‘We all wanted Jon to get the job’ – St Pat’s players pleased with appointment of new boss Daly

Daly took interim charge of the Saints following the resignation of Tim Clancy earlier this month and led them to three wins in four, with their only defeat coming against champions Shamrock Rovers.

Daly had spoken of his desire to become permanent boss in recent weeks and the club moved to appoint him last Monday, a decision which Grivosti (23) admits the team were delighted with.

“The dressing room is really happy with it, we all wanted Jon to get the job,” said Grivosti, ahead of tonight’s clash with Dundalk (7.45), Daly’s first game as permanent manager.

“He wanted to be a manager and he told us that. You’ve seen the performances under him, last Friday (1-0 win at Shelbourne) we put a performance in and dug deep.

“We were all basically fighting for Jon, you just had to get on with the job. We know what we had to do. There was a sense that Jon could get the job so you were fighting for him.

“There was a really good reaction when they announced he got the job, everyone is made up for him.

“I know he was the assistant manager but he had the presence of a manager. You can see that he was going to go on and be a good manager. Thankfully he’s with us and we’ve got him as ours. He has put his own spin on a few things, though he’s not changed anything drastically.”

After missing nine games this term with a hamstring injury, the 23-year-old is back fit now and has returned to the Saints rear-guard alongside 17-year-old Sam Curtis. Grivosti hailed the Ireland U-21 defender, who has started every game so far this season.

“Now I’m playing alongside Sam Curtis and Jay McGrath. They’re younger, so as the older one I’ve the responsibility to try to help them.

“Sometimes Sam doesn’t need that anyway, he’s mature beyond his years. Sam is brilliant. There isn’t much help that he needs, really. He’s only just turned 17, it’s unbelievable. For a young kid I’ve never seen anything like it.”

St Pat’s host Dundalk, and former manager Stephen O’Donnell to Richmond Park tonight. The sides are level on 26 points, but the hosts will be keen to avenge their 5-0 defeat last March.

“You can use that as motivation but at the same time we’re on a good run and we just want to carry that against whoever we’re playing,” added Grivosti.

“We have four games left now until the break so if we can keep the run going come the break, we’ll be in a good position come the second half of the season to make a good push.

“It’s mad, hopefully it (the table) settles down soon. Sometimes you have a bad result and you drop down the table three places. Thankfully we’ve done well in the games since Jon took over. We just need to carry that on now.”