Northern Ireland winger Conor McMenamin described his St Mirren comeback as the ‘perfect return’ after scoring twice in their 2-1 win over Hibernian at the weekend.

The 29-year-old underwent knee surgery during the summer, which kept him out for the first three months, but he was electric on his return to the line-up as the Buddies swept to a Premiership victory.

It has been a long road back to this point for the former Linfield, Glentoran and Cliftonville man, but his worth to St Mirren was evident as he went straight back into the team on his recovery.

And the Downpatrick man has revealed how daughter Daisy and his mum being in the stands spurred him on to personal and team success.

“It’s the perfect return to the starting eleven and the weekend couldn’t have gone much better,” McMenamin told club media. “I had my wee girl over for the first time this year and it’s a weekend I won’t forget.

“Every time she’s here, I have a funny feeling I’ll score or do something for her. I’ll have to ask her mum if she can come back every week at this rate! My mum was there as well to have her here was special. Most importantly, we got three points.”

Now McMenamin has full focus on trying to lead St Mirren up the table, Stephen Robinson’s men currently in sixth but with their eyes on Motherwell four points above them in fifth.

Chief among the Saints’ problems has been a lack of goals having netted just 17 in their 13 League games thus far, something that the Northern Ireland star is keen to be part of the solution for.

“In the attacking areas, we want to add goals to our games and that’s something that I needed to improve on,” McMenamin added.

“I spoke to the gaffer before the surgery and it’s something we wanted to target. To come back and score two on my return, I’m really happy.

“The players have set high standards at this club and although we had a sluggish start to the campaign, the last few weeks have been really positive.”