Ryan O'Leary feels he owes Kilmarnock manager Kenny Shiels, his team-mates and the Rugby Park fans an injury-free season. O'Leary was posted missing from action for most of last season thanks to cruciate ligament damage. He managed to make it back in time to be involved in the last six games of the campaign which may have helped the Ayrshire club decide to trigger a further one-year option in O'Leary's contract to keep him at Rugby Park. O'Leary has had a big role to play so far this season and is relishing every moment after being given the opportunity to make a successful comeback by the club. He said: "After the injury I had, I came back and played six games and they triggered my new contract so I was delighted to get another chance. Right now, it's about paying back the fans, the gaffer and my team-mates, who have helped me so much. I look forward to every training session and every game. Most important for myself is just staying fit and I'm feeling good just now. I'm feeling good about the team and everything seems to be going relatively well just now." O'Leary can see that he has still some way to go to be able to give of his best. He went on: "I'm still way off my top level to be honest. I've always been talked about for my potential for a number of years and, unfortunately, due to injuries I've not quite fulfilled that yet. But I don't feel that these injuries have hampered me in any way and I don't feel as though my knee is an issue. I'm just looking forward to every game and, with every game that goes by, I'm feeling more and more confident. With a good run of games, I'm feeling good. I'm a centre-half through and through. I can fill in at right-back and, at the time, we maybe didn't have the clientèle to play at right-back so I was filling in there. The gaffer would have preferred to play me at centre-half. He spoke to me and told me it was always the plan for me to come back and play centre-half. I did a job and it's good for myself to be able to play in different positions but centre-half is the position I've played since I was a wee boy." O'Leary and team mates will be facing Hearts away from home tomorrow and he is looking forward to the trip to Tynecastle. He said: "I can understand why it can be intimidating because you can hear everything the fans say. But I love the abuse you get. I just laugh at it and it just pushes me on and makes we want to do better to be honest. Usually at other grounds it's just a big mumble of sound but you can hear everything at Tynecastle and I enjoy the experience. Hearts have got a great fan base so I'm looking forward to going there and being a part of the game."
Source: FOOTYMAD
