Gaffney does the double winning Extratime & SWAI Player awards for August

After winning the Extratime.ie Player of the Month for August, Limerick striker Rory Gaffney has done the double and been named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month for August.

It is the first time that Gaffney has won the monthly award which was presented to him today in Thomond Park.

Gaffney was in flying form in August as he bagged five goals, including a hat-trick against Bray Wanderers which was his first in senior football.

The striker has now netted 10 league goals this season and he admits things could not be going better.

"Personally for me it is great to win this award and it is a real honour," explained Gaffney.

“As a team we played three and lost three so that could have been better but we are playing well.

“The hat-trick against Bray was my first in senior football. I remember Ian Turner passed the ball to me in the 90th minute when he could have shot so I think I owe him one! He left me with an open goal."

Gaffney puts his terrific form down to the help he is getting from the players around him. He also reckons that boss Martin Russell - who was appointed in July - has been a huge plus for the team.

"Martin has brought in some terrific players and that has helped. We now have some attacking players that I think we might have been missing before," he said.

"That's not to say the players that we had before were bad players, but at the moment I think we have really clicked as a group and that is helping me to get more goals."

Gaffney is hoping to keep his goalscoring run going as the season enters its final stages.

"We've been playing better as a team lately and hopefully we can keep that going. At the start we weren't playing well but the new players helped," Gaffney added.

"Hopefully I can kick on now and get some more goals before the season is over. That would be great."

In winning the award, Gaffney saw off competition from Dundalk's David McMillan who finished second and Bohemians striker Dinny Corcoran who was third.