MARCUS CAVAROLI Kane’s well able as he produces top performance
THE opportunity for revenge was a big incentive for Conor Kane and his Drogheda United teammates as they prepared for Friday’s visit of Cabinteely - and the Boynesiders managed to draw a line under that previous defeat at Stradbrook.
‘It was a big motivator,’ the 19-year-old left-back admitted afterwards. ‘That’s what we were talking about in training on Wednesday and Thursday. We owe these one.
‘They are a hard team to play against - they’ve taken points off Shels and UCD and the likes of those teams, but we knew that their away form was a bit dodgy and we could take them up here.
‘It’s a big result for us. It was a scrappy game, but the management is building for the future and looking to create a good squad up here and work hard for each other.
‘They’re obviously a tough team to play against. We lost in Stradbrook a couple of months ago on a bad pitch, but up here we play on a better surface and that suits us a lot more.’
Kane has been an ever-present in the number 3 jersey this season, and only two outfield players started more Drogheda games than him in 2017, so has it been a tough schedule physically for the slightly built teenager?
‘I look after myself,’ he responded. ‘I don’t really go out - I prefer to stay in and mind my body just to get the best out of it. As you see, I’m up and down the wing all day and it doesn’t stop.
‘I don’t really know who would come in [if I got injured], but I’d say Ciaran [Kelly]. He’s played left-back a few times. I played with Ciaran at Pats and with my school team, so I know he can play at left-back and do a good job.
‘I’ve known him since I was nine or 10. I travel with him to training and games and it’s handy for him that when he was settling in, he had me there showing him the ropes.’
Having played in the top flight last season, did Kane give consideration to leaving Drogheda in the hope of securing Premier football with another club?
‘No, I like playing up here,’ he responded. ‘There’s a good atmosphere and the lads who were here last year - the likes of Sean [Brennan] and Jake [Hyland] - are all good lads and Dermot [McKenna, player liaison officer] was onto me straightaway to keep me on, no matter who the manager was going to be.
‘I wanted to be playing nearly every game, as it was last year.
‘My first year in senior football was crazy, but this year it’s a difficult playing style and a different atmosphere, the manager has put a lot of faith in the boys and there’s more confidence and we’re playing good football.’
Speaking before yesterday’s game at Tolka Park, Kane looked ahead to the back-toback away games with fellow promotion hopefuls Shelbourne, UCD and Longford Town with confidence.
‘The aim would be to win all of them, but I think we’d be happy enough to come out with seven points,’ he said.
‘I know the two games we’ve lost were on the road, but we’re still solid enough away from home and set up well to play those teams.’