Drogheda's Frantz Pierrot has turned his career around since coming to Ireland.(Image: ©INPHO/Tom Maher)

From Haiti to the Aviva stadium - this Drogheda United striker's story will lift your heart

07 Nov 2024, 07:00 by Garry Doyle · Irish Mirror

Drogheda United will be hoping the journeyman final will be decided by the ultimate journeyman footballer.

This Sunday the Louth club take on Derry City in domestic football's showpiece occasion, a day when working class heroes get to feel like stars. And one potential star is a Haitian ex-pat who has taken the League of Ireland by storm.

Ever heard of Frantz Pierrot? If you are a Drogheda or Athlone fan, you will have.

But few outside the League of Ireland know much about a striker who arrived in Drogheda via stopovers with nine different clubs, eight of them in the US.

When he failed to net in his first eight games for the Drogs, people wondered if he was a flat-track bully, good enough to demolish teams in the First Division, where he played for Athlone, but unprepared for the extra demands of the top flight.

Then James Douglas Taylor arrived and Drogheda had their best striking partnership since the heady tales of Fabio O’Brien and Guy Bates.

Now Pierrot, 25, could be the man to stop in Sunday’s FAI Cup final - a day when neglected and overlooked footballers get to sample the big stage, playing in front of 40,000 people inside the Aviva and up to 250,000 on TV.

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Pierrot admits the biggest crowd he has played in front of so far has been a fraction of that figure ‘around 5,000 people if I’m being honest’.

So this is the opportunity of his life.

Listening to his story, though, it has been some life and way different to most League of Ireland players.

He says: “I grew up in Haiti. We had it alright. My dad had instilled a lot of values and discipline within us so, wherever we did end up going, we'd apply these.

“The thing is that it's not very stable in Haiti.

"People are always going to say things (about the place), have their opinions and what-not but it's these values I mentioned which keep you straight.

“It's been a long journey for me. My football plan didn't go as I wanted it to. I was loaned to all these clubs - names like Huskies, Merrimack, Seacoast United.

“Then came the Athlone Town call. I checked that off.

"For me, God gave me strength. I had a great year in Athlone (scoring 22 goals), I made a name for myself, and it opened some doors for me. That's why you and I are here talking.

"Now I'm here and have an FAI Cup final.

“There's not that many Haitian players around here. Being the second one (Pascal Millien of Sligo Rovers was the first) is fine.

“What I want now is to accomplish something for the town of Drogheda and bring joy to the town as we've seen how it is all over, it means a lot to the people here.”

Plus it would mean a lot to Pierrot who believes he could have finished with the League’s golden boot prize only for the fact he got injured near the end of the season.

Ultimately then he had to settle for ten league goals. A FAI Cup winner’s medal would be some consolation.

Pierrot said: “I'm OK with finishing in the top five (scorers).

“Anyway, it's more about the team, right? It's more about the team, the collective things we do. We have the Cup and then the play-off. We want to stay in the division next year and that is a big, big target. I think it's the biggest target we have, to stay in the division. Everything else is extra for me I would say.”

What happens after Saturday week remains unclear.

For that is when his Drogheda contract expires.

Doing well in Cup final could help his profile?

"It could definitely do that. You never know what can happen.

“The focus is the season end, we've things to worry about on the pitch and we'll see about that (contract) after the end of the season.”

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