Way back for Scotland
I can this season but I feel sharper after the last international break.”
The ex-St Mirren man concedes the Dons have had a disappointing start to the season and blamed tiredness from the Europa League ties against Fola Esch, Ventspils and Maribor.
He said: “We were back early for the European qualifiers and you could see a lack of sharpness and a bit of tiredness in a couple of games.
“Personally, I need to pick up my
Now he feels like a puppy let off its leash for the first time. The 20-year-old has made a stunning start to the season with Dundee, Paul Hartley reinventing him as their driving force from his attacking midfield role. Yet as a first-team pro for four years at Kilmarnock O’Hara reckons he only needs one hand to count the number of times any of his managers played him to his potential. Instead he was their get out of jail card, the utility man who’d suck it up and sacrifice for the team at right- back, centre- half and defensive mid – but who ultimately thinks he never progressed an inch on a personal level because of it.
The Scotland Under-21 star said: “I’d always been a midfielder in my younger days but ended up just being the utility man at Kilmarnock, the guy who helped out here and there.
“Speaking to most of the bosses I played under there, they always said to me, ‘I see you as a midfielder’ but then never played me there for one reason or another. I never got a chance.
“But Paul convinced me I could kick on here, that he wanted me for what he saw in me. I felt like I never developed at Kilmarnock at all. I was just playing for the sake of playing, training for the sake of training, to help the team do a job.
“There was no progress on a personal level, working on things I felt could make me better. I played more than 80 games and could count on one hand the number of those that were in midfield.
“And it was never a run. It was always a one-off and back out. And it was always in the defensive role. “Which is why I was so attracted to coming here because the manager said he wanted to develop me into a more attacking midfielder and that’s where I want to play my football. “He’d watched the play-off games at the end of last season where I was playing
form a bit and although we didn’t beat Inverness last week I felt pretty good about how I played.
“Moving forward, I need to get back to being more of a goal threat and get involved higher up the pitch.
“It hasn’t been the start we were hoping for but it’s hard to put your finger on why that’s been the case.
“We have given away some cheap goals in games and not taken the chances we have created. However,
right-back and told me he thought I was wasted there.
“Sometimes you can be in that position. You’re not as involved in the play as you want to be and you have to be disciplined in your defending first and foremost. There’s less chance to express yourself.
“When I was training every day we would split and the midfielders and defenders would work on different things.
“I’d be in with the defenders, looking up at the midfield working with the attack and thinking I belonged there more.
“Obviously you must work on the defensive side of your game but I was want ing to develop the side of the game where I thought I had more to offer.”
O’ Ha r a fou nd himself stuck between a rock and a hard place at times. Thrilled to be given the opportunity to play as a teenager – including a 2- 0 win at Celtic Park weeks before his 17th birthday – but too young to chap the manager’s door and discuss his role.
He said: “I was 16 when I broke into the team and you’re happy with any kind of game-time at that age, aren’t you?
“But as time went on I had conversations with the bosses and they always just asked me to dig deep for the team because we were always a pretty tight squad and they needed me to play certain roles. I
we have been working on putting that right. The gaffer is probably in a position to pick two or three different teams now with the quality of players we have here.
“He should be confident that whoever he puts out will get the job done so we should be winning more.
“It’s not happened so far but it is up to us to prove we are stronger than we were last season.”
wasn’t going to kick up a fuss as I was playing football and told myself I had to be happy with that.
“But it did hinder my development. I just felt if I kept my head down and kept working hard I’d get a break.
“Then I tried to convince myself I saw my future at right- back because I’d played there so many times that I never imagined playing anywhere else. In a way I almost had to relearn how to play in midfield when I came to Dens.
“The first match we played was Morton in a bounce game in pre-season and I felt like a puppy running about off the leash for the first time. I did rediscover why I loved playing there.” That rediscovery, he insists, comes down to the ability of his manager to see what others hadn’t. Hartley’s been thrilled with the results – a midfielder with the rare ability to get beyond his str ikers , with and without the ball, with the athleticism and physique to go the length of the pitch in both directions as well.
O’Hara said: “It’s a nice feeling to have a manager believe that you’re bet ter than anyone who has seen you before. It’s changed my game, having someone with that level of faith in me.
“And it’s not just me, to be fair. He’s got time for everyone and is interested in making everyone a better player, which is something I haven’t experienced before.
“He’s played midfield at the top level – full international, Champions League. He knows all the tricks and that’s the perfect role model for me.”