Jimmy Keohane spoke to www.rochdaleafc.co.uk after Saturday’s season finale at Charlton Athletic…
The 28-year-old joined Rochdale on a short-term deal in February and admits that, given the situation the team found themselves in for a large part of the season, he’s delighted Dale managed retained their League One status.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here over the last few months, especially getting into the team and playing recently. It has been really enjoyable,” said Keohane.
“Since I came to the club, we were in a relegation battle, so to stay up with a game to spare was testament to how well we’ve done in the last couple of months. We really dug in and turned the situation around, and we’ve done really well as a group to stay up.”
When asked about the impact fellow Irishman Brian Barry-Murphy has had on the squad during his time in charge, Keohane said: “Brian Barry-Murphy put across his philosophy of how he wants to play football and that, as well as his high intensity work, has come across really well. We certainly have shown that in the last couple of months.”
Dale finished the season with defeat at the Valley, and while Keohane would liked to have seen the side bow out with a victory, he says the most important thing is that survival was achieved.
“They [Charlton] are a very good side and unfortunately we came up a little bit short, but we had already got the job done in terms of staying up which was the main objective.”