”
Monday's Dublin derby remained scoreless until just before the break, however before that Ryan was called into action on two separate occasions.
In both instances that Shelbourne threatened, Ryan was on hand to deny former Saints' striker Dean Kelly giving the away side a lead.
“Yeah I had to make a save from Dean Kelly when he was about 25 yards out, I just had to tip his shot over. And then I think I saved from him again at the far post.
I'm wasn't sure if his header was going in or not but I just wanted to get a hand to it. After that I'd a corner to claim, and from there on, the lads really did all the rest.”
Indeed once the Saints scored their first goal of the night, Ryan proved to be more of a spectator for the second half, as he saw Chris Forrester terrorise the Shelbourne defence for the whole night.
When asked about the performance of his teammate and Ireland U21 international, the keeper could only describe it as “top class.”
Ahead of Friday's upcoming clash with league leaders Sligo Rovers, the Ennis man admits to looking forward to the challenge of playing the league champions in front of a packed Richmond Park with the game also set to be covered on television on RTÉ Two.
“Playing in big games like the Dublin derbies we just had against Shelbourne and the Sligo game coming up on Friday are the reason why I wanted to come to St. Pats. I'm looking forward to the game as I think we're getting better as a team.”
“Monday's win saw us take more of our chances, and we're now playing far better outfield and gelling together well. From my own point of view, I'm getting used to the way Liam wants us to play, so I can't wait for the next game.”
