Town have been hit with another pre-Christmas injury blow with Shane O’Connor out for six weeks having sustained a shoulder injury in training this morning. The Blues lost keeper Brian Murphy to a broken ankle which will sideline him for three months only yesterday.
The 20-year-old Irishman, who impressed at left midfield after coming back into the side for last Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Leicester, fell heavily and ruptured and dislocated his shoulder joint. O'Connor has already missed part of this season with a hamstring injury sustained while away with the Irish U21 squad.
Speaking at yesterday's pre-match press conference, manager Roy Keane praised O’Connor and said he expected him to be involved over the Christmas period: "Shane is a good lad, an honest player and you’d have him in your squad all the time. We like Shane, even when he’s left out he shows a good attitude in the reserves.
"He’s a really honest player, who can deal with the ball in tight situations, which you’d expect from someone who came up through Liverpool. You’ve seen that in games when he seems to have got himself in a bit of bother, he’s got a little sidestep that seems to work.”
Keane says he was surprised there wasn’t more interest in O’Connor before he persuaded his fellow Cork man to give him a trial in the summer of 2009: "You’d have thought there would have been offers there, but he didn’t really play too much in the reserves before he left Liverpool, so clubs wouldn’t have seen too much of him. He’s not the biggest lad on the planet and teams do get bogged down by size.
"What I like about Shane is that he persevered with me. He pestered me, although I’d used a different word beginning with P as well!”
The Blues boss, who like O’Connor played for Cork side Rockmount as a schoolboy, says the left-sided full-back or midfielder is an example to other youngsters looking to stay in football after being released: "Shane’s story is a good one for a lot of young players trying to get in the game and make a living out of it.
"He came in here on trial a year or two ago and he’s now played 15 or so league games for us and will probably get some more over Christmas. It’s a good reflection on the boy.
"We weren’t sure about him at left-back because of his experience and because teams were targeting him that far post against his height. Shane’s been caught out once or twice but in terms of playing ahead of an experienced left-back [like Mark Kennedy], I think he might give us something. He’s a good kid, keeps his head down .”