ROMAL PALMER produced an influential display on his first League of Ireland start in last night’s 2-2 draw between Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic.
The midfielder, who joined Pat’s on loan from Turkish side Göztepe in February, had a hand in both goals.
He won the penalty from which Chris Forrester opened the scoring, as he was brought down in the area following a rash challenge from Dylan Connolly.
And for the second just before half-time, Palmer won the ball from Jordan Flores before setting up Cian Kavanagh to finish.
The 25-year-old has an impressive CV. He spent 10 years in the Manchester City Academy before joining Barnsley in 2017.
He subsequently made 70 appearances in the EFL Championship between 2019 and 2022.
More recently, Palmer played 33 times in the TFF First League before linking up with the Premier Division outfit.
The Wigan-born footballer’s adaptation has not been seamless, with his first eight appearances coming from the bench, but last night’s display showed promise.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Kenny said afterwards. “He’s been here 15 weeks and has not really featured, he’s recovered from a foot injury and we needed to assess that, see where we are with him.
“He’s a technical player, a good passer, good feet on the ball but I wasn’t expecting the level of aggression that he showed, I was pleasantly surprised by that. He has been out injured for a long time, been in Turkey, been at Barnsley.
“Even though he’s been here 15 weeks he’s not really featured, been in a hotel and things like that which are not ideal from his perspective. But he has a positive disposition and I admire that. I said we need to give this guy a chance and he did really well in the circumstances, I knew he was a good technician but his tacking was a surprise and we needed that.”
Palmer got his opportunity in a Pat’s team far from full strength, an issue exacerbated by injuries that meant Ruairi Keating and Jake Mulraney had to go off in the first half.
“Mason [Melia] at 16 doesn’t really play wide right,” said Kenny. “Jason McClelland doesn’t play left back, we only have one left back in the club, Anto Breslin, so that was interesting to see Jason there who filled in. He’s not played in a long time, we have an issue with players who haven’t featured and players who have played a lot, there’s an imbalance there.”
One positive was the return of centre-back Tom Grivosti after a long spell out injured, as he came off the bench in the second half.
“For Tom Grivosti to come in — he’s been out for a year with a knee injury. He’s only played 45 minutes in an U20 game. So for him to come in in that match to use his defensive know-how, it’s a credit to him really.
“I wouldn’t have seen a lot of Tom, some Pat’s matches in Europe and that, he’s a popular member of the squad and it’s a big step up from him and that was his character showing that he came through, his knowhow.
“Our players that have played every week are fit, that’s what I’m learning. But the players that haven’t, there’s quite a number of them, they’re well below match fitness.”
Meanwhile, there was concern in particular for Keating after the striker was stretchered off following a clash of heads in the early moments of the contest with Bohs defender Aboubacar Keita.
“He took a really strong blow to the head literally in the first 10 seconds of the game from kick-off — I’ve never seen that before,” said Kenny. “He was obviously in distress, so he’s been taken to hospital now and we all pray he’s okay.”
Overall, the manager was encouraged by aspects of the display but frustrated at the last-gasp concession of an equaliser.
“I was disappointed to concede a goal at the death like that, two games in a row and we were tired, a third game in a week. We want to defend the cross, they had an overload of one and that was it.”
