Dundalk show desire

CHRIS Shields believes Dundalk showed how much they want their title back with their performance against Cork City on Friday night.

The club’s joint longest-servant played a key role in the victory, Dundalk’s first over their rivals since October 2016, and told The Argus afterwards that it was a statement to the rest of the league that Stephen Kenny’s side mean business this year.

‘It was a good win and another clean sheet as well,’ he said.

‘That’s four on the bounce which is important. We’ve put out a bit of a statement to the league over the last two performances having been doubted with the first two performances of the season.

‘We weren’t too concerned about our recent record against Cork. If you get bogged down in them things you’ll probably never win one but we knew it was important for us tonight. We’re going to play each other four times so it was important to win the first one between us and I think we will be competitors again as ever.’

The midfielder admitted he missed Pat Hoban’s goal after turning his back when it appeared that Mark McNulty had saved Ronan Murray’s fourth minute free kick. ‘I didn’t see it,’ he laughed. ‘I was turning to defend and all of a sudden I heard the roar and to my delight Pat had put the ball in the net. It was a great start for us.

‘It just shows how much Pat is on his toes. He was obviously sniffing for a goal. That’s brilliant to for him. It’s good to have a striker like that on form.

‘We probably should have put the game to bed after that. It was one of those scenarios where we could have been left to rue our missed chances because Cork are a good side but luckily we seen it out and I think the defenders deserve credit tonight.’

A busy period now lies ahead for Dundalk but Shields believes the Lilywhites can thrive from the games coming thick and fast.

‘Funnily enough that can be at our best when it’s just game after game. Hopefully that’s the case now,’ he said.