Tallaght man Purdy has the Hoops in his sights
IT could be an interesting weekend for Tallaght native Richie Purdy if his Drogheda United side manage to cause an upset in their FAI Cup first round tie against Shamrock Rovers on Friday evening.
With teammate Sean Brennan suspended, the young midfielder could be poised to feature against the Hoops, for whom he played as a teenager before eventually leaving to join Drogheda.
Having to take the decision to move on from his home team, whose father - also Richie - played for himself, was a difficult one, but the younger Purdy only looks back on his time with Shamrock Rovers with fondness.
‘It was good, joining Rovers as a kid straight out of school and training full-time with some great players, so it was a great learning curve and it’s got me to where I am today,’ he said.
‘I think it was the right decision, though [to leave], to be fair. There were a lot of senior players there and chances were at a minimum, so I just had a meeting with the gaffer and we came to a mutual decision that it was best for me to move on, get games under my belt and get a bit of experience.
‘I’m just looking forward to a good game against them, my home team. I live just two minutes away [from Tallaght Stadium], so I’m looking forward to a good week’s training and getting going on Friday.
‘It’s always good to keep winning and it would be great for confidence if we can get as far as we can in the Cup.
‘We just want to put on a good performance and the rest will take of itself, and hopefully we’ll get the win.’
It was the proverbial ‘ game of two halves’ in the league match against Galway United last Friday and Purdy - making his 50th start in Drogheda colours - couldn’t explain why the Boynesiders were very much second best in the opening half.
‘We didn’t really get going in the first half and got ourselves in at half-time, and after the break I think we bossed it and deserved to get back into the game and were unlucky not to get a winner,’ he said.
‘Tim never really goes mad, to be fair. He’s always calm and just told us what we needed to work on, and we tried to go out and do it in the second half. I thought it was a well-earned point.
‘Obviously we were hoping to get the three when we got a free in the last minute. I don’t get the chance to take too many free kicks, not with Sean Brennan in the team, and I tried to step up, but the keeper made a good save, to be fair.’