CAMERON McJANNET CELEBRATED a final accolade of the 2022 season after he was named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland player of the month for November.

The Derry City star’s two goals in the FAI Cup final win over Shelbourne was enough for him to take the award, beating his Candystripes teammate Patrick McEleney in third place and UCD’s Tommy Lonergan who finished second in the voting.

Derry cruised to a 4-0 win over Shels at Aviva Stadium and McJannet took the opportunity to laud manager Ruaidhirí Higgins for the way he prepared his side for the showpiece.

“It’s great. I feel proud and honoured. I could look at it and say it was only half a month and two games, but obviously I’ll take it! I’m very happy.

“I think the gaffer and the staff set us up perfectly, almost to the point where the chances of it going wrong were very small. The result and performance showed it. Our tactics and everything were spot on.”

Derry finished second to Shamrock Rovers in the Premier Division but will be hoping to use the success of the Cup final as a springboard to sustain a title challenge in 2023.

An indication of what it would mean to the city was seen by the large travelling support who headed south to Dublin, followed by the homecoming in Derry after the trophy was secured.

“I never thought I’d score two [goals],” McJannet added. “I was maybe imagining a clean sheet or something, but the two goals were more than a cherry on top.

“It was an unbelievable day. To see how many people we made happy was unbelievable.”