The Ross Gaynor Interview

Ross Gaynor is thoroughly enjoying his spell with the Drogs having joined on loan from Sporting Fingal in July. In his early years the Ardee native only ever played Gaelic Football and lined out for Louth at U-14 & U-16 level . At 12 he joined Ardee Celtic and proceeded to win the Golden Boot in the Milk Cup competition with the Dundalk League squad before being signed by Belvedere in Dublin. At 15 he was signed by Millwall where he went on to make 10 first team appearances and later on loan to Sutton United where he scored a hat-trick on his debut! Ross also represented Ireland at U-17s, U-18s, U-19s, U-21s & U-23s and scored twice on his debut for the u-21s. His 17 year old brother Dean lines out for the Drogs U-20s/Reserves and is already highly rated at the club.

You really seem to be enjoying your football at the moment with Drogheda. You’re making a huge difference to the team.
Yes definitely I feel much more settled now in the team. The longer I’m here the more settled I’ve become. We’re really starting to gel together as a team .We’re full of confidence and were unlucky not to beat Cork last week .I’m happy enough with my own performances but I’d really love to get my first goal for the club.

It’s amazing to think that you were 12 when you first started playing soccer!
Well nowadays there are two excellent clubs in Ardee, Square Utd and Ardee Celtic with both now having an excellent underage set-up. A few years ago Ardee was more GAA than anything else.

How did things go for you at Sporting Fingal?
At first I was thrilled to be joining such an ambitious club. There are so many good players there but when I wasn’t getting my game on a regular basis, I became unsettled and asked for a move. I’ll always remember turning up for training on the first day and seeing a total of 25 players arriving! At my age I want to be playing all the time. I just wasn’t enjoying the rotation system as even if I did play well one week I could be dropped the next!

Who were you competing with at Fingal?
Usually it’d be Alan Kirby. He’d play half the games and I’d play the other half.

How do you feel about their 4-2 win over Bray to reach the FAI Cup Final?
I’m delighted for all the lads there and I still keep in touch with quite a few . It’s a great boost for the club and I’d love to see them beat Sligo in the final.

How would you compare Drogheda with Sporting Fingal and Cobh Ramblers where you played last year?
Drogheda are my local club and I’m very happy to be back living in Ardee after living away from home in Cork and Dublin. Drogheda is a massive club and is well supported compared to a lot of other teams in the league. The Drogheda fans are really passionate about their football and always create a good atmosphere whether they’re home or away.

Cobh have lost the battle to stay in the league. Things must have been pretty bad when you were there?
You never knew when or how much you were going to be paid. Some weeks you’d get half your wages and others you’d get none at all! That said the Cobh fans are really vocal and very like the Drogs fans. I got to know manager Stephen Henderson very well and am not surprised to see him doing a great job at Waterford.

Things couldn’t have been more different when you were playing for Millwall’s first team in front of crowds of up to 20,000!
Yeah I got a great buzz playing in front of such big crowds. The atmosphere in games against the likes of West Ham was unbelievable. It was a great club to be with for a while but with so many changes of manager (six in my time there!) it was almost impossible for us to have contracts renewed. There wasn’t much trouble at many games as the serious hooligans are all banned!

There were a few other Irish players when you were at Millwall
Yeah Mark Quigley (now St.Pat’s) and Timmy Clancy from Trim (currently with Kilmarnock) were there as well as three lads from the North.

Apart from all the bad publicity about clubs in financial trouble, what do you make of the league this year?
I think the standard overall is improving all the time. It’s great to see the two at the top battling it out to the very end while at the bottom it’s even more nail-biting with so much at stake and down to the very last game. It is a shame that all the headlines this year seem to be on what’s happening off the pitch.

What kind of interests do you have outside of football?
I love playing golf and tennis. Any kind of sport really.

Is there much interest in football in your family?
Yeah only for dad driving me up to Belvedere three times a week I’d probably be still playing Gaelic! My Grandad also goes to most of my games and my brother Dean is big into football too

If it was a thing that we were to play Sporting Fingal in a play-off, do you know if you would be eligible to play?
Well so far I have been told that I’d be ok to play in such a situation, as nothing has been written in the loan agreement to prevent me from playing.

You’ve made a big impact since you’ve come to Drogheda. Many of the fans will be hoping that you will be back again next season. Would you happy to be asked to stay with the club?
I’d love to stay with Drogheda though to be honest I’d only really want to play in the Premier Division. All going well we’ll make sure that happens in the next few weeks! We’re afraid of no-one and we’re looking forward to the challenge.