Dundalk go west with one eye firmly on FAI Cup final
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny is hopeful of having a number of players back for Friday’s final league game of the season away to Galway Utd at Eamonn Deacy Park (kick-off 7.45pm).
Less than a fortnight out from the FAI Cup final with Cork City on November 5th, the manager’s injury problems were highlighted during Friday night’s 1-0 defeat to Bohemians when he had to name two goalkeepers and five U-19 players on his bench.
Ahead of the trip west, Kenny is confident of having Michael Duffy back available to him while Stephen O’Donnell returns from suspension. There is also a possibility that Patrick McEleney could return.
‘I’ll have to wait and see,’ he said when asked who he’d have back.
‘We’re not sure whether Patrick McEleney will be available next week or not. Michael Duffy should be back, Stephen O’Donnell will be back from suspension but on the other hand Sean Hoare is suspended so I might not have too many back.
‘Dane Massey could resume training during the week. We’ll see how he is.’
Kenny admits he does not know when he will have Dylan Connolly back at his disposal though.
‘We thought we might have had Dylan back tonight but he was too sore from the injury against Rovers. We expected him to make tonight. That was the plan but he tried to train yesterday and couldn’t. That was a setback.’
With John Mountney also facing a race against time to be fit, Kenny insisted the only player likely to definitely miss the cup final as things stand is Steven Kinsella.
‘The only one that you can nearly rule out is Steven Kinsella,’ he said. We’ve haven’t been able to get him fit at all properly this season. He has been injured for a couple of years at Everton. I thought we would have had him tonight but he says he has nerve pain in his back. It’s a most unusual situation so he’ll be ruled out.
‘Our preparations haven’t been ideal with the number of injuries we’ve had. We’ve probably had more injuries this season than we’ve had multiplied in the previous three.
‘The other side of it is that some players are in good form. Two players that have really emerged in the last couple of weeks are Jamie McGrath and Sean Hoare. They’ve really played well and they’re going to be great players for us next season,’ said the manager.
While he sweats on the fitness of several players, Kenny insisted that Friday’s game would be an ideal preparation for the FAI Cup final given Galway Utd’s need to win to have any hope of avoiding the drop.
‘It’s a proper game,’ he said. ‘There will be a big crowd. Galway will be looking to win. It’ll be a tough game down there.
‘We’ve Stephen O’Donnell back and if we could get Patrick and Michael back that would give us more of a natural balance in the team than we had tonight. We probably didn’t have a natural width that would have given us a cutting edge in our play. It was a little bit experimental and we wanted to try a couple of things but better to try them in matches like that than in cup finals.’
Kenny admitted it was disappointing to lose the club’s unbeaten run stretching back to July 23rd against Bohs on Friday.
‘We’ve lost it and we’re disappointed not to have won our last home game but we’ve got to accept it.
‘They’ve scored from a great strike from Izzy Akinade from a long distance but Jamie McGrath has had an equally good strike come off the crossbar. David McMillan’s goal being disallowed must have been marginal but it was a blatant penalty on Chris Shields at the end. I think everyone in the ground thought it was a penalty but it wasn’t given and Chris couldn’t believe it.
‘These are things you have to contend with but Bohemians defended very well and on the counter created a few chances themselves. We weren’t at our best tonight, far from it. It was a difficult night conditions wise but it’s not the big prize for us. The big prize is in two weeks for us.’
With speculation last week linking David McMillan and Robbie Benson with moves to Scotland and Niclas Vemmelund also weighing up his options, Kenny said it would be a battle to hold onto his key players for next season.
‘We’re very keen to keep them, of course we are. It’s an inevitability that there has been interest from the UK so we’ll have to wait and see.
‘It’s a situation that is quite frustrating but there’s nothing we can do. It’s a free market and players are free agents so it’s just something we have to contend with but I think players will want to stay at Dundalk Football Club as well because they realise that it’s the most successful period in the club’s history and nearly in any club’s history and the FAI Cup final in a couple of weeks would cap off an amazing four years here.
‘We’re hungry for that and we want more of those nights and more great European nights. We want to regain our league title next season so there’s lots for players to want to stay for but the UK is attractive as well for players so that’s something we have to contend with.’
Kenny congratulated Cork on their title win but hoped Dundalk would be back challenging to retain it next year.
‘We congratulate Cork on the league title. They deserve it over the season.
‘I think even the best teams in Europe don’t win their league every year.
‘We’ve had a fair period of transition. I think the challenge for us is to make sure that next year isn’t another transition period with losing players. That’s a big challenge. I think players will want to stay but you can’t be certain. Nevertheless we’ll still be very strong,’ he said.
There will be a big crowd. Galway will be looking to win. It’ll be a tough game down there.