Back-to-back winner, John Martin collected his Dundalk FC August Goal of the Month award at the home of our official Mobility Partners, Blackstone Motors, this week.
The 24-year-old’s sensational free-kick against Shelbourne at Oriel Park on August 4th was the landslide winner of the monthly poll, collecting over 85% of the votes on our Twitter page alone.
It is the third trophy that John has collected in recent weeks. He was presented with the 1903 Supporters Club Player of the Month award for July before last Friday’s game with Derry City and also won the July Goal of the Month award for his strike against FCB Magpies at Oriel Park.
At this rate, the Martin household back in Kilkenny may need a bigger mantelpiece! “Yeah, the trophies are building up nicely,” he smiled. “My mam might have to find a few more places to put them.
“I really appreciate the support from the fans, who gave me the Player of the Month award, and then they were two good goals that won the Goal of the Month trophies. I think the one against Shels was a bit better than the one against the Magpies though!
“I scored it early in the month, August the 4th, so there was a chance for somebody to get one better than it so it was nice in the end to win it.”
John Martin receives the 1903 Dundalk FC Supporters Club Player of the Month award for July from Frank Carolan and Barry Kerr. Photo: Gerry Scully
The goal against Shelbourne will undoubtedly be up there when it comes to the Goal of the Season awards but Martin said he was more concerned about what silverware Dundalk can pick up as a team, primarily the FAI Cup.
Martin missed the 3-1 defeat against Derry City with a hamstring niggle but he is on course for a return when Dundalk make the trip west to face high-flying Division One outfit Galway United in Friday week’s quarter-final tie at Eamonn Deacy Park.
“It would be nice to win the Goal of the Season award but it’s not really the kind of stuff you think about,” he said. “You’re more thinking about the bigger awards, accolades and cups that you can win together as a team.
“There’s no getting away from it, it’s a massive game in Galway on Friday week. They’re flying in Division One, they’ve only lost twice all season and John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan are doing a great job there.
“We played Waterford last year at the same stage and they beat us and we know it’ll be a similar kind of atmosphere over in Eamonn Deacy Park. They’ll have a full crowd but hopefully, we can take a good number over as well.
“It won’t be easy by any means but I think our last couple of performances, even though we haven’t picked up any points, have shown that we’re building something and we’re really looking forward to kicking on for the end of the season.
“We can still rectify things in the league and if we can make the FAI Cup final, it’ll have been a good season. We have a squad that is capable of beating anyone so we’re really confident that we can get to the cup final and still cement a good position in the league as well.”
