General
- Tuesday November 30th, 2010 @ 15:47
ROGERS AND KENNA SIGN FOR SAINTS
St Patrick's Athletic today confirm that goalkeeper Gary Rogers as well as central defender Conor Kenna have re-signed for the club for the 2011 season.
A tight defensive unit was central to St Pat's strong performance last year and both Rogers and Kenna starred in helping the Saints keep 16 clean sheets in the league.
Both players are busy preparing for their own weddings but each took time out to speak to stapatsfc.com on playing for the Saints next season:
Gary Rogers - “Overall, I was pleased with the way the season went last year.
We started well, had a settled back five for most of the season and it was only towards the end of the season when the squad was stretched that things started to trail off a bit for us.
Pete knows the league well and if he can keep the players he wants to keep and bring in a few more players to freshen things up then I'm sure we'll be a stronger outfit.
You would hope next season would lead to better things as I really feel the club needs to win something at this stage.
I know Chris (Bennion) has re-signed which means more competition for me so my focus for 2011 will be to keep playing in that number 1 jersey for as long as possible.
To be honest a week or two after the season ended I started to miss the football.
I was doing a bit of coaching last week with the FAI course, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm already looking forward to getting back playing.
I have my training schedule and the plan now is to keep fit.
It was good to see the interest in Dave McAllister by Sheffield United.
There was a lot of talk in the papers about various clubs being interested in players like Paddy Madden but Dave just seemed to work away quietly under the radar.
It just shows that there are people watching this league and there are opportunities out there for young players, which has to be a good thing for the league”.
Though Gary is busy with his wedding due to take place just after Christmas he hopes to still attend the upcoming supporters' end of year celebration night in McDowells on Saturday Dec 11th.
Conor Kenna – “Obviously I'm delighted to be playingfor Pat's again in 2011, it shows that there was good spirit in the team when you see the players coming back.
We faded a little bit at the end of last season so if we can improve on that you never know what can be achieved.
Pete did a great job last year in building the team and I am sure he will be looking to strengthen the team for the new season.
He generally has a certain type of player in mind and he goes out after that type of player so I am sure he has another few in mind.
It is reassuring to sign for Pat's as a lot of players are out of contract at the moment so it puts your mind at ease and getting married in a few weeks means I've plenty on my mind at the moment.
I was delighted to be voted the fans player of the year, I was shocked to be honest but it was something that I really appreciated.
At the start of last season we were all new players, the fans hardly knew any of us but they got right behind us from the start and put a lot of effort into supporting the team and you could definitely feel that over the season”.
St Patrick's Athletic would encourage all supporters to get behind the team for the new season and take out a 2010 Season Ticket.
Forms are available from the club shop or can be downloaded from here
