Richard O'Kelly-The players attitude has been first class

For Sean O'Driscoll's side faced periods of torrential rain and thunder and lightning as they set about preparing for their second season of Championship football.

But Rovers No 2 Richard O'Kelly welcomed the fresher weather after last week's humidity, and made light of the conditions.

"It was fantastic pre-season training weather," he told The Star. "We did a jumping test and when it started lightning the players jumped higher.

"But, seriously, it doesn't matter what type of weather you get because the first day of pre-season training is always fun.

"We did a little bit of testing just to get an idea of what our fitness base is, but the days are long gone when the players come in on the first day of pre-season and just run.

"We got the balls out straight away. A lot of decision making happens when a player is on the ball so the more you can involve a football in training the better."

O'Kelly said the players' attitude had been "first class".