‘Hometown’ calls cost Dundalk dear

SOCCER SSE AIRTRICITY LEAGUE

DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny bemoaned some ref justice after seeing his side suffer their first away defeat since September 5th 2014 against Cork City in Turner’s Cross on Friday night.

The Lilywhites boss admitted his side were not at the races in the first half of the top of the table clash on Leeside but said their cause wasn’t helped by the performance of referee Rob Rogers, who according to Kenny sent Chris Shields off unjustly just before halftime and gave a number of ‘home town’ decisions throughout.

‘I was disappointed with our first half display,’ said Kenny.

‘I didn’t think we played well at all in the first half. We’ve only lost two games in the last two years really but I felt in those games we were quite dominant in them. In this one we weren’t.

‘We were on the back foot and Cork played well in the first half. We struggled to retain possession for any great period or create clear cut chances but to get caught on the counter attack for the goal was very disappointing because you don’t always have to play well and you can not concede but the goal from our point of view wasn’t a great goal and we’re disappointed with that.

‘I thought the referee gave Cork City absolutely everything. 80% of the decisions just went one way. I never seen such a blatant display of all the decisions going one way. We had two penalty claims not given. They got a penalty and we had a man sent off that was never a sending off and just generally free kicks were given.

‘That’s not to take away from Cork because I thought they were the better team in the first half and they played well and we didn’t but I couldn’t believe it. They were real home town decisions and I couldn’t believe it.

‘In the second half I thought we played well and showed what we’re made of with 10 men. We took the game to Cork and a header off the line was the difference.

‘We passed the ball well having changed our shape. I was trying to get in at half-time to change it tactically because we didn’t play well in the first half at all but just Chris Shields’ sending off before half-time sort of killed us. He has got the ball in fact. If it is decided it is a foul then a yellow card is easily enough but I think there was a bit of gamesmanship from the Cork player in question. He is trying to get our player sent off and the referee has bought it.’

Asked was he concerned at Cork’s run of three consecutive wins over Dundalk, Kenny said he felt Friday’s first half was the first time that John Caulfield’s men had been superior to them but still feels his side could have taken something from the game with a bit more luck.

‘The game in Oriel we dominated and played well but they scored and kept it tight and defended well but the game tonight Cork were better in the first half and that’s probably the first time that has happened. They were better in the President’s Cup as well to be fair but that wasn’t our main focus.

‘It’s a good result for Cork, a not so good one for us but we have to regroup and get ourselves back.

They have improved there’s no doubt about that but they had a good team a couple of years ago too. It’s a different team but it’s subjective.

‘From our point of view I thought we possibly deserved to win the game in Oriel but maybe not tonight after the way we played in the first half. We coughed up possession too cheaply and never really got going.

‘We didn’t concede that many chances though really. I don’t really remember Gary (Rogers) making a save or the crossbar hasn’t been rattled or anything like that but it was difficult because I felt decisions went against us.

‘Obviously when you lose it’s easy to say that but I genuinely felt 80% of the decisions all went one way. I was saying to myself, ‘what’s going on here, this is crazy stuff’. The decision then to send Chris off was predictable of the way it was going to be honest.

‘Would a Cork City player have been sent off for something similar? I don’t think he would have. That’s the nature of refereeing in an environment where you’re refereeing in front of a passionate, partisan home crowd. I think some of the decisions certainly went against us tonight,’ said Kenny.

Despite the defeat, Dundalk remain a point clear at the top of the table going into the mid-season break and Kenny praised his players for that.

‘We’re very disappointed tonight but we’ve had a lot of injuries recently which we haven’t had over the couple of years that we’ve been here and yet we’ve had quite a few missing in the last couple of months.

‘Despite that we’re still top of the table by a point and that speaks volumes for the group really. We’re disappointed we lost tonight. Cork played very well in the first half and we didn’t turn up in the first half at times but in the second half we played well and Ciaran (Kilduff) had two great chances, one of them off the line, and that’s the nature of it but I thought we could have had a clear cut penalty with the hand ball in the first half that bounced up clearly and I thought Chris’s sending off was never a sending off.’

One of the few positives to take from the game was Patrick McEleney, who made a real difference off the bench. After an injury-hit few months, Kenny is confident the Derry man can prove a big player for his side in the second half of the season.

‘He has been very unlucky with injury. Obviously I rate him very highly and I was hoping he’d have a big impact this season.

‘His hamstring and groin went though and he’s only getting back right now so he’ll be a big player in the second half of the season.’

Kenny also reiterated he was not looking to add to his squad in the coming weeks, saying: ‘We’re not planning to make any changes. We’re happy with what we’ve got.’

After taking this week off, Dundalk will fly to Portugal next week for a training camp which the manager is confident will benefit the side enormously.

‘We’ve never gone away for more than one night,’ he said. We’ve gone to training camps in Meath and Wexford, Kildare, Malahide and Blanchardstown but we’ve never gone abroad.

‘The club have been good enough to pay for the flights and we appreciate the good gesture. The rest of it is all expenses paid so you can’t turn it down. It’ll be good to get fellas together and train in an environment like that to raise the technical standard and that’s what you hope for.’

Before Dundalk return to action with a home game against St Patrick’s Athletic on June 24th, they will learn their Champions League opponents but Kenny insisted he had no preference over who his side got in the draw on June 20th.

‘I haven’t even really been focusing on that because a draw is a draw and you never know what you’re going to get.

‘Once the team comes out it’s a matter of can you deal with it then. Our main focus now is to come back from this. We’ve two tough games after the break with St Pat’s at home and Derry away and we need to have a passionate Oriel Park. It was passionate here with 5,500 today so you need to be getting good crowds. It’s the best team Dundalk has had in many years and we need that kind of passion. That’s what you want,’ he said.