As Connor Ronan stepped up to the penalty spot, every breath was held in DICK’S Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night. Rapids faithful were used to seeing Diego Rubio facing down an opposing keeper from twelve yards out, but the Irishman left no doubt in fans’ minds after burying a shot into the top left corner of Philadelphia Union’s goal in the 38th minute.
After putting the Rapids ahead by one, Ronan doubled down in the midfield on Saturday night, attempting pass after pass into the attack for a goal to seal the victory. His defensive abilities were on display until the very end, tracking back with Moïse Bombito, in Bombito’s Rapids debut, to stop a breakaway by Philadelphia in stoppage time.
The Irish international’s prowess in the center of the pitch has translated into an offensive fire, as Ronan has accumulated four goal contributions in the last two regular season games. His three assists in the Rapids’ 3-1 rout of LA Galaxy and penalty conversion against the Union are testament to the “license” he’s been given in the final third when the field opens up.
“In the last two games, I feel like I've had a little bit more license to get forward, which I don't mind,” he said on Saturday. “Tonight was a little bit more difficult. It was a bit congested and middle but it's nice to just kinda have that little bit of freedom to get higher on the pitch.”
Ronan delivered the Rapids’ first set piece assist of the season at Dignity Health Sports Park last weekend in the 16th minute, curling the ball into the far post for a waiting Lalas Abubakar header. He struck again in the 65th minute, leading Diego Rubio into the final third with a defense-splitting pass that set the Chilean up to give Kévin Cabral a goal against his former team.
The midfielder’s final contribution on the night came late, as he slotted a ball to the corner of the six for Jonathan Lewis to run onto and slip a shot past the keeper in the 81st minute.
Despite his obvious talent to create goal-scoring opportunities and get into the attack, Ronan is a box-to-box midfielder, able to create havoc anywhere on the pitch.
“If I'm needed to play a bit deeper or in the 8 or the 10 I'm kind of happy to do that and whatever kinda works best for the team and get such results, that's what I'm happy to do,” he said.
Head Coach Robin Fraser lauded Ronan’s abilities from the start despite not really knowing him yet, commenting on his “know how” and evident experience in the game after the midfielder’s first appearance with the team in their preseason match with Orlando City SC in February.
In a three-month span, Fraser’s comments turned from unfamiliar-yet-optimistic to full-on praise.
“He's been really such a bright light for us all year, and it was good for him to score and to get on the score sheet,” he said following the matchup with Philadelphia. “I think personally, it was good for him. He's been good for us all year, whether he's scoring goals or not. So it's nice that he scored a goal but I think what's more important is that he's been really good for us all year.”
Since joining the club, Ronan has faced the task of gelling into a midfield struck by injury after injury, as players like Jack Price, Cole Bassett and Bryan Acosta are each serving various amounts of time rehabbing traumas suffered on the pitch.
With those injuries also come new arrivals, such as Danny Leyva’s loan from Seattle Sounders. The two were able to spend 81 minutes on the pitch together Saturday night, playing off of each other and finding their rhythms to best control the game from the center.
Fraser attributes Ronan’s ability to adapt to a rotating midfield to the player’s intelligence. With that intelligence, he’ll continue to be the bright spot the Rapids can put their faith in.
“Connor is a really intelligent player. He also plays with an extremely high level of intensity–or engagement may be a better way to put it,” Fraser said.
“So when you have an intelligent player who's always engaged, he oftentimes just knows where he needs to be based on the positioning of the others, in the movement of others. And he has been good for us in so many ways throughout the year. Different times he's been more of an attacking player, different times he's helped start attacks, different times he's defended really well. So he's been able to help us in a number of different ways… that really comes down to his intelligence and his awareness.”