‘Knocks make me appreciate this more’

PENDER, 34 on Tuesday, has come through enough dark ones to reach this point. ‘It’s all about perseverance in this league,’ he states. He’s not wrong. When he was 21 and an unheralded right back at Dublin City, the club folded. Luckily he had his job with AIB for financial security.

‘Dermot Keely told me not to worry, that I was good enough to play in the league. But after a few days of no phone calls and seeing some of the more established lads get sorted out, I just thought “f**k this, I want to play football.”’

That perseverance was needed again over the course of a year when he suffered an Achilles injury in May 2015. Out of action for nine months and unable to work for the first three of his recovery because of a protective boot, Pender had to dig deep into his well of selfmotivation and discipline.

It’s a trait he sees in teenage teammate Andy Lyons, whom he gives a lift to training each week. ‘He’s in Blackrock College so he’s going from school,’ he says. ‘Imagine that, that’s how young they are now. You have to want to put in the hard work. I was too young to consider quitting when I had the injury. I would miss the Friday nights too much. I saw what Keith [Long, manager] was doing at the club and I could feel stuff pushing forward with him.

‘I wanted to be a part of that. I didn’t want to leave. I thought something good was going to happen and something good might still happen.’