Waterford's Phoenix Patterson has received a nice boost ahead of Sunday's Extra.ie FAI Cup semi-final against Shelbourne, being named the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for September.
The former Tottenham Hotspur and Watford player, who turned 22 last month, is the first Waterford player to claim the award in 18 years - since Daryl Murphy in September 2004.
The forward was voted the standout player across the SSE Airtricity Premier & First Divisions last month as he notched three goals and an assist to help the Blues into the last four of the cup, as well as the First Division's promotion play-offs.
His strikes included a wonderful effort to knock Dundalk out of the cup and two free kicks in league wins over Bray Wanderers and Cobh Ramblers.
Patterson is tied top of the First Division scoring charts with 16 goals.
He edged out Derry City duo Cameron Dummigan and Michael Duffy, who finished second and third respectively.
"I'm really happy to win it," said Patterson. "It's been a good month for us. We picked up quite a few wins and I'm just happy that my performances were able to help the team get the wins, in the cup and also in the league.
"I set high standards for myself. Coming into this season, I always wanted to get a lot of numbers. I had a taste of the Premier Division last season so coming into this season, I thought if I trained well and took it into the games, I'd be able to get numbers.
"But to get this amount, I'm really happy. Hopefully I can continue this and help the team achieve what we want to achieve come the end of the season.
Patterson is gearing up for this Sunday's FAI Cup semi-final against Shelbourne at the RSC (Live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), where Waterford hope to go one further than last season when they also reached the last four.
"Performances recently, the team and myself, gives us confidence going into the game," he added. "We know it's going to be a tough game against a team from the Premier Division but as we've seen in the cup - we've played St Pats and Dundalk - we're more than capable of winning the game and that's what we'll try to do."
Watch the FAI Cup semi-finals, Derry City v Treaty United and Waterford FC v Shelbourne, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 1.45 pm on Sunday, listen to live updates on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 with live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app
