Tommy Lonergan is running away with the Golden Boot race, and the rest of the Premier Division is starting to look worried. The Waterford striker took the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month award for July in what the voting made clear was no contest — 50 points to Shane Farrell's 17. That's not a close race. That's a statement.
Two goals and two assists in July pushed the 22-year-old's season tally to 14, leaving him three clear at the top of the Golden Boot standings. For a player who spent time as a loanee at Fleetwood Town and looked like he might drift through the lower ends of the football pyramid, this is a serious turnaround.
Coughlan's impact runs through everything
The timing of Lonergan's form isn't accidental. It tracks almost exactly with Graham Coughlan's arrival as manager. Waterford spent most of the season stuck in the bottom two. Now they're out of it, and the 3-1 home win over Bohemians — Lonergan scoring again — is exactly the kind of result that changes a club's trajectory.
"Since Graham came in, I have been starting games and playing every week and I have been impacting games," Lonergan said. "It's not just the goals. I feel my all round play is much better."
That's a striker who knows his game is evolving, not just running hot. At 22, with a reputation already forming as the best header of the ball in the league, the ceiling here is genuinely open.
The Golden Boot picture — and what it means for Waterford
Derry City already tried to sign him. Waterford knocked that bid back. With a three-goal cushion in the Golden Boot race and his club climbing the table, the logic of keeping him was obvious — though that won't stop the speculation intensifying if the goals keep coming.
Anyone pricing up the Golden Boot market right now has one name to beat. Lonergan's warning was direct: "I feel there are more goals to come and I just want to score in every game I get to play for Waterford."
Next up: Athlone Town in the Club Orange FAI Cup. Another chance to add to the tally.
