‘Unbelievable’ says McEleney
IT wasn’t lost on many of the Dundalk fans who travelled to Alkmaar last Thursday that on the same night as Stephen Kenny’s side were claiming a famous draw 100km south of the AFAS Stadion, Manchester United had lost to Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
That fact also wasn’t lost on midfielder Patrick McEleney, who said it was an amazing achievement for the Lilywhites to rescue a point given they were a goal down and a man down entering the closing stages of their first ever group stage game in Europe.
“For the situation we got ourselves into between conceding the goal and having a man sent off we just showed a different side to what we’re about by digging in and we got our result,” McEleney told The Argus.
“It was an unbelievable result when you look at the fact that Feyenoord beat United tonight. The story just keeps going on,” he grinned.
“It’s a perfect start for us. Obviously we would have liked the win, especially for the way we played for the opening hour, but it was brilliant for us in the end to get the result.
“It’s unheard of for an Irish team to come away in their first game and get a point against a Dutch league side. They have matched PSV and Ajax in their league but I think we more than matched them to be honest up until their goal so we can be really proud of ourselves.”
McEleney, like goal hero Ciaran Kilduff, has had his fair share of injury problems this season and has missed key games but he said he was delighted to see the man who replaced him seven minutes from the end pop up with such an important goal after all he had gone through.
“He has been through the mill this season but he has serious character as well. He’s a winner and I think he showed that with his header.
“Our backs were against the wall and he’s going to attack the ball to keep us in the game and he has attacked it perfectly.
“I think we’ve shown that we’ve an unbelievable squad. Anybody can come in and do the same job. Every detail is covered and I think Shieldsy when he came on was brilliant and the wee man’s cross (Daryl Horgan) for Kilduff’s header was superb. It was an unbelievable header as well,” said the 23-year-old.