Nathan It’s pay back time
ST PAT’S boss Jon Daly reckons this year’s top flight is going to be tougher than ever on the back of sleeping giants Waterford and Galway returning to the Premier Division.
The Saints got their own title challenge off to a positive start with a 1-0 victory over the Tribesmen on Friday.
Already it is clear some weeks are going to be physical battles, other ones psychological showdowns.
The St Pat’s boss said: “There are not going to be any easy games in the division. Everybody is well equipped with squads now so it’s going to be very difficult to get points on the board.
“So for us to go to Galway on opening night, with the crowd the way they were, the place was bouncing, those three points are huge especially as we got them against a decent outfit.
“Galway have got quality. We had to defend numerous set-plays and I thought we dealt with them really well.
“So when you look at the conditions and the pitch, everything with it, their first game back in the Premier Division, we always knew it was going to be a really difficult.
“They make you defend, but I thought the three boys at the back were superb; they won
St Pat’s Athletic boss Jon Daly everything that came on top of them and the boys in the middle of the park were picking up the second balls, the sides of the game that you probably wouldn’t associate with us.
“Galway obviously going to be a very very difficult team to play against this year for everybody so to come down here and get three points on the opening night is huge.”
For Galway’s assistant manager, Ollie Horgan, the loss came with a sense of perspective.
Yes, it was not an ideal way to kickstart the season.
But Horgan would much prefer to be battling the odds at the bottom of the top division than strolling to victories at the top end of the lower tier.
He said: “The boys are hurting on the back of that loss and there are going to be days over the 36 games where that will happen again, because nothing is easy in this division.
“But it is where you want to be. It is mighty to be talking about Dundalk in Oriel Park and St Pat’s in Terryland, rather than where we were for the last six years.
“It’s relentless in the Premier Division. A lot of the players have been here before, they know what it is.
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“But we can’t fault them for their effort, their honesty, their endeavour. They kept working the whole way through.”
IRISH ACE Brentford defender Nathan Collins
NATHAN Collins has admitted that it’s time the Republic of Ireland’s players started to pay back the supporters for their backing.
After the dismal run of results that cost Stephen Kenny his job, Brentford centre-half Collins knows that things need to change when a new manager is appointed.
There is a Nations League campaign to look forward to with an opener against England looming later in the year and Collins said: “We want a reaction because we have let ourselves down recently as our performances should have been better.
“We have a good squad with younger players coming through but we need to do better.
“We know that ourselves.