St Patrick's Athletic midfielder Alan Kirby has been voted the eircom eircom/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) Player of the Month for March after helping the Inchicore side to a flawless start to the new season.

Kirby's form has been one of the many reasons John McDonnell's side has enjoyed such impressive early form, which has seen them shoot to the top of the Premier Division and coast into the Setanta Cup semi-finals.

The former Aston Villa, Waterford United and Longford Town player scored three times in the cross border tournament this month, with two in the five nil demolition of Dungannon and one against Cork City.

Accepting the award the 29-year-old was quick to point out that it could have been any of a number of his team-mates singled out.

"It's great to get any accolade", said Kirby. "I'm delighted. It's something that I've seen a lot of other players winning over the years and always thought it would be nice to win myself."

"March was a great month for us. It's frightening really how well things have come together. Everything has clicked brilliantly and there are probably five or six other players at the club that would have deserved this award too. We've had the likes of Mark Quigley and Anto Murphy scoring plenty of goals."

Kirby also praised McDonnell's decision to form a three man central midfield partnership with himself Keith Fahey and Joseph Ndo.

"The system is making a real difference to our performance", says Kirby. "I'm used to playing as a winger but I like playing in the centre because the thing about being on the wing is that sometimes the game will pass you by and you're relying on other people to get you into the game. Our system is definitely giving other teams something to think about."

Pat's are next in action tomorrow night at Richmond Park when they host Dublin rivals Bohemians.