Catching the leaders not the priority
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny will be wary of the threat posed by bottom club Galway Utd ahead of the two side’s meeting at Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).
The Tribesmen have yet to record a win in their nine outings in the league so far this season but did beat the Lilywhites on their last visit to the Dyke Road venue last August when Vinny Faherty’s goal on the stroke of half-time earned a 1-0 victory.
Dundalk can ill afford a repeat of that scoreline given they continue to trail league leaders Cork City by nine points heading into the final match of the first series of games.
However, Kenny insists he is not worried about catching John Caulfield’s high flyers just yet and has instead challenged his players to put their own run of victories together.
“At this stage we don’t need to focus on that,” he said when asked about the nine point gap.
“We’ve just got to focus on winning matches.
“If Cork go and win every game between now and the end of the season they’ll have deserved it but we can’t get preoccupied at that. What we’ve got to do is concentrate on winning matches.
“We’ve two tough games in the next two weeks away to Shamrock Rovers and away to Galway and we’ve got to put in good displays.
“There’s a long way to go. I’m more concerned about the two difficult matches we have coming up.
“Galway beat us there last year. We sort of romanticise about last season but we got done down in Galway. They’ve had some injuries and that’s why they have struggled because they’ve not got the biggest of squads. They’ve got some of their players back who were injured so we’ll get a tough game down there. I thought they signed well. They are a decent side and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for them on Friday,” he said.
Dundalk got back to winning ways last Friday following their controversial defeat to Bray Wanderers the week before with a 2-0 victory over Bohemians.
While Kenny admitted there is still improvements to be made, he was happy with the three points.
“I think it was an important result after the manner of the defeat last week. It was gut-wrenching really for everyone so it was important to bounce back with a victory tonight,” said the manager.
“I think the players showed a good attitude. It was far from a perfect display from us. There were periods of the game where we looked exciting and had a cutting edge and created chances but there were periods where we didn’t control the game in the manner that we would in the past.
“Nothing in life is easy and everyone has a game plan. Bohemians have had some good results but we were deserved winners. We scored two good goals and obviously Michael Duffy’s second goal was a brilliant goal and he was probably our best player on the night. We could have scored a lot more than we did but Shane Supple made some very good saves.”
Ahead of the final match of the first series of games away to Galway on Friday, Kenny said he was still learning about his team during what he described as a “transitional phase”.
“We’ve had young wingers coming in Jamie McGrath, Michael Duffy and Steven Kinsella, we’ve two changes in our back four with Sean Hoare and Niclas Vemmelund and it’s a little transitional phase.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries with key players missing. Sean Gannon and Robbie Benson are still out.
“The players who played tonight did a good job. It was a good win. We weren’t free flowing but at times there was very good stuff.
“We’re still learning about the players. Michael Duffy, that’s the first time we’ve played him on the right because his preferred position is on the left and he has been effective on the left but how good was he tonight?
“These are things you are learning about the players. Jamie McGrath came in against UCD on the left and linked very well with Dane Massey and sometimes he is happier coming off the left. It’s funny how it’s gone because all the wingers want to play on their opposite sides. Steven Kinsella prefers the right and he’s left-footed and Michael and Jamie both prefer the left. The old fashion winger running to the by-line and hanging a cross in the air is gone. There’s not enough of those players but that’s what Patrick (McEleney) did for the first goal tonight.
“It was a good move. Michael Duffy broke quickly and played it to Patrick McEleney. It was a terrific cross and David (McMillan) got the diving header. It was an important goal. Getting the first goal is important and we very rarely ever lose a match that we get the first goal in so I think it was important to get it.
“We could have scored more but We’ll take 2-0. Ultimately they were still dangerous Bohemians because they had a succession of long throw-ins and some set plays. They have a bit of pace up front as well so we never felt we were comfortable, particularly at 1-0. 2-0 gives you a bit of breathing space and thankfully it was enough,” he said.
Kenny reiterated that his side’s opening to the season has not been easy but insisted they were ready to fight to retain their crown
“We’ve had a lot of good per- formances. Bray stifled us somewhat last week. Michael Duffy hadn’t trained that week and there were a lot of new partnerships. Vemmelund and McGrath hadn’t played together, Clifford and Shields had only played something like once together before. Patrick was only back after a couple of weeks out and these are all factors.
“We can’t seem to get a run of it to have a proper training week. I like to do 11 v 11 but I haven’t been able to do any of that because we haven’t had the numbers. We’ve had to tailor training because of that.
“These are all things that challenge you and you’ve got to overcome them. There’s no point in making excuses. I don’t mind any of that because they’re all things you can deal with but you can’t deal with what happened last week.
“You’ve no divine right to win any trophy. People think you can just turn up and win two in-a-row, three in-a-row and four in-a-row
but life doesn’t work like that.
“Who gives you the right to do that? You lose Daryl Horgan, Ronan Finn, Andy Boyle and Darren Meenan who was a regular for a few seasons here. We had a very short window to replace them. We’ve added talent to replace them but they’re young though.
“We’re second in the league. It’s not a catastrophe. We will work to try and get better and try to continue to win matches and stay in contention,” said Kenny.
Robbie Benson and Sean Gan- non will again miss the trip to Galway with respective hamstring and knee problems but both jogged for the first time on Friday night.
Dundalk will also be in EA Sports Cup action on Bank Holiday Monday May 1st when they host Waterford FC in the quarter-final at Oriel Park (kick-off 5pm).
Kenny said he was pleased that it was a home game.
“I’m pleased about that because it would have meant three trips in a week. That’s something we can look forward to,” he said.