Conorkeeps composure despite own off-field fight
CONOR Sammon’s recent run of impressive form, that has yielded eight goals from nine games and a third consecutive McCrea Financial Services player of the month award for Partick Thistle, is all the more remarkable when you consider the worries he has had off the field of late.
Sammon’s wife, Caroline, gave birth to the couple’s second child, Louisa, a fortnight ago, but the new arrival was delivered eight weeks early after Caroline suffered from preeclampsia, and as such, she is not yet ready to leave the hospital.
As well as having to go through the agonising moment of returning home from the hospital without their child, it has been an almighty juggling act for the pair to squeeze in up to three hospital visits a day.
Thankfully, Louisa is now gaining weight and growing stronger all the time. And the distraction of football, and looking after first-born daughter, one-year-old Sophia, has helped the young parents through such a testing time in their lives.
“It’s been difficult, Sammon said. “It’s not as you imagine it, is it? You have the picture in your head of going into hospital and then coming out with your new arrival and everything being well. You get yourself ready for eight months or so and go in to have the baby, and all of a sudden you are back home, but the baby isn’t back home with you.
“It’s a strange feeling, but you have to get your head around the fact that she is in the best place possible just now, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks she will be back home with us, things will settle down and it will become a bit more normal.
HE ADDED: “It’s such a difficult situation, and you are trying to be the support mechanism for everyone really. When your partner goes through something like that, you feel helpless.
“I never appreciated how difficult it would be until we were in that position ourselves. Particularly for my missus, be- cause it’s probably even worse mentally for her.
“For me, football can be a good distraction. So, it’s a juggling act just now, but it’s all worth it and hopefully in the end it will all come good for us.”
Football, despite the famous words uttered by Bill Shankly, is far from a matter of life and death, so it is a wonder that Sammon has managed to maintain his focus to turn in the sort of performances he has recently for Thistle.
“I’m still making training every day, but you do sometimes have your mind elsewhere,” he said. “I felt as if I was in a really good place, and everything was clicking together on and off the park. Football has given me that other focus.
“I’m an optimist, just in life in general,” he said. “I try to keep my head up and look forward to things, no matter how difficult a situation I feel that I’m in.
“I’ve been through some ups and downs, like most players have. I decided this time it was up to me to make the most of this situation. I’ve looked back and thought about what I can improve, and I’ve been really on top of my fitness regime.
“I’ve seen players who are more talented than me who haven’t made the most of what they had, and I decided that wouldn’t be the case with me.”