'Taken me by surprise' – Neill Byrne settling into life well at Hartlepool United

Hartlepool United’s summer signing from Halifax Town has instantly taken to life at Victoria Park and cemented his place in the starting line-up.

The 28-year-old defender has played every minute for Pools in League Two this season and helped the side keep four clean sheets already with some solid performances.

It has helped Pools carry on the momentum built up during their promotion season as they currently sit seventh in the table after nine games.

"I came in here with the club on the back of a great season having been promoted under extreme circumstances,” he told The Mail.

"I watched the play-off final and I knew I was coming into a very confident team who know what they’re about and have a great style of football and there’s some very good players here.

"The players did brilliantly to get into the league and they’ve brought a lot of confidence with them and we’ve just jumped on with it and followed them really.

"It’s been a good start to the season and looking back we’re already looking at games we could have picked up more points from but in terms of clean sheets and goals conceded it’s been very good and as a defender coming into a new team, it’s definitely something you want to cement straight away.

“Over the past three or four seasons I’ve played almost every game in the National League, playing consistently 40 games or more a season and coming here was certainly an offer I couldn’t turn down.

“The step up to League Two is something I’ve been looking to make, I hoped it would have been sooner but the opportunity didn’t come until the summer.

"I’ve worked under [Dave Challinor] before and I really like his style of play. He’s a good manager and coming to a big club like Hartlepool, it is a club everyone has heard of with a great fan base.”

Byrne faced Pools on seven occasions with Gateshead, AFC Fylde and Halifax prior to joining the club in the summer.

And his impression of Hartlepool has changed now he’s on the other side of things.

"I always knew the fans were good but it’s not something I ever thought I’d be blown away by or anything,” he admitted.

“But I think the past year with the pandemic and the promotion combined, they’ve really come out in numbers and it’s one where the first game of the season, I sat back and was like ‘woah, these really are mental’, it’s such a good fan base!

“My partner has come to a few games with her family and my friends have been to a couple of away games and they’ve said it’s been absolutely mental. It has taken me by surprise I won’t lie, it’s easy for players to say the support is good but this is something else.

“As soon as I came into the team it was just about finding my feet in new surroundings and playing as well as I can in a new league.

"I’m obviously here to impress the manager and players but also the fans and if they think I’m doing all right then I must be doing something!”

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