The Christmas period was an exciting one for Connor Ronan. The Ireland U19 international made his league debut for Wolves against Nottingham Forest on December 17th, coming off the bench to play the final 10 minutes. Less than a week later, he had signed a new deal which will keep him at Molineux until 2019.
On Monday, the 18-year-old made his first start for Wolves in a goalless draw away to Sheffield Wednesday. Ronan played 68 minutes before being replaced by Nouha Dicko.
Ronan was born in Rochdale but qualifies to play for Ireland through his father's grandparents, both of whom are Irish. He played for England at U17 level but then switched allegiance to Ireland. He went on to play for Ireland in the 2015 European U17 Championships and was subsequently named FAI Under 17 International Player of the Year.
The midfielder received plenty of praise following Monday's game, including from Wolves manager Paul Lambert.
The Scot, who only took over as Wolves manager in November following the sacking of Walter Zenga, told The Express and Star that upon seeing Ronan on the pitch, he could immediately see his quality.
Connor Ronan's was as good as debut as I've seen from a young player.
I trust him. I've got no fear about playing him. It took me a millisecond to see how good he was.
Lambert was not the only one to react positively to Ronan's debut.
"One Connor Ronan" sing the away end
— Tim Spiers (@TimSpiers) January 2, 2017
Ronan also received plenty of praise from his Wolves teammates.
Thought it was a good performance by the lads today and unlucky we didn't get the result. What a performance by @ConnorRonan10 👏🏽 #coyw 🔶◾
— Carl Ikeme (@Carl_Ikeme) January 2, 2017
Excellent team performance along with clean sheet, unlucky not to take all 3 points...very well played young @ConnorRonan10 👏🏻 #wolvesaywe
— Richard Stearman (@the_stears) January 2, 2017
I'd like to thank the travelling fans for they're great support 👍🏻 and congratulate @ConnorRonan10 for his first start. Huge talent!
— Jon Dadi Bodvarsson (@jondadi) January 2, 2017
Congrats @ConnorRonan10 on your first league start mate different class 🙌🏼 some player!! Should have taken all 3 points again #WolvesAyWe
— Jack Price (@jacko_8) January 2, 2017
Disappointed not to get the win today! Big thanks to the travelling @OfficialWolves fans 👏🏼Great performance from @ConnorRonan10 also #wwfc
— Dave Edwards (@_DaveEdwards) January 2, 2017
