Patience is a virtue for Dundalk manager
DUNDALK manager Stephen Kenny says he is happy to be patient in making the final additions to his squad for the 2018 season, which gets under way a month from today (Tuesday).
After admitting last week that he expected to add “two or three” players to his squad, Lithuanian international midfielder Karolis Chvedukas was the only arrival.
He was expected to be followed to Oriel Park by Swedish striker Luka Mijaljevi , currently of Gothenburg outfit GAIS, but Kenny admitted to The Argus on Sunday that the deal was “not happening” and he said he expects no new arrivals this week.
While anxious to add another striker to his squad before the season commences at home to Bray Wanderers on February 16th, Kenny said he will not make signings for the sake of it.
“We’ll have no one coming in this week but we do need another striker,” he said.
“We do have targets in mind, but we have Patrick Hoban and Ronan Murray at the moment so we’re not in a bad position.
“We do need to add one to provide extra competition at centre forward but we’re happy to take our time to get the right one in.”
Asked would the new forward come from outside the league, like Chvedukas, Kenny said “he could well be”.
One home-based player that Dundalk continue to be linked with is UCD striker Georgie Kelly, who last season broke Ciaran Kilduff’s record for the most goals in a season for The Students when he netted 17 times in the First Division .
Kenny had previously told The Argus that a move for the 21-yearold was complicated by the fact he was finishing his degree in the next few months and would be unable to commit to the Lilywhites’ new full-time set-up.
Asked had that situation changed, Kenny would only say: “It hasn’t really.”
While a new striker remains the priority, the manager refused to rule out other additions. Asked would the new forward be the end of his transfer business, he said: “We’ll see.”
One player who will be given a chance to impress at Oriel Park this week is Clare teenager Jeff McGowan. The striker, who was previously on the books of Barnsley, will train with the squad this week.
Asked about the possibility of him being given a contract, Kenny said: “We’ll see how it goes.”
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Dundalk’s opening pre-season friendly will take place this day week on Tuesday January 23rd when they host Cabinteely at Oriel Park (kick-off 7.45pm) in an historic first meeting between the sides at senior level.
That will precede the Malone Cup match with Drogheda Utd at Oriel Park on Saturday January 27th, which will have a 5pm kick-off.
Dundalk will then fly to Spain on Monday January 29th for a five-day camp that will take in matches against a Chinese Super League team and a Korean team before returning to face Brentford B at Oriel Park on Tuesday February 7th.
The Cabinteely match will likely give supporters a first opportunity to see new signing Chvedukas.
Kenny admitted he had not seen the 26-year-old play in the flesh before offering him a twoyear deal last week but felt he would be a good addition.
“One of the agents we deal with alerted us to his availability, so we watched a lot of matches he was involved in after that and got a really good report about him from Split where he played before the club ran into financial trouble.
“Karolis can play in a few positions but he has probably mainly played on the right of a midfield three. He’s got good energy, makes good forward runs and has two good feet.’