Horror tackle set to end Shields’ season
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny faces a major selection dilemma ahead of three huge matches in the space of six days this week.
The Lilywhites will face Shelbourne in the Leinster Senior Cup semi-final at Oriel Park on Wednesday (kick-off 7.45pm) before travelling to face Finn Harps in the league in Ballybofey on Saturday (kick-off 5pm, live on RTÉ Two).
They will then meet Shamrock Rovers again in the FAI Cup semi-final replay the following Tuesday at Tallaght Stadium following Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Oriel.
That game saw Dave McAllister sent-off for a horror challenge on Chris Shields that is expected to end the Dundalk midfielder’s season and with Dane Massey, John Mountney and Steven Kinsella all ‘struggling’, Kenny admits he has real problems this week.
‘I haven’t got enough players. I’ll have to play,’ he said.
‘Obviously our squad is very stretched at the minute with Dane Massey, John Mountney, Steven Kinsella and now Chris Shields all out. Conor Clifford is suspended for next Saturday. He is one who probably could have came in but he’s suspended. I’ve got to have a look at that and see.’
With the FAI Cup replay the priority of the three matches, Kenny also said he didn’t think club captain Stephen O’Donnell would be equipped to cope with two games in the space of three days.
‘He’s not really able to play two games in three days like that. He can’t do that and Conor Clifford being suspended next week gives me a real headache so we’ll have to have a look at that.’
Asked could a player like Niclas Vemmelund be deployed in midfield for the trip to Finn Park, Kenny said the Dane was also struggling having received treatment after the Rovers match.
‘Niclas has a bit of a thigh strain as well so I don’t know if he’ll feature either.
‘It’s unlikely we’ll have anyone back of the others that are out but we’ve just got to rally around each other and get ourselves ready for next week.
The manager also hit out at McAllister’s challenge on Shields, saying it should have been a straight red card rather than a second yellow.
‘It’s a bad medial ligament knee injury. It was a really poor tackle, a dreadful tackle. I’ve just seen it back there and it was a straight red really even though he has given a yellow. He’ll be out for a few months.
‘It was a very high challenge and it’s very unfortunate for Chris in that regard.’
Kenny insisted he wasn’t pleased with the timing of Wednesday’s Leinster Senior Cup final and said he would now be forced to play an entire U-19 team for the game.
‘I’m not happy about the Leinster Cup match being this week. We shouldn’t have agreed to play it probably.
‘I’m not happy about that on Wednesday but it has been forced upon us. I’d like to think that we shouldn’t be agreeing to play these matches but I’m told we’ve no choice so it has to go ahead even though there’s four weeks left in the season for us. It probably will be a complete under 19 select now.’
While admitting that some players, such as Thomas Stewart, could probably do with game time, he said he had to weigh up whether to use him on Wednesday or start him in Ballybofey.
‘There’s one or two that do need a match but it’s whether or not they start next Saturday.
‘We’re going to have to look at that because can your centre forward play two full 90 minutes in close succession and will he be fresh after travelling back from Donegal? We’ve got to look at that.’
While Cork are just two points shy of winning the league, Kenny said it was Dundalk’s ambition to take the maximum of 12 points available to them between now and the end of the season.
‘We always try and win every game. We’ve always had that mentality.
‘They only need to win one game out of four and they’re in the asecendancy. Inevitably they probably will win it but every game we play we’ll aspire to win and that’s the way we approach it. I’m not going to make unrealistic statements but every game that we play we’ll certainly look to win,’ he said.
Reacting to the draw with Rovers, Kenny admitted his side were ‘kicking themselves’ not to have won having taken a ninth minute lead through Robbie Benson’s goal.
‘We’re disappointed overall. We could have been two or three up at half-time because we played very well against a strong wind in the first half and passed it really well.
‘It was a great goal by Robbie Benson and a great move. We created several chances after that but obviously just went in 1-0 up. We didn’t play well in the second half. We kicked the ball away a little bit with the wind. It seemed to suit both teams playing against the wind more than with it. Certainly we could have played better and used it better but it seemed to run away from us a little bit. We looked like we could win it but obviously the goal was disappointing from our point of view.
‘We didn’t start the second half well and there was a lot of free kicks against us and we had to defend a lot of set plays and stuff like that. With the wind we seemed to kick the ball away a little bit so we could have done that better.
‘We’re sort of kicking ourselves a little bit not to have seen the game out or not to have got a second goal. We’re going to have to do it the hard way now. That’s where we are. It’s not a dissimilar situation to last year where we drew here against Derry in the cup and had to go up to the Brandywell. We have to dig deep now and go next week.’
Kenny also said going to Tallaght would hold no fears for his side.
‘We’re well used to it. It’s a tough game but we’re going to have to roll our sleeves up now and get ready. There’s big motivation for everyone. We’ve got to dig deep and get ourselves ready for that game,’ he said.