O'Donovan On Second Stint At Coventry
Last updated : 28 October 2010 By Covsupport News Service/RD
Aidy Boothroyd has signed three former Coventry City players since he became their manager earlier in the year.
He brought in Lee Carsley and Gary McSheffrey from Birmingham City, both of whom played for the Sky Blues before moving on to other clubs. The other player he brought back to the club was striker Roy O'Donovan.
O'Donovan was born in Cork in 1985 and has made a total of ten appearances for Ireland B and Ireland under 21's. He signed for Coventry City as a trainee in 2001, but was told to leave the club in 2004 without ever playing a single game for the club.
He returned to Ireland and played for Cork from 2005 until 2007. He played 74 timers for them and scored 31 goals. He was recruited by Sunderland and moved to the north east in 2007 where he made 17 appearances, but failed to score. He spent much of his time on loan from Sunderland at Dundee United, Blackpool, Southend United and Hartlepool. It was his performances at Hartlepool that attracted the attention of Aidy Boothroyd. In his 15 games here he scored 9 goals.
In 2010, he moved back to Coventry City, but he has not impressed the fans with a string of missed chances in pre-season and has not figured prominently in Boothroyd's team sheets.
Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph, O'Donovan said: "It was nice to make my debut at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday but it has been a frustrating start to my second spell at Coventry to be perfectly honest."
"It hasn't been what I expected and the gaffer will probably admit that he expected me to play more as well, but he signed a couple of players and we have been getting results. When a team are winning games it is hard to moan about not getting in the team, but hopefully Saturday is the start of me getting some more minutes on the pitch now."
"Competition is really fierce and they are all good players but they are all completely different to what I can offer, so hopefully the manager will notice that. He has signed me for three seasons and hopefully he wouldn't have brought me here for nothing. I can get in behind, I am quick and I am a goal threat, so hopefully I will get a few more opportunities and maybe get a couple of chances on goal."
"I can play out wide as well, as I did when I was at Blackpool and played out there most of the time at Cork City but listen, I'd play in goal if it meant getting out on that pitch. But Saturday is a start for me and hopefully I can push on. I have got to work as hard as I can in training and stay sharp. I have felt sharp for the last five or six weeks but we have been getting results and while we have been leading 1-0 it is a question of does he need to throw a striker on and sometimes the answer is no he doesn't."
"Even in games when we have been losing, like against Cardiff when they scored in the 86th minute, he couldn't really throw me on because it is the same kind of thing, but I think I have something to offer here and I wouldn't have stuck around as long without playing if I didn't think that, so hopefully I will be more involved from hereon in."
"Obviously I want to play football and I really did think I would have featured more here but I got injured in the pre season at the wrong time and he signed players and that set me back an awful lot, but I think it is meant to be and once I do get my chance here, it is up to me to take the bull by the horns and if it works out I will be delighted."
"If I have to move on at the end of the season or whatever I will think about a loan then but at the moment I just want to concentrate on Coventry City. I would love to be part of it with the team doing so well, but that's why it has been hard to get in, so I am just biding my time now. When I went to Hartlepool on loan last year I played from February until the end of the season and played week in, week out and that's when you get your form and sharpness."
"I thought I was getting that in the pre season but I struggled with bone bruising in my foot and that has hampered me and the gaffer signed Lukas and Marlon in between that but I think I can do well here and it is just a matter of waiting. I have settled in well and the lads are great, so everything is brilliant except I haven't played enough games and that's the be all and end all for a footballer."
"Sometimes you need a bit of luck and I think with strikers it is all luck because if you get one chance and it goes in off your backside it can change your career, so hopefully I'll score one like that if I get on the pitch on Saturday."