Aaron Greene: ‘We'd a good month but I'd rather be top of the table than taking this (player of the month) award’

Shamrock Rovers striker Aaron Greene was voted SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for April.

During the month the 34-year-old striker scored five goals including braces against both Derry City and Sligo Rovers to equal his best career scoring month. He also found the back of the net in a 4-0 home win over Drogheda United.

His seven goals this season leave him second in the goalscoring charts two behind Pat Hoban and one clear of teammate Johnny Kenny (who has scored in the last four Rovers games).

That equals his best return in a season for Rovers since the seven he scored in the truncated 2020 covid season. He scored 11 times in the 2019 league campaign.

“It was a good month, more so performance (wise) for our team,” said Greene on picking up the award this week. “We'd a good month but I'd rather be top of the table than taking this award. We still have a bit of work to do."

Last week Rovers drew with Bohs in the Dublin Derby at Dalymount Park before suffering their first home league loss in 12 months when they lost to Waterford 3-1 on Monday.

The result leaves the Hoops in second place in the table three points behind Shelbourne ahead of Friday’s match at home to St. Patrick’s Athletic.

“I have seven goals and if I'm reflecting on my personal performance I think I should have a lot more. But I'm just fully focused on Pat's on Friday night because we let ourselves down big time on Monday (against Waterford)."

In a vote of SWI members, Greene won ahead of Galway United goalkeeper Brendan Clarke, who finished in second place, and James Akintunde of Bohemians.

Greene’s teammate Dylan Watts also featured on the six-man shortlist that included Shelbourne’s Gavin Molloy and Will Patching of Derry City. 

Greene, who was previously with the Hoops in 2012, has played an important part in Rovers’ success winning the league in the last four seasons but he is the first Shamrock Rovers player to win the award since Rory Gaffney in October 2022.

The other Rovers winners over the four-in-a-row period were Andy Lyons (August 2022), Danny Mandroiu (October 2021) and Jack Byrne (July and September 2020).

Greene recently hit the landmark of 50 competitive goals for the Hoops and is part of the coaching team working under Tony Cousins with Rovers’ under-20 team.

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— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) May 8, 2024