Shamrock Rovers star Mandroiu wins Player of the Month award

Shamrock Rovers midfielder Daniel Mandroiu has been voted the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for October.

The 23-year-old has been a key player as the Hoops claimed their second consecutive league title.

His four goals last month were enough to top the voting ahead of St Patrick’s Athletic pair Darragh Burns and Matty Smith.

He followed up with another two goals last Friday in Rovers' 3-1 win in Waterford.

That moved him to 14 goals in the league - the last player to hit more than Mandriou for Rovers in a league campaign was Gary Twigg back in 2012.

“It’s a very nice feeling,” Mandroiu said. “Obviously, no one at Rovers has won the award this year. I don’t know how to be honest, but it’s nice to win it."

Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has previously been vocal about the fact none of his players had won the award before today, despite winning the league - see here.

The Ex-Brighton & Hove Albion player praised his managers’ impact and spoke about his international ambitions.

“Stephen has been brilliant with me, on and off the pitch,” he said. “He took me after sessions to work on what I needed to work on and I’ve still got things I can improve.

“It’s not just Stephen but Glenn [Cronin], Stephen McPhail... all of them have been great.

“A big goal of mine is to play for my country so hopefully it comes soon. For now, I’m just focusing on the club and if that comes around it comes around.”