Kenny seeks big reaction in Louth derby clash
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny has called for a reaction from his players when they travel to United Park on Friday night for the Louth derby clash with Drogheda Utd (kick-off 7.45pm).
The Lilywhites finished the first half of the season on a disappointing note when they lost 3-0 at home to Cork City to fall 18 points off the pace in the title race.
With a fourth league title in-arow looking increasingly unlikely, Kenny and co will be looking to Europe as a means to salvaging their season.
They will learn their opponents for the second qualifying round of the Champions League next Monday morning when the draw takes place in Switzerland.
Regardless of who Dundalk are paired with they will have five league matches to play before then and Kenny told The Argus this week that he is looking for his side to put together a consistent run of form that has been lacking so far this season.
The squad spent the end of last week and the weekend at a training camp in Fota in Cork and Kenny described it as a useful exercise in preparing for the second half of the season.
‘We had six sessions down there and it gave us a chance to work on a lot of different things,’ he said.
‘We just really focused on the fixtures we have coming up and it was a great opportunity to do that. We’ve always had a high work ethic here and while everyone else took a week off, we didn’t because we know we have a lot of work to do.
‘From day one the players here have always had a good attitude. They have made some mistakes this season but they want to put them right and they have to react well now and win the game against Drogheda.’
While Dundalk have enjoyed some good wins against the Boynesiders at home in recent seasons, the Lilywhites have won just two of the six competitive games played there since Kenny has been in charge, losing two and drawing two in the process.
The manager admits he expects a tough match against Pete Mahon’s men again on Friday.
‘Drogheda is never an easy place to go. To be fair to them they’ve drawn their last three matches 0-0 against Bray, Derry and Bohs and from the reports of the games we’ve heard they could have won all three of them.
‘United Park is a difficult venue. It’s very compact and you always get a tough game there. We’ll really have to work very hard to get something from there on Friday.
‘From our point of view it’s just about getting a bit of consistency going. We’ve been really excellent in parts but obviously there have been disappointments too like the Cork game and we have to bounce back from that now.’
Kenny reported that all of the squad came through the training camp unscathed, with a full selection to choose from for the Drogheda game with the exception of Steven Kinsella who is hoping to return to training at the end of this week having been laid up for some time with a back issue.
With Dundalk set to learn their Champions League opponents next Monday, Kenny admits he is anxious to build up form ahead of that game but has admitted his concern about the scheduling of the match against Bohemians in Dalymount Park, currently scheduled for Friday July 7th - just five days before a potential first leg tie on July 12th.
‘We had been hoping to move that Bohemians game to the Wednesday but now we’ve been told it isn’t moving. We could be playing in the Champions League on the Tuesday so if the Bohs game goes ahead on the Friday it means we will be just in for recovery on Saturday and Sunday and will only get one day of training in before the first leg with minimal recovery time. It would give us no time to work on the opposition so we had to work on a lot of things down in Cork.
‘We just focused on different systems that we could play because you need to be more adaptable and be tactically able to interchange when you play in Europe,’ he said.
Asked about the draw, Kenny admitted Dundalk would have to do things the hard way if they were to enjoy another European adventure this year and while he wouldn’t speak too much about preferential ties, he did admit his desire to avoid Scottish champions Celtic.
‘The draw will probably be regionalised once again so there’s probably six or seven clubs we can get. I think we are somewhat unfortunate not to be seeded based on what we did last year. One more draw probably would have secured it for us but it’s based over five years so we can’t do anything about that.
‘It means that, no matter who we get, it will be a major club, but we’ll be trying to beat them.
‘We’d like to avoid a glamour tie against Celtic but we’ll take the game whatever it is. Who knows it could be the trilogy against BATE,’ he laughed.
Kenny has traditionally added at least one player to his squad during the summer months while in charge of Dundalk but he remained coy about possible signings in the weeks ahead despite being linked to the likes of Kieran Sadlier from Sligo Rovers, Northern Irish international Niall McGinn and the club’s 2014 top scorer Pat Hoban.
‘I am considering it,’ he said when asked about any additions. ‘It’s about getting the right players in but out of respect for the players at the club now it’s best not to say too much on that at the minute.
‘I’ll only bring in players who can improve the squad. It’s not just about this season, we’re building for the next couple of years now,’ he said.
Kenny also admitted he had yet to decide on whether or not to recall Georgie Poynton and Ciaran O’Connor, who have been performing well on loan for Bohemians and Finn Harps respectively.