Day of mixed emotions for Murray on Dundalk debut
IT was a day of mixed emotions for new Dundalk signing Ronan Murray on Sunday as he marked his competitive debut for the club with a first half brace only to see Cork City come from behind to claim the President’s Cup in the second half.
While the result was a blow for Murray as he aims for his first medal in Irish football, he feels Sunday’s game is just the wake up call that Stephen Kenny’s side need ahead of this Friday’s league opener at home to Bray Wanderers.
‘It’s a tough one to take,’ he told The Argus afterwards.
‘In the first half they didn’t look like scoring and we looked like scoring at a canter, maybe four or five. Then in the second half they had that and they did score the four so that was the difference on the day.
‘The second half will give us a bit of a kick up the backside. You can’t show up like that in the second half. However well the first half went, the second half needs to be a lot better. We’ll be raring to go for Bray on Friday though,’ he said.
Two goals did give the Mayo man a bit of a silver lining to reflect on though.
‘It was nice to get off the mark,’ he said.
‘Between (Michael) Duffy on the left and (Dane) Massey. Duffy was causing problems in the box and it just fell to me and I just stroked it home. Then Massey put in a great ball and again it has landed to me off a second try and it has gone in.
‘You’re 2-0 up against Cork, you need to shut up shop and not concede four goals though.
‘This was the first game of the season in my mind. I know there might not be anything on it but to beat Cork is the main aim this season. We had them out there in the first half and not to put them to the sword was disappointing.’
The 26-year-old admitted that not everything has gone to plan for Dundalk this pre-season but he is confident that the side can only improve as more players return from injury.
‘Nothing has gone for us in pre-season really. Even though we’ve had a great pre-season and a great week out in Spain with two quality games, we’ve had injuries and there’s a flu going around the squad.
‘Two lads have had to play out there today who were absolutely dying and looked like death before the game. They’ve still had to put on their boots and get togged and fair play to them for doing that. Nothing has really gone in our favour but you can’t make excuses, you want to go out and give your all and win the game.
‘The likes of Pat (Hoban) and Skip (Stephen O’Donnell) and Mounts (John Mountney) need to come back from injury. These people are massive to the team and the squad and to how our season is going to shape up.
‘Getting Pat out there today was great. He needs to get a bit of match sharpness and get amongst the goals but Bray now is the next objective and hopefully we can get three points there.
‘It’s a difficult start. Bray on Friday is huge. Every game is huge. That game today was huge and we haven’t come out the right side of it so we’re going to be raring to go to go hammer and tongs with Bray on Friday to get the three points because after that it doesn’t get much easier,’ said Murray.
The second half will give us a bit of a kick up the backside. You can’t show up like that.