SHAMROCK ROVERS WING-BACK Andy Lyons has been voted the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month award for August. 

Lyons scored the winning goals in Europa League and FAI Cup ties against Ferencvaros and Drogheda respectively in a month which was successful for Rovers, as they secured group-stage football in the Conference League while taking a giant stride toward retaining their league title. 

“There’s been a lot of games this month so to come out with the award is brilliant”, said Lyons. “It’s been a good season. It’s a great individual recognition, and it’s testament to the team’s performances. It was a great month for us collectively, more so in Europe, as there weren’t many league games, but to get recognised is brilliant.” 

Rovers dominated the voting, with Rory Gaffney second and Alan Mannus third. 

This will be Lyons’ only season with Rovers, as he will join Championship side Blackpool in January, though he will see out the European group campaign with Rovers. Having played at right-back for Bohemians, Lyons has been a revelation at left wing-back this season for Rovers, scoring eight goals thus far. 

“You want to believe in your own ability, but how well it has gone has surprised me a bit”, said Lyons. “It’s been a bit of a transition: the position, the full-time football as opposed to last year, it is a lot different. But I’m loving every minute of it and long may it continue. European group stages this week, and that’s another reason why I joined the club. There’s still a lot of games to play this season, and I am really looking forward to them.

“To be fair [playing at left wing-back] wasn’t something we talked about. It was more the other side, at right wing-back, I talked to [manager Stephen Bradley] about. I played right-back at Bohs but I was quite an attacking full-back, and I always thought the right wing-back would suit me down to the ground. Then up at Derry in the second game of the season, Neil Farrugia and Sean Kavanagh were both injured, and I came on thinking it would be for the last half-hour of the game. I did well and since then it has stuck. It was more by chance than anything else. It wasn’t an organised discussion we had at the start of the season, but as the months have gone on I’ve got help from the coaches and the gaffer to be as good as I can in the position.”