Dan Casey ready for Motherwell challenge as he explains Javier Hernandez and Johnny Russell shackling experience

Dan Casey was living the American dream when he tucked Javier Hernandez in his back pocket as Sacremento Republic dumped LA Galaxy en-route to September’s US Open Cup Final.

The Irishman kept Chicharito firmly in check in the quarter final crunch before doing a similar number on former Scotland ace Johnny Russell and Sporting Kansas City in the semis. The giantkilling run ended with a 3-0 defeat to Orlando City in September’s final in Florida. But just a few months on from shackling some of the biggest names in the MLS the defender is now focused on becoming an ML success. Casey has swapped the California sunshine for the cold reality of a Motherwell scrap for survival and today faces a bruising challenge against Jordan White and Eamonn Brophy in Dingwall. It might sound like a strange decision on the Dubliner’s part.

But the 25-year-old has no doubt the Premiership is the right career choice after two years playing in America’s second tier - even if it did bring some glamour cup ties along the way. He said: “We played LA Galaxy and I was marking Hernandez. It was a great experience, we won that game 2-1, He came on for the last half hour and we were drawing 1-1 at that point so there was no ego from him - he had to respect us as he had no choice!

“He never scored and we went on to win so that was a good one. He’s had an unbelievable career and when you’re playing against big names you up your game and get an extra 10%, I don’t know how to explain why that happens.

“We beat three MLS teams on that run - San Jose, LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City. The level is only getting better over there and it helped me improve as a player.

“I definitely think the opportunity of playing against big players like him is good for me