Lethal Lilywhites earn their stripes
Derry Dundalk City 04
IF only the league had started a little later!
If only there were more games to go than there actually are. If only.
Dundalk fans can’t help but wonder what might have been with regards to the title race after seeing their side rip Derry City apart for the second time in the space of a week at Maginn Park on Sunday.
The football Stephen Kenny’s side have been playing of late has been simply sensational. Their victory in Buncrana at the weekend shows their dismantling of the third best team in the country the week before in the FAI Cup was no fluke.
Unfortunately, bar pretty much securing second place, it matters very little either way.
Cork City, despite their stutters of late, still hold an enormous lead and still require just eight points from their remaining matches to clinch the league title.
Performances like Sunday’s only make it harder to look back on the likes of the defeats to Galway Utd, Bray Wanderers, Shamrock Rovers and others and think what might have been.
If Dundalk had been in any way closer and playing the way they are right now then they would have been difficult to stop. The one consolation is this form will bode well for the cup games that lie ahead. An EA Sports Cup and FAI Cup could yet put a silver lining on a difficult season.
Domestically, Dundalk have now scored 31 goals since the mid-season break and conceded just two. Unfortunately those two conceded - at home to Shamrock Rovers and away to Sligo Rovers - cost the side five points but some leniency for them can be given taking into account they came in the week after the heartbreaking Champions League defeat to Rosenborg.
Given how close Dundalk ran the Norwegians, their subsequent exploits over two legs against Celtic and 1—0 win away to Ajax in the Amsterdam Arena last week only serve to add the what ifs and might have beens.
Perhaps the ‘if onlys’ need to be turned on their head. Perhaps now we need to think about the future.
If this Dundalk side can stay together and continue producing like they did against Derry City on Sunday then they will take some stopping in returning to the summit of Irish football next season.
There was an adjustment period at the start of the season but the jig saw has been slowly coming together with some of the new players having grown enormously in stature in recent weeks. Niclas Vemmelund has been a rock at the back while the transformation of the team has perhaps been best epitomised by Michael Duffy. Virtualy anonymous against his home town club when Dundalk crashed to their first league defeat
of the season at Maginn Park back in March, he was man of the match on Sunday on his return to the Inishowen League’s venue.
While Dundalk would have the victory wrapped up by half-time, he epitomised his growth in the number seven shirt with the game still 0-0 on 17 minutes. His free kick from the right was headed clear by Aaron Barry with Derry breaking at pace through Ronan Curtis, who looked to have slipped Lukas Schubert in on goal. Just as the Austrian was about to pull the trigger though, Duffy got back to make a superb block. Stephen Kenny would describe it afterwards as a “game changer”. That, of course, was speculative. There was no doubt, however, that Duffy would not have made such a dash or block a few months ago.
He was in the thick of it right from the off and had the first big chance of the game on 11 minutes when he latched onto a Dane Massey throw only to flash his shot across the face of goal.
Dundalk did have the ball in the net on 13 minutes when David McMillan’s shot was turned in by John Mountney but the offside flag saw it instantly chalked off.
Derry, who had only a few long range efforts by this stage, were struggling to cope with the pace and running of Dundalk’s attacking players and it was perhaps no surprise when the breakthrough came on 23 minutes.
McMillan played a superb ball in from the left for Robbie Benson to race onto with the midfielder showing great awareness to dink his effort past the outrushing Ger Doherty.
Within 90 seconds it would be 2-0. Following the kick-off, Dundalk won possession back almost instantly with Patrick McEleney turning provider on this occasion as he floated a superb right footed cross in from the left which McMillan met on the volley to direct to the bottom left hand corner.
Dundalk were rampant at this stage and it was no surprise when the third arrived on 33 minutes. Duffy’s shot from 30 yards could only be parried by Doherty with Benson on hand to fire home the rebound for his seventh league goal of the campaign.
With Derry visibly on the ropes, the visitors continued pushing forward and two minutes later Chris Shields went close to his first league goal in four yearswhen he flashed a shot just wide of the left hand post.
Moments later Sean Gannon raced up the right only to have his shot from an acute angle pushed away by Doherty.
The fourth did arrive on 42 minutes with Massey’s cross from the left brilliantly picking out Mount- ney, who drilled low to the net for his third goal of the week against the Derry.
Kenny Shiels’ side would finally manage their first shot on target a minute later but it, like everything they threw at Gary Rogers in the second half, was comfortable for the goalkeeper to deal with.
With the game sewn up, the second half was something of a non-affair. Derry did improve but never really looked like getting a consolation. Dundalk, by contrast, were much more reserved but still conjured up the best chances.
On 68 minutes McEleney slipped McMillan in for a shot that he trashed wide while nine minutes later his replacement Thomas Stewart managed to round Doherty only to fire into the side-netting from a tight angle.
The job had been done in the first-half and what a job it was.
It’s only human to wonder ‘if only’ but the positives in the present is this Dundalk side are firing all cylinders again. The new additions have found their stride and some of the older servants have been rejuvenated.
It bodes well for the cup games that lie ahead but also for the new season if Stephen Kenny can keep the bulk of this side together.
That now remains the biggest challenge.