CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH
King relishing injury free season at Pat’s
SAM BONE is poised to join St Patrick’s Athletic after Billy King put pen to paper on a new deal at Richmond Park.
Defender Bone, 22, l eft Waterford FC l ast month and didn’t mince his words about the circumstances of his departure.
“While I have stayed professional, I am leaving the club with an incredibly sour taste in my mouth,” he tweeted. “I feel incredibly let down by the club.”
Bone ( circle) was unable to play in the last five weeks of the season due to a hamstring injury before ending his two- year association with the Blues.
He joined the club for the 2020 campaign having spent part of the previous season there on loan from Shamrock Rovers but now joins a Saints squad with fellow newcomers John Mountney, Ronan Coughlan, Deivid
Titovs, Jordan Gibson and Paul Cleary.
King, meanwhile, is hoping for a non- stop 2021 with St Pat’s after the
Covid lockdown halted momentum
– at a club and personal level.
King, 26, has signed back for a second season with the Saints and will soon leave his Scottish home to return to Dublin, where he will self- isolate before starting pre- season training.
“I just can’t wait to get back into pre- season now and get back involved in football, it feels like it’s been a long time off,” said the former Hearts, Rangers and Dundee United winger.
“I ’m delighted, I loved it over there last season and hopefully this season goes smoothly without any stoppages.”
King’s high point last season was scoring the winner against Cork City on March 6 at Richmond Park, his first goal for his new club.
It was only the Saints’ fourth league game of the season – but like all of their Premier Division rivals, they wouldn’t play again until the end of
July as the league went into shutdown.
“The place kinda erupted,” smiled King.
“You miss that so much now, looking back on it and that was the weekend my mates came over as well so we had a decent night out – the last one before everything shut down.
“It was a great game, that. It feels so long away, having fans there, so hopefully we can get them back in soon.
“I feel li ke we went through patchy s p e l l s t h e r e a f t e r b e c a u s e of t h e stoppage, so now I’m hoping we get off to a good start.
“I l oved liv ing over there. The dre s si ng- r o om was g re a t , t h e gaffer, the coaches were good. I started of f well in the f irst four games at a decent l evel and then obviously there was the Covid break.
“When I came back
I had a couple of injuries that set me back, I di dn’t get back to full fitness until the last couple of games which was frustrating for me.
“So I want to get a good pre- season under my belt, try and get the same start as last season.”
Saints boss Stephen O’donnell said:
“Billy knows what I ’m expecting of him.
“If he comes back in the same condition he was in during the last pre- season, we’ l l have a r i ght good player on our hands and one o f t h e b e s t w i n g e r s i n league.
“I ’m really looking forward to him kicking on.”