‘WE’LL GET NOTHING ANDY NOW’
DUNDALK defender Andy Boyle has warned his side that they have an even bigger target on their backs after their Champions League success.
After the high of last Tuesday’s victory over BATE Borisov, Stephen Kenny’s side were brought back down to earth with a 1-0 defeat away to Galway Utd on Friday night.
The Anchor Tours coach was already back on the M6 with the team on board before the music stopped playing at Eamon Deacy Park in a sign of just what the victory meant to the Tribesmen.
And speaking to The Argus afterwards, Boyle said his side will have to get even more used to teams raising their game against the champions following their Champions League heroics.
‘We have created history and have a chance to create even more history so we’re probably a bigger scalp now than we’ve ever been despite the fact we’re the double champions and won the FAI Cup as well.
‘We have to take that though. We’re more than happy to do well in Europe and that just comes along with it.
‘We didn’t do enough to beat Galway. We didn’t score and we conceded a poor goal from our point of view. When the champions come to town everyone wants to beat us I suppose and you seen from the crowd’s reaction there at the end that it’s a massive three points for them.
‘Now that want to beat us has even gone up a level after everyone seeing what we’ve done in Europe over the last few weeks but there’s no excuses from our point of view. We’re just really disappointed because it’s a flat note to end what was a great week for the club.’
Boyle insists that despite Dundalk’s European exploits, they still want to retain their league title and can’t afford to take their eye off that prize in the weeks ahead.
‘The first thing we said last Wednesday morning was that beating BATE was a brilliant and unbelievable achievement but the league gave us the opportunity to get to that stage and to have a go at the Champions League.
‘It’s the bread and butter at the end of the day and it’s the format that will get us through to that stage if we want to do it again next year. We’ve got to pay respect to that but unfortunately we just had one of those nights against Galway.’
The 25-year-old said he felt his side had performed well on the night but just lacked a cutting edge against Tommy Dunne’s side, who took the lead just before half-time through former Lilywhite Vinny Faherty’s header.
‘I don’t think we were bad at all tonight. I thought in the first half we started well but we didn’t take our chances when we were on top.
‘It was a disappointing goal to give away then. They didn’t create too much themselves but they just took their chance when they got it.
‘It was a great header from Vinny’s point of view but there were a lot of things we could have done in the build-up and in the box to prevent the goal but we didn’t and it’s just a disappointing end to the week. We didn’t want to finish it off like that. It was really disappointing.’
The centre half, who was one of a handful of doubts for the trip west after Tuesday night’s victory over BATE, refused to use that game as an excuse for what was Dundalk’s third league defeat of the campaign.
‘We’re not the type of group who look for excuses. We prepared right and we were in Wednesday morning for recovery and trained Thursday to get ready for tonight. It wasn’t down to Tuesday.
‘You could see from our performance we played well. It wasn’t that we didn’t turn up or weren’t interested. It was far from that. We worked quite hard but sometimes you just have those nights.
‘The most disappointing thing is that we didn’t create enough chances. I don’t think their goalkeeper had many to save. Only Ciaran Kilduff’s one springs to mind at the end but that’s really it I suppose.
‘In the first half I thought we had a few set pieces that caused them problems and overall I thought we were good value to get something out of the game but sometimes you just have them nights.’
Looking ahead, Boyle expects a tough test in their Champions League double header with Legia Warsaw later this month but said the main priority now for Stephen Kenny’s men was bouncing back from their defeat to Galway when they make the trip to the Carlisle Grounds to face Bray Wanderers on Wednesday night.
‘I think any team we were going to get at this stage were going to be a good side. We’ll know much more about them when it comes to it but the Bray game is massive for us now on Wednesday.
‘We’ve got to make sure we bounce back and get three points. They’ll give us a tough game. They’ve only conceded something like one goal in 10 hours and that was a penalty as well so it’ll be difficult out there. It’s always a difficult place for us to go but we’ll make sure we’re right.
‘Last Tuesday was a night you’ll remember for the rest of your career and the rest of your life. We were just disappointed that we finished off the week on a flat note. We wanted to win tonight to cap off a great week in the club’s history but we’re hopeful that there’s more good days than bad ahead and that has to start Wednesday night against Bray.
‘It’s not going to be easy because sometimes you go there and the conditions are crazy but they’re also a good side and they’re doing very well under the new manager,’ he said.