ANTO BRESLIN has warned St Pat’s rivals that they are top of the table without hitting top gear.
The Saints scored twice in the last three minutes to defeat Waterford 2-1 last Friday and take top spot from Drogheda United who were held by Cork City.
Given they won their final nine games of 2024 to climb from seventh to third, the sight of Stephen Kenny’s side setting the pace this year may not come as a surprise.
But the Saints have already lost two — to Galway United and Shamrock Rovers — of their first seven matches.
And, ahead of defending champions Shelbourne’s visit to Richmond Park on Friday, Breslin, 28, admitted that they have not yet hit their stride.
He said: “Our performance Friday wasn’t good enough, we started really slow and it’s very unlike us.
“Our performances have been quite good, but not as good as the end of last year.
“We’ve had a few lads come into the team and they are still adapting to the way we want to play.
“We haven’t been playing well but it is a good thing if you’re not playing really, really well and still winning games, we’ll take it.”
The left-back admitted that they had been left in no doubt that their display at the RSC was not up to scratch.
Breslin said: “Stephen Kenny, he demands high standards in everything he does and definitely he wasn’t happy with the performance.
“At half-time he let us know about it for sure. After the game and scoring the 90th-minute winner, you’re not dissecting the game, you’re still high after winning a game that you probably weren’t great in for 80 minutes.
“But then we come in Monday morning and analyse and work on things we could have done better, and what we will do better going forward.”
And Breslin does expect it to be difficult for any team to build up a head of steam because of the increased competitiveness of the Premier Division.
He said: “I think it will be like this all year. It’s a mad league.
“Everyone is taking points off each other and I think that will continue for the year.
“Whoever, I suppose, can be the most consistent and can bounce back from when they do have a bad defeat will probably go on to win the league.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a team that is going to completely run away with it.
“The standard is really good, all the teams are playing well and have really good players from all over the world so it’s going to be an exciting league.”
It is a far cry from his first introduction to the League of Ireland when he signed for Longford Town ahead of the 2019 season having been released by Wolves the previous summer.
Breslin recalled: “It was difficult because you come in from a full-time, Premier League set-up to part-time at Longford. I found it quite hard.
“But you just want to get back playing. I had stopped a while, a few months, and I was just buzzing to get back.
“It was just the way the season fell. We finished up in June, there was no point in me going in for five or six games.
“I said I’d rather go in straight away in pre-season so, no, there was never a thought of not coming back.
“I wanted to get my foot on the ladder again, getting back into the League of Ireland, getting my name out there because I wouldn’t say when I first came back that many people knew who I was.”
He made an instant impression, being named in the PFA Ireland First Division Team of the Year and earning a move to Bohs, for whom he shone in Europe and helped reach an FAI Cup final in 2021.
They were defeated on penalties by St Pat’s who completed the signing of Breslin shortly afterwards.
When the clubs met again in the 2023 decider, he was on the winning side.
The defender said: “I was always confident in my ability. I knew if I had a good run of games and got fit I’d get to this level.
“I suppose when I came into the league it was starting to really grow and it’s a great time to be part of the league with everything that is going on.
“On and off the pitch, it seems to be going really well.”
