St Patrick's Athletic defender opens up on long-term injury ordeal as he pledges to repay Stephen Kenny's faith

Tom Grivosti spent more than 12 months on the sidelines with an ACL injury.

By: irishmirror.ie

Jul 04 2024
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St Patrick's Athletic defender

Tom Grivosti says he is ready to repay the faith new St Patrick’s Athletic boss Stephen Kenny has shown in him.

The defender is back in action after a year on the sidelines with a ruptured ACL and he admits it would have been easy for Kenny to ignore him.

“That's what happened at my old club. I had a long-term injury and the new manager came in and we didn't have a reserve team,” he said.

“So I just worked as hard as I could to not be in that situation where you can't get in the team as a senior. So I played for the 20s and stuff like that.

“To be fair, the manager has been unbelievable with me. He's thrown me in before he needed to and stuff like that. He showed real faith in me, so big thanks to him.

“It's not easy for a manager to come in when [a player is] injured and to then go and play him but he's done that with me so I can't thank him enough.”

The Liverpool-born defender opened up about his year on the sidelines and the disappointment of missing last November’s FAI Cup final.

“It was really difficult,” he said. “You kind of get your head around that you're going to be out for a long period of time. Then you end up missing the Cup final, which is hard.

“You just try to get back for the season and then you miss pre-season, you miss the start of the season. The lads were struggling and you just want to help as best as you can. “Thankfully, I'm in that position to try to help the lads and the team. And listen, it's behind me now. I've come through it and I'll just carry on looking forward.

“(Cup final day was) proper mixed emotions. It's more positive because obviously it's an unbelievable day for the club.

“But you don't feel as part of it as you probably would do, even if you were on the bench and stuff like that. An unbelievable day but you just wish you could have played a little bit.

“I didn't play a cup game, so I didn't feel like I'd won the cup, you know what I mean? That's sad, but hopefully, I've got a chance now to go in the cup this season and hopefully win the cup this year.”

Pat’s boss Kenny paid tribute to the club’s medical team for helping Grivosti get back to full fitness.

“They have been terrific getting the players back to a level having been out for so long, Tom out for a year,” said the former Ireland boss.

The Saints are in Waterford tonight to face Keith Long’s high-flying side - and memories of Padraig Amond’s first-half brace in a 3-1 win in March are still fresh at the RSC.