PETER Kennedy put himself in the Premiership window after his glorious FA Cup goal forced a replay for Watford against Ron Atkinson's Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
The former Portadown star, who cost Watford manager Graham Taylor just £130,000, could now land the club over £2m.
Kennedy has scored 11 goals for the Hornets since his move from Notts County, playing in an old fashioned wingback role.
The Lisburn-born player was yesterday milking the deserved plaudits from manager Taylor, Sheffield Wednesday boss Atkinson and the media.
His 64th minute strike at Watford came one minute after Wednesday's Swedish international Niclas Alexandersson gave the Premiership side the lead.
“I knew from the second I hit the ball, it was going in,” said Kennedy.
“I hit the ball as sweet as a nut and knew right away we'd equalised.”
After Saturday's draw, Graham Taylor revealed he'd never seen Kennedy play when Watford signed him at the start of the season.
“I was told Peter was the best thing to come out of Northern Ireland in the summer by Gerry Armstrong and I bought him without seeing him,” said Taylor.
“He's a nice shy lad who having done an ordinary job he appreciates what professional football is all about.”.
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DERRY'S home tie against Shamrock Rovers was one of the few games to beat the weekend weather in the League of Ireland but now they must be wishing it hadn't.
They went down by a single goal in their fifth league defeat of the season.
This leaves them in the bottom half of the table and still struggling for consistency. Felix Healy must be sick saying it by now; again Derry were the better team but again gave their opponents the points.
Despite playing into the wind in the first half, Derry were much the better side, reducing Rovers to just one shot on goal.
Unfortunately for the home side it was a fantastic strike and enough to give the Dubliners their second win over Derry this season.
An error in defence allowed Tony Cousins to turn from 20 yards and spank an excellent left-foot shot past Tony O'Dowd.
Derry City: O'Dowd, Doherty, Hargan, Taggart, Curran, Kelly, Coyle, Semple, Gallagher, Beckett, Keddy.
Shamrock Rovers: Forde, Britton, Dunne, Brazil, Wheelan, Colwell, Tracey, Cousins, Purdy, Stokes, O'Neill.
Referee: P McKeon (Dublin)
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PHIL Taylor confirmed his status as the greatest player of all time by winning a record sixth world darts title at Purfleet last night.
Taylor, the 37-year-old Stoke maestro, crushed close friend Dennis Priestley 6-0 in the final of the Skol World Championship and, incredibly, won five of the sets by 3-0 margins.
He has won this tournament four years running and also took the Embassy World Championship in both 1990 and 1992, for six titles in just nine attempts.
His victory over Yorkshireman Priestley took him past the record of Eric Bristow, who won five Embassy titles between 1980 and 1986.
