Derry City's Jordan McEneff scoops player of the month award

Derry City midfielder Jordan McEneff has been named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for February.

The 22-year-old scored in Derry's opening night draw against St Patrick's Athletic at Richmond Park and followed that up by notching in the Candystripes' 2-0 victory over Cork City a week later.

Also in February, McEneff helped Ruaidhri Higgins' team claim the Presidents Cup for their first time since the competition's inception by beating Shamrock Rovers at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

The midfielder joined Derry in August 2022 after his release from Arsenal. He had spent the first half of the season on loan with Shelbourne. He scored Derry's fourth and final goal of the FAI Cup Final win over Shels from the penalty spot.

McEneff finished first in the vote of SWI members ahead of Adam McDonnell, who has impressed in the early weeks of the season for league leaders Bohemians, in second. St Pats Joe Redmond and Drogheda United centre back Conor Keeley were tied for third.

His win means a Derry City player has won the Player of the Month award in back-to-back months following Cameron McJannet's win last November. The last time that happened was in March and April 1997 when Paul Curran and Peter Hutton won in consecutive months.

Speaking after receiving his award, McEneff said: "I'm buzzing. To win the player of the month is not easy because of the quality there is in the league so to win it in the first month gives you a bit of confidence going into the rest of the season.

"We started well the first three games. The last couple of games we’ve had a couple of frustrating draws but we’re still unbeaten and there’s a lot of the season to play. We’re happy enough but we want to be better."

On Friday