Sligo Rovers striker on the setback he overcame to win Player of the Month award

Wilson Waweru has described how he overcame an early setback in his Sligo Rovers career to emerge as the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for July.

The 23-year-old joined the Bit O’ Red from Galway United at the start of the year, but had to bide his time before making his first-team breakthrough.

Waweru’s progress was halted when manager John Russell succeeded in bringing New Zealand international Max Mata again on-loan for the first-half of the season.

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Mata returned to parent club Shrewsbury Town this summer before joining A-League side Auckland on-loan.

Since then, Waweru has emerged as a star for Rovers in their recent upsurge in form.

Reflecting on his award, he said: “It just comes down to training, it starts from the training ground.

“You keep banging in goals in training, when it comes to matchday you just bring it on to the pitch and it will just flow like that, week in week out.

“You just have to get your head screwed on in training and then that will flow into the match.

“When he (Russell) signed me, I thought I’d be the main striker but then Max Mata came in and I had to be patient.

“I was just working hard in training and once Max left, it was my time to come in and prove that I could be that number one striker and I’ve been showing it.”

Waweru started out at Mervue United, before joining Galway United at academy level. He went on loan to Cobh Ramblers last year before joining Sligo last January.

He added: “It’s a great achievement for me to get (the first) proper award I’ve ever gotten in my career, especially since when I was in the Premier Division, so it’s just a great achievement for me.

“I’m just delighted to help out the team, and more so receive the award.”

Waweru saw off competition from five other players, including teammate Ollie Denham, to win the monthly award.