O’Halloran’s experience to boost Hatters:
RETURNING County defender Stephen O’Halloran believes his experience will provide the Hatters with a boost to their promotion hopes after re-joining from league rivals Salford last month.
The popular left-sided defender made the move back to Edgeley Park after the Ammies became fulltime over the summer, two years after making the move to the National League North big spenders from a County side then managed by former boss Neil Young.
And the ex Aston Villa man admitted he “can’t wait” to get going again after fellow Irishman Jim Gannon made the move to bring the 29-year-old back to the club.
“Towards the end of the season, we were told Salford were going full-time and that wasn’t going to work for me. I’ve just qualified as a physio and am now working with the NHS, so I wasn’t going to change my job. To be honest, when I heard that County were still interested there was only ever going to be one club for me.”
O’Halloran admitted his previous spell with The Hatters was a ‘tough’ one, with County – then led by current Head of Academy Alan Lord – finishing 13th and 11th respectively, after a tortured start to life in the National League North under Ian Bogie.
But O’Halloran, who became a popular figure with supporters due in part to his mazy runs out of defence, believes his time away from Edgeley Park will only benefit the club after coming within one game of play-off success with Salford last season.
“I’m more experienced. We had a good cup run at Salford which helped me improve massively, and winning games regularly is always a big help.
“We had a bit of a tough time last time I was at County, we were in between managers and kicking around mid-table, but you can see in the past year the improvements and the progress Jim has made. He’s come in and got a really good squad together, so hopefully I can help that winning mentality continue, having been part of a play-off side myself last season.”
O’Halloran was joined shortly after his return by former Salford team-mate Sam Walker as one of several summer signings at Edgeley Park, and the centre-back couldn’t hide his delight at Gannon’s move for cultured midfielder Walker.
“Sam has got great experience, I obviously played with him last season. He’s got a great left foot and I think it’ll be a well-balanced midfield with the lads who are already here and who helped make it such a solid side last season.
“Sam will add a bit extra, he finds that pass through to the strikers and has that bit of creativity. Then we’ve got the lads like Daz (Stephenson), who’s looking really sharp and comes with a good reputation, so it’s all positive.
“When I was speaking to the gaffer during the summer, he was telling me all about the plans for the club and how he’s kept the majority of the players from last season.
“It shows his belief in the team from last season and how he’s wanting to build around that, so hopefully the new lads like myself can add to that.
“We were just short last season, so we can’t wait to push on and get the club and fans back to where we want to be.”
Meanwhile, attendances have continued to grow at Edgeley Park since O’Halloran’s previous stint, with the defender witnessing the large crowds last season during a 2-1 defeat of Salford in October, and the Irishman admitted he can barely wait to run out for the first time, when the Hatters host neighbours Curzon Ashton in their opening home game on Tuesday 8th August.
“I can’t wait, the fans were always great to me when I was here, and wished me well when I left.
“There was a bit of uncertainty when I left as the club didn’t really have a manager at the time, but the fans all wished me well.
“Looking forward, you can see from last season the attendances were going up and up, and a few crazy attendances in there like against FC United (when County set a league record attendance of 5,630).
“Over 1,000 season tickets is brilliant stuff, and speaking to the lads who were here last season, they were disappointed not to get into the playoffs but there’s a buzz around the club and we want that to continue.”