Dundalk hoping to build on derby win

DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny is hopeful of having a number of players back in contention for Friday night’s trip to Ballybofey to face Finn Harps (kick-off 8pm).

The Lilywhites boss was forced to make five changes to his team for the Louth derby clash with Drogheda Utd last Friday and suffered yet another injury blow when Sean Gannon was stretchered off early in the second half with a knee medial ligament injury that is likely to sideline him for between 6-8 weeks.

Gannon, who was due to make his 100th league appearance against Harps on Friday, will definitely sit out the Finn Harps tie as will Robbie Benson, who is facing a similar spell on the sidelines having limped off with a hamstring problem against Cork City a week earlier.

The manager is hoping to have Patrick McEleney back for the trip to the North West, however, after he sat out the Drogheda win with a groin injury. Sean Hoare will also come into contention having made his debut as a late substitute against the Boynesiders while there is an outside chance that Stephen O’Donnell will return having not featured since the season opener at home to Shamrock Rovers.

In a further boost for the Lilywhites, Ciaran Kilduff is also available again having sat out the Drogheda match through suspension.

Kenny admits the injury situation so far this season has been challenging but is confident Dundalk can weather the storm.

‘It’s very difficult so we’re just going to have to dig in for each other and go to Ballybofey and try to get three points.

‘We’re still six points behind the leaders and we’ve got a tough game against Finn Harps so we’ve got to focus on that and see who we can get back next week.

‘Stephen O’Donnell is not far away,’ he said before adding he did not know if he’d be available for Friday.

‘We’re not sure about Patrick McEleney either. We were hopeful he would have been able to play (against Drogheda) but he failed a fitness test with a groin injury.’

One real positive was the long-awaited debut of Hoare, 110 days on from his arrival at the club from St Patrick’s Athletic last December.

‘He had a hip injury from his time at St Pat’s that reoccurred in his kicking muscle. He’ll be an important player now especially with Sean Gannon out over the next few weeks.

‘He was only back training yesterday with the group, him and Steven Kinsella. ‘He’ll get a week’s training under his belt now and be all the better for it,’ said Kenny.

The manager was also impressed with the contribution of Thomas Stewart, who made his first start for Dundalk against Drogheda.

‘Thomas hadn’t played a game since last September nearly in America. He hadn’t played in any pre-season games because he came in late so he has just come on as a sub a few times.

‘It was a tough ask considering all of that because that’s the most demanding role for us with the way we play because you have to support David, press high and get back into midfield and work. It is physically the most demanding role but he did well.’

Having played all seven of his close season signings at various stages against Drogheda on Friday, Kenny had particular praise for man of the match Michael Duffy.

‘He was really brilliant tonight and showed real quality,’ said the manager.

‘He’s very exciting and very off the cuff. He has got a lot of stuff in his armoury and he looks like a goalscorer as well. He has two but he could have had five or six nearly.’

While Dundalk will be hot favourites to make it back-to-back win away to Finn Harps, Kenny expects a much tougher test than their last visit to Finn Park last May when they ran out 7-0 winners.

‘Finn Harps are a good team. They lost 3-2 tonight which was unfortunate but they’ve been good at home and it’s a tough place to go.

‘We went up there in the middle of summer last year but it’s different now and we’ll have to get ourselves ready.

‘Five wins out of seven so far is decent considering the games we’ve had. We could have got something away to Derry for sure and away to Cork the penalty would have made it 1-1 and a different game.

‘Cork are flying. They’ve had an exceptional run of form and they might go on and keep winning every week and there’s nothing we can do about that so we can only really focus on ourselves.

‘Friday was a big win for us. Obviously we had a lot of players missing and some players were only playing their first or second game so it was a big win.’

Kenny said he was delighted with the quality of his side’s goals on Friday night but admitted Marc Griffin’s 32nd minute reply to make it 2-1 affected his side slightly.

‘They were terrific goals really. I thought the players really showed their quality. What a cross by Dane Massey on the run after good play by Michael Duffy on the left. It was a terrific header by David McMillan and the second goal was a great team goal as well.

‘Their goal did change the flow a bit. We were sort of fragile having made so many changes and there were a few players sort of finding their way so that goal made it a real contest again.

‘We were very comfortable, maybe a bit too comfortable, and that goal changed the dynamic of the game and it was edgy then at 2-1. We had a lot of great chances at the start of the second half and couldn’t score and then thankfully we got the third goal to settle us down and we were all right.’