Derry ace McNamee scoops April Player of the Month award

Derry City’s highly-rated midfielder Barry McNamee has been named the Airtricity/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland Player of the Month for April.

The 21-year-old pipped team-mate Ger Doherty and St. Patrick’s Athletic midfielder Greg Bolger to the award after a string of impressive performances helped the Candystripes climb the table.

Declan Devine’s side won four out of their five league games in April including a 2-1 victory over Shamrock Rovers at the Brandywell, a game which McNamee was a scorer in.

“The club has done really well in the early part of the season and we want to keep that going. I suppose winning the Player of the Month is just recognition for how well the team has done”, said McNamee.

“I’ve won awards before, like Player of the Year for my junior clubs, but nothing as big as this. But I don’t think this award is really about me, it’s about how well the team has done so far.”

The Donegal-born winger has played every minute of the Foylesiders’ Airtricity League campaign so far and has already scored four goals, three of which came during the month of April.

However, his eye-catching displays have been attracting attention from across the water since he broke onto the scene last year. McNamee had a trial with Championship side Nottingham Forest before Christmas and has been heavily linked with a cross channel move sooner rather than later.

But, the Derry ace is focusing on domestic matters and admits he and his teammates have plenty to do if they are to remain in the title race.

“I thought that I would do well this season, but I certainly didn’t think it would go this well. But now, as a team, we have to push on and try to keep picking up positive results”, he said.

“It’s up to us to push Sligo all the way. I think everyone knows that Sligo and St Pat’s are going to be up there challenging, but (Shamrock) Rovers proved their quality in the Setanta Cup final."

With the summer break just a few weeks away, McNamee knows the importance of the next two games to build-up some momentum after last week’s shock defeat to UCD.

“Everyone needs to keep an eye on everyone else. Last year, it went down to the last two or three days in the season, and I don’t think anyone is going to run away with the league this year”, he concluded.