Kenny still sees Derry as a big threat in league title race
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny insists his side will have to be at their best to beat his former side Derry City when they go head-to-head in the Brandywell on Friday night (7.45pm).
Kenny Shiels’ side have been arguably the surprise package of the season to date and have already taken a point from the Lilywhites this term.
Heading into Friday night’s match they sit in third place, six points off second placed Cork City and nine points off Dundalk.
While talk of the Candystripes winning their first Premier Division title since 1996/97 has been almost non-existent to date, Kenny is refusing to rule his old club out of the title race and knows they can put themselves right into contention with a win over the champions at the weekend.
‘We’ve got a tough game at the Brandywell on Friday,’ he said.
‘They’re still in the running. They’re only about six points off Cork. They’ve had a very good season and they’re a good team.
‘Obviously we drew here earlier in the season. It’s a tough game for us in the Brandywell because their home form has been good. We’ll have to prepare well for next Friday.
‘It’s going to be a tough game but it’s important we go and try to get a big win because even though we’re in the second series of games we’ve had Bray, Wexford and Finn Harps who are all at the bottom end so the Pat’s game was our first big win of the second series. Now we’ve Derry and that’ll be a big test for us on Friday,’ he said.
Chris Shields will once again be suspended for the trip to the North West while Dane Massey remains a doubt with the calf problem that saw him miss out on the victory over St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night.
Speaking after that match, Kenny said it was good to get back to winning ways following the defeat to Cork City before the break.
‘It’s a long three weeks when you lose your last game before the break. Losing games hurts.
‘The initial week after the defeat, I hated it. You want to get people in the next day and sort it out but we had a full week to stir, which is not what you want, because you can’t switch off when you lose like that.
‘We weren’t getting obsessed with the maths though after the last game. It’s a bit early for that. We’ve two games against Derry and Longford and only then is it at the half way period.
‘We had three players tonight who hadn’t started in the league in months, Shane Grimes, Ciaran Kilduff and Patrick McEleney but that freshness in the team didn’t do us any harm and it was a good victory.
‘I thought first half we were very good tonight. Our passing was brilliant and we had a lot of good play but just not so many clear cut chances. They defended well and the two centre backs were quite dominant for them in terms of defending crosses but our passing and approach play was excellent.
‘In the second half I felt we lost our rhythm a little bit in the first 20 minutes of the half. They came more into the game and we weren’t as fluid and it became a bit scrappy for a while but we persisted. We understand the value of persistence and I think our ability to keep going, you can never underestimate that. We kept going and we have creative players and in the end Patrick McEleney teed it up for Ciaran Kilduff and he showed his character by steering it in with his left foot. He had a header off the post then that came across the line for Ronan so it was important.’
After handing him his first league start in more than three months, Kenny is hopeful that former Derry player McEleney has now put his injury problems behind him.
‘He just needs a bit of luck,’ he said.
‘He has still obviously to get fitter in terms of match fitness. You can do all the training you want but he’s one of those who needs six or seven games because he blows hard and is so explosive. He’s a very instinctive player.’
Kenny also reserved special praise for Shane Grimes who made a rare league start following Massey’s injury in training last Tuesday night.
‘I can’t speak highly enough of Shane Grimes. He’s such a great professional. He’s a credit to himself.
‘Dane Massey hasn’t been injured in four years and that’s his first injury. Shane played in the FAI Cup against Shelbourne, in the League Cup against St Patrick’s and in the Leinster Cup against Bohemians but it’s hard every week if you’re not playing, especially to keep the standards we have.
‘It requires an incredible amount of fortitude to keep going and when your chance comes then to play as well as he did is a real credit to himself.
‘He’s a very important member of the squad. He has a terrific attitude in the gym and the way we he applies himself. We’re lucky to have him.’
While unconfirmed by the FAI as of Tuesday morning, Kenny is confident that the game with Longford Town, originally scheduled for Friday July 8th, will be brought forward to next Tuesday July 5th in order to give the side a full week to prepare for their Champions League second qualifying round first leg tie with FH Hafnarfjarðar on July 13th.
Dundalk assistant manager Gerry Spain made the trip to Iceland on Friday to see them win 1-0 against bottom of the table Fylkir and while the preparation work for Europe is well underway, Kenny insists it is important to go into those matches on a winning run.
‘It’s a funny period because you lose matches with the Sligo game already off. The Champions League games are huge for the club and we want to go in in good form.
‘Although that was a good performance tonight, you’d want an improvement on that again going into the games. We hadn’t had a match in three weeks and we had three or four changes so we want to do well first against Derry and Longford.
‘FH have good pedigree. They’ve seven Icelandic titles in the last 12 years and they’ve won a game in Europe every year. They’re the seeded team and they’re ranked above us. Their co-efficient is decent. They beat SJK from Finland last year and I spoke to Tommy Dunne from Galway, who coached in Finland, and I asked him how he’d rate SJK and he said he’d rate them very highly. They’re at least at our standard because they’ve a good budget and a proper full-time setup and FH beat them well last year. They beat Glenavon 6-2 as well. It was
The initial week after the defeat, I hated it. You want to get people in the next day and sort it out but we had a full week to stir
3-0 in the first leg so the tie was over after that.
‘Obviously they’ve got an electic mix of players – a Cameroonian right back, Belgian left back, the Faroes goalkeeper that was at Man City, English midfielder players and a Scottish centre forward. They’ve also got a couple of Icelandic internationals so they’re a good side. Gerry Spain is there tonight and we’ll be going through video footage as well in the next few weeks.
‘I believe the Longford game is the Tuesday even though it hasn’t been confirmed yet by the FAI. It’ll be good to have a week’s preparation because you need to practice in training how the other team plays and get all the players up to speed because it’s not like playing someone in your league where players know the opposition. These are players who we don’t know the strengths and weaknesses so they need to be informed of all that and that’s all part of it. We’ve got to compile all that and make sure that no stone is left unturned in terms of our preparations,’ he said.