Georgie Kelly on why he joined St Pat's despite the 'lure' of Derry City return

The 23 year-old Burnfoot native, out of contract at the end of the season, held talks with Declan Devine about joining the Candy Stripes for the remainder of the 2020 campaign but opted to join the Saints on loan after much deliberation.

It was a difficult one to take for Derry fans but Kelly explains the opportunity to link up with Saints boss, Stephen O’Donnell again, who was Dundalk skipper when he first made the move to Oriel Park, sealed the deal.

“It was a personal thing,” said the striker who was playing second fiddle to Dundalk frontman, Pat Hoban in recent seasons.

“I had a strong, strong connection with Stephen from over the years and I just believed what he was doing here and I do believe in it.

“I do think we have the makings of a good side here and we will push on and push up the league. Yes, I’m more or less a local lad, I’m just 15 minutes from the Brandywell so that lure is there to want to play for Derry and weighing it all up, it was a tough decision,” he admitted.

“But Stephen was a massive, massive factor in it.”

City defenders, Eoin Toal and Ally Gilchrist kept Kelly quiet on his debut on Monday night at Inchicore before he was subbed on 64 minutes as he struggled with cramp.

“Tonight we’re very disappointed but that’s football and you can lose games on any given night to anyone. It was frustrating,” he agreed.

“We never got going and were very flat. We had a great performance on Friday night (against Dundalk) so I don’t know if it was tiredness or mental fatigue.

“We were too flat and those sloppy goals you just can’t concede.

“But even at the opposite end, we didn’t create enough. We weren’t good enough at both ends and it’s very disappointing."

The striker will be hoping to get off the mark for his new club tonight when St Pat's entertain Finn Harps tonight at Richmond Park.

“Hopefully the goals will come. We will work on it during the next few weeks and start chipping away.”

Kelly wasn’t surprised with the intensity and application shown by his old club on the night as they expected a response after a poor showing the previous Friday night.

“We knew that Declan would’ve been driving it into them that they had to bounce back from that performance. It’s never easy getting a team after a horrible defeat they got at home.

“We knew they would come down here with a bit of grit and be digging in. They kept going and grew into the game. We knew all that and we were prepared for that or I thought we were prepared so it’s just disappointing.”