Hibs taking baby steps as new dad O'Hora inspired by family responsibilities

Hibs defender Warren O’Hora has revealed how becoming a dad has given him fresh impetus to succeed in the results-driven world of professional football. And he’s praised the Easter Road club for helping him and partner Hannah to cope with the stresses of new parenthood so soon after uprooting their lives to settle in Edinburgh.

The couple welcomed baby girl Hadley into the world just under four weeks ago. Already expecting when O’Hora agreed to move from Milton Keynes to Easter Road in the summer, they received reassuring promises of support for the big day – and immediate aftermath – from senior figures at Hibs.

The Irish central defender, who might have young Hadley in the stands watching him as early as this afternoon’s home game against Dundee United, has obviously benefited from being able to focus almost entirely on football. Thanks to the efforts of his employers – but mainly his better half.

“A new arrival at home, yes,” said O’Hora, when asked for the latest update, the 25-year-old adding: “We've brought a little one in. About four weeks on Tuesday coming. Keeping me on my toes already. Very happy with that.

“We had a little girl, Hadley. That's our first. It's probably one of the toughest things I've ever had to do. Really, really happy with her. 

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“My partner Hannah’s been amazing. She's jumped straight into motherhood like she's been always doing it - probably looking after me over the last few years!

“It's another challenge in my life. I'm lucky enough to be at an amazing football club. I have loads of people around me to help. I'm really in a lucky position. 

“Hannah knew what my job line was like. She knew that sometimes you need to move a long, long way from where you've been for a long time. That's just a part of my job, and she accepted that. Like I said previously, I'm lucky to have a person that has just dropped all of her things in her life to go and move for mine. 

“But it was a bit stressful. Having a baby coming in the October and you move to a different country.

“I think it's six or seven hours from where we used to live. It was stressful, but the club really helped me. 

“Before the contract was signed, before I came up, everything was assured that everything would be put into place for me in terms of hospitals and making sure my family and my missus were all right.

“The club has been great. They've helped me so much. Having little things like that done in the background means there's less worry in your head, so you can concentrate fully on the pitch.

“It might sometimes tough at, I presume, other clubs. But I'm grateful that this club has really helped me in that respect.”

Admitting that his outlook on everything outside of the baby bubble had changed, O’Hora said: “I think that's in every job, not just football. Obviously, football is our lives. It's our job. It's something that we dreamt of, me personally, I dreamt of as a kid.

“In terms of putting life into perspective, when you have a kid yourself, it changes. Everything I do now is for my family. I want to be the best that I can for the family.

“In order to do that, I have to be the best I can be at work. That's what I'm starting to do. 

“I had a little celebration for her when I scored at Tannadice the other week. Obviously, my partner would have been watching the game, and my little one would have been watching it as well. It was quite a nice moment for me, yes.

“The first home game we had (after Hadley was born) was Hearts. So that was probably a little bit too hectic for her. But she's got a little jersey and that now, so hopefully we'll see how it goes.”

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In pure footballing terms, O’Hora is part of a Hibs back four looking more resilient – even allowing for a couple of late nightmares in games – over recent weeks. He’s still adapting, though, to a new environment.

“There's no doubt about it, it's the top division in Scotland, so it was never going to be easy to hit the ground running in this league,” he admitted, adding: “I thought it would be really tough and there's no doubt about it. I'm still trying my best and there's still a lot of us to improve on, for me personally. 

“It's impossible to be happy with yourself when you look at the table and see where we are. Like we said, you can't dwell on the past, you can only look at the next game. 

“There's still lots of things for me to improve on personally. That's why I'm lucky enough to have a really, really good gaffer and staff behind me to help me.”

Asked about the impact of hitting rock bottom in the Scottish Premiership table courtesy of their late collapse against Dundee United, even if they did manage to climb out of the basement with a point in Dingwall, O’Hora said: “We definitely heard about it! We need to be honest with ourselves in the moments – and we were. We all had a discussion about that; we knew it wasn't good enough. I think we’re on the way up, there's no doubt about it.

“We still have a lot of work to do but I think, especially in the last two games, we've had chances to go and win games and unluckily we didn't. We've picked up a couple of points in the last two games, but we know there should be more, there's no denying that. Everybody in that dressing room will tell you that - but we're keeping a positive spin on it. We have another big game on Sunday that we can go and win and kick us up that table.”