John McDonnell has made a number of astute close-season signings and, with the new campaign just three days away, he is walking with a noticeable pep in his step. Paul O'Hehir talks to the St Patrick's Athletic manager.
There are signs the rebuilding and reshaping of the fallen giants - which, for supporters more accustomed to winning league titles, has indeed been a slow and painful process - is definitely gathering pace.
Planning for what will be just his second full season in charge has been busy, "very, very busy" but, with significant new additions, John McDonnell is confident of improving the stock at Inchicore.
"It’s been very busy what with trying to get fellas in, chasing fellas, meeting fellas," says the Dubliner.
"We’ve met 12 or 14 lads and got seven of them in. But its been difficult as we haven’t had much of a break. In saying that, though, I’m really looking forward to getting the first league match under way."
Trevor Molloy, Mark Rutherford, Mark Quigley and Lee Roche have all signed from Shamrock Rovers while Paul Keegan arrives from Longford Town, Anto Murphy from UCD and Dave Mulcahy from Waterford.
Significantly, though, four of the seven are regular strikers and McDonnell, who would be more than satisfied with a top six finish, has targeted goal-getting as the key area in which his team must improve.
St Patrick’s finished a disappointing 10th of 12 last season but although just five points off the relegation play-off, they still boasted the sixth best 'goals against' record in the top-flight.
However, as pleasing as that statistic may sound, no team in the division, or indeed, for that matter, in the entire eircom League, scored fewer goals than St Patrick's.
"It wasn’t one of the more pleasing aspects of last season, that’s for sure," McDonnell concedes. "But if we can keep the goals against similar to last season and then also score a few more, then hopefully we can get in and around the top half of the table."
Despite scoring just three goals for Rovers last season - one of which came in the cup - Molloy’s return to Inchicore - where he won league titles in 1998 and 1999 - is seen as something of a coup.
At Rovers, he was often asked to play wide or deep by then manager Roddy Collins but, despite some courageous performances, he finished the season shot of confidence owing from the unfamiliar roles thrust upon him.
"You’ve got to give Trevor a specific role," says McDonnell, "one he really enjoys."
"I think that’s been his problem in the last few years. He’s probably been trying to work a bit harder because he was captain at Shamrock Rovers, trying to help out down the middle and on both flanks."
The 28-year-old striker is just 17 goals shy of the league’s centurions club and attempting to break into that group, McDonnell says, will spur the player on and, in the process, hopefully propel the club up the table.
"It’s a huge ambition for Trevor to join those other players," explains McDonnell of the 38-strong list - five of whom are current players - with 100 or more goals in their careers.
"We definitely see him as an out and out striker working off the new front man Paul Keegan. He plays his best football working off a bigger man and hopefully he can supply us with a few more goals."
Despite his targets, McDonnell is grounded enough not to get too carried away with the hype of a new season. Achieving and reaching his goals, slowly but surely, is his mantra although, he concedes, a cup run would provide a spur.
"I’d love to go well in the cups this year," he admits. "Winning anything would breath a bit of confidence among the players and it would also be good for the supporters. That’s the kind of feeling I’d like around the club again."
