Cork City defender Ryan Delaney has been named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month for May. It is the first time Delaney has won the monthly award which was presented to him today by Leanne Sheill from SSE
Cork City defender Ryan Delaney has been named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month for May.
It is the first time Delaney has won the monthly award which was presented to him today by Leanne Sheill from SSE Airtricity.
The defender - who is on loan from Burton Albion - has been a rock for John Caulfield's side.
As well as his defensive performances, the 20-year-old chipped in with three goals during the month of May as City won four of their five league outings.
Caulfield's men have the best defensive record in the league and have only conceded nine goals all season as they sit 18 points clear at the top.
Delaney said: "It's nice to get this award, it shows that I have been doing something right.
"The main thing when I came here at the start of the season was to keep improving and step up my game to another level. Hopefully for the rest of the season, whatever lies, I can push on again and improve every game. Hopefully I can keep it going."
"The last month or so I feel like my performances have been getting a lot better. I feel a lot more confident and I bring that into my game on a Friday night. The main thing for me is to keep improving and hopefully push on again here in the next month or so."
As for his goalscoring purple patch, he added: "We've been doing a lot of work on the training ground on set-pieces so the main thing for me was to focus on my runs.
"The deliveries into the box have been great, so I've just had to concentrate on making my run, get half a yard and get a touch on it."
In winning the award, Delaney fended off competition from Cork City team-mate Seán Maguire, who finished second in the voting. Derry City star Aaron McEneff was third.
