Wednesday weigh up Amond deal

There was an unfamiliar name in the Wednesday squad for Tuesday’s friendly game at Rotherham United – that of trialist Padraig Amond, so what do we know about him?

Amond, a 23-year-old Irish striker, was named as a substitute in Wednesday’s 2-1 victory against the Millers at Don Valley Stadium. He came on in the second half and the Owls’ fortunes were almost instantly transformed as Lewis Buxton and Gary Madine grabbed the goals to put Wednesday 2-0 up.

Owls boss Gary Megson is keeping a watchful eye over for the former Shamrock Rovers man as he decides whether to offer him a permanent deal at Hillsborough this term.

Amond’s performance in the Irish League caught the attention of Portuguese side Pacos de Ferreira, where he played his football last season. A move from Sligo Rovers to Pacos, with all due respect, doesn’t exactly ran highly amongst Europe’s elite.

But it’s good to see Wednesday ‘thinking outside the box’ when it comes to bolstering their squad this season, and not just looking down the routes that all other managers of English Football League clubs will be looking at this summer.

Hopefully this really is ‘thinking outside the box’, and not a case of desperation in looking for a new striker…

But all-in-all, Amond’s stats as a striker are pretty decent. Coming through the ranks at Shamrock Rovers – he won the young player of the year award in 2008 -, he scored 11 goals in 36 games as a youngster before enjoying a loan spell at Kildare County, where he netted five goals in eleven appearances.

Sligo Rovers snapped him up in 2010 and he scored a good 17 goals in 27 appearances before making the move to Portugal.

Four caps for the Republic of Ireland U21s also shows the quality of the youngster, who was born in Carlow, Ireland, and has also represented his county at hurling.

No doubt his inclusion in Tuesday night’s squad will prompt some questions from the media for Megson in the coming days, and we could even see the young Irishman again on Saturday when Leeds United visit S6.