Cup venue confusion for the Lilywhites
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny is anxious to avoid an upset when his side face Crumlin Utd in the FAI Cup at the Iveagh Grounds in Dublin on Saturday (kick-off 4pm).
The Leinster Senior League outfit have already caused one shock in this season’s competition by beating Wexford Youths 2-1 in Ferrycarrig Park earlier this month.
Dundalk know they can book a quarter-final place by beating Martin Loughran’s side for a second year running. The Lilywhites ran out 5-0 winners over Crumlin at Oriel Park at the same stage of the competition last year courtesy of a Chris Shields brace and one apiece from the since departed trio of Dean Shiels, Paddy Barrett and Michael O’Connor.
That was then and this is now and with the cup competitions now amongst Dundalk’s key priorities, Kenny is anxious to ensure the Lilywhites don’t underestimate the Dublin side.
‘I always treat every opponent very seriously and be mindful of being upset in the cup. You have to make sure you’re not,’ he said.
‘Obviously it was a very comfortable win last season but that was last season. We just have to prepare accordingly and get ourselves ready.’
No date or venue was determined for the game until late on Monday afternoon when the FAI finally announced that the tie would be played at the multi-purpose Iveagh Grounds on the Crumlin road.
Crumlin had been anxious to play the match in their home ground of Pearse Park, but it was not deemed acceptable by the FAI. As a result, it was the only fixture whose details were not revealed when the fixture list was released on Sunday evening.
Kenny admitted it wasn’t an ideal situation to be in.
‘I think it’s one of those mysteries,’ he said.
‘I don’t know if it’s Saturday or Friday at this stage so I said to the players I don’t know if you’re in Tuesday or Wednesday yet because we’re not sure if the match is Friday or Saturday. I’m led to believe it’s Saturday away from home but we’re waiting for a venue.’
Asked was that an acceptable situation to be in, the manager did not want to get involved in a war of words.
‘I’m not getting involved in that now,’ he said.
‘It speaks for itself and it’s quite obvious but it is what it is and we’ll just make sure we prepare accordingly and make sure we’re right.’
Dundalk are likely to be without captain Stephen O’Donnell for the Crumlin game as he faces up to a month out with a hamstring injury while Jamie McGrath is also out for an unknown amount of time after his appendix burst last week.
On O’Donnell, Kenny said: ‘It’s only just a grade one tear. It wouldn’t normally take a month but Stephen has had some history in that regard so we just have to be very careful with it.’
Dylan Connolly will be back in the squad, however, having sat out Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Derry at Maginn Park through suspension. Robbie Benson is a doubt, however, having felt his hamstring in the same game.
Kenny was thrilled with his side’s display on the day but admitted it was strange to be four up at the break.
‘It’s funny because the first half display was so good and then the second half was a non-event. There’s not a feeling of elation after winning 4-0 because it was sort of done at half-time,’ he said.
‘It’s very rarely, if ever, that happens up here because Derry have a very good home record and of course we lost here earlier in the season.
‘Our passing and our movement were very fluid. They couldn’t predict what runners were coming from where and Michael Duffy, Robbie Benson and John Mountney were all supporting with Patrick McEleney sort of dictating things and David McMillan was influential for the first two goals. It was a very, very good team display. It’s very rare you get in at half-time and can have a cup of tea 4-0 up with the job done.’
Despite Cork City stuttering of late Kenny admitted it was too late to put pressure on them for the title but encouraged his side to keep up their recent good form in the weeks ahead.
‘Realistically no,’ he said when asked about Cork.
‘As someone who thinks optimistically all the time I’d have to say no but we still want to win every game. We want to set a standard that we’re playing like that every week and to try and win every game.
‘The players are playing well and there’s a good balance to the team but we need to keep pushing it on.
‘It has been strange from a motivation point of view giving team talks because the last four years we’ve been challenging for the league title right up until the end. This season obviously we haven’t so it’s not the same saying ‘let’s secure second’ for players who have won the league three years in-a-row. To the players’ credit, they’re able to get motivated and come and win 4-0.’
Kenny admitted now that the challenge was to keep the current group together.
‘We’ve got a very good team and we’re trying to build it to get better and hopefully we can do that. That will be important,’ he said.
I always treat every opponent very seriously and be mindful of being upset in the cup. You have to make sure you’re not.