39 Horgan: We all need to step up
GUARDIOLA’S MENTALITY MAKES CITY UNSTOPPABLE
DARYL HORGAN pulls no punches when he admits that “nobody has been good enough” at Dundalk this season.
And while he believes the squad has the talent to beat the drop, he warned teammates they must match their words with actions.
The Lilywhites belatedly recorded their first win of the season in Friday’s 2-0 stroll in the park over Bohemians at Oriel Park in Noel King’s first game in charge.
Scott High scored their first home goal of the campaign before Robbie Benson added a sweet second on a night when Dundalk could have won by more.
Ireland international Horgan (inset) was a constant thorn in the Gypsies’ side and helped propel the Lilywhotes to the victory.
But they remain rock bottom of the table and the winger (31) knows Dundalk still have a mountain to climb.
Worry
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They host leaders Shelbourne this Friday and Horgan said: “It hasn’t been easy for any of us. None of us have been good enough.
“All we can do is look at the next game rather than worry about grand plans and things like that. We believe ourselves that we’re underachieving.
“We think we’ve a very, very good squad in there and that we shouldn’t be where we are.
“Friday night was a very, very good building block but that now needs to be week on week.
“We’ve been pushing at doing that for the last little while. We’ve had some good performances but not been clinical enough or not threatened enough.
“But we hit the ground running on Friday and got a couple of crackers.”
King took a back seat on matchnight, perched in the corner of the dugout while Brian Gartland, their former player and head of football operations, ran the line.
Gartland and first-team coach Liam Burns were back and forth to King throughout and Horgan is hoping the new manager bounce can translate into even more points.
“It was difficult when the manager (Stephen O’Donnell) left and you’ve a change with Burnsy and Garts coming in and they’re trying to keep the place going,” he said.
“That’s very, very difficult because everyone got on really well with Stevie and Padge (Cregg, the assistant).
“It was disappointing the way it had gone but the last few weeks have been positive.”