Sport

Caulfield's advice for Ellis after first league goal

March 10th, 2017 5:00 PM

By Southern Star Team

Kealkil teenager Connor Ellis

Share this article

Cork City manager John Caulfield has challenged Kealkil teenager Connor Ellis to continue working hard and show he deserves a place in the SSE Airtricity League club’s first team.

BY DENIS HURLEY

 

CORK City manager John Caulfield has challenged Kealkil teenager Connor Ellis to continue working hard and show he deserves a place in the SSE Airtricity League club’s first team.

Ellis (pictured right) came off the bench to score his first senior goal last Friday, the final action of a 4-0 win over Galway United in Turner’s Cross. While the path to a starting spot is likely to be blocked by City’s star attacker Seán Maguire for the moment, Caulfield expects the 19-year-old to figure for the Rebel Army this season.

‘He’s doing really well in training,’ Caulfield said.

‘At the end of the day, he has come from our U19s and sometimes they can be a little impatient because they think they can make this level immediately and it’s not as easy as that.

‘Can he go in and do what Seán Maguire is doing? To be fair, we wouldn’t expect that, he has a bit to go, but I think he could come on this year and score a lot of goals and I think there are games that he can start.’

In order to stay in the manager’s thoughts, Ellis must continue his progress while showing patience.

‘Connor will be good,’ Caulfield said, ‘and the most important thing for a guy like him is not to get carried away and to keep his feet on the ground and realise how hard he has to work.

‘At the top level, to win anything you have to be super-fit and super-dedicated and work as hard as you can. No matter what level you’re at, if you look at the best players in the world, the likes of Ronaldo, they work their backsides off no matter who they are.

‘It’s no different at this level – if you want to win trophies, everyone has to work hard and that’s an area of Connor’s game we’re working on. At U19 level, it was very much the case that he was getting loads of chances every day and he didn’t have to work as hard, whereas you look at Seán Maguire, he’s making chances out of nothing.’

Share this article