Mountney keen to make up for lost time
IRISH DAILY MAIL FAI CUP
GEORGIE Kelly’s second goal for Dundalk on Friday night was also the 40th goal of his career and his first at the Markets Field.
Poynton’s landmark
GEORGIE Poynton turned 21 at the weekend but his age was briefly level with the number of starts he made for the club after he lined out against St Patrick’s Athletic in the Leinster Senior Cup on Monday. That game was his 20th start at senior level for the Lilywhites while it was also his 30th appearance for the club in all competitions. IT was a big night for Dylan Hand and U-17 captain Mark Traynor last Monday as they made their Dundalk FC debuts against St Patrick’s Athletic in the Leinster Senior Cup. Nedas Maciulatitis also came off the bench in the same game to make his senior debut. IT has been a frustrating season for John Mountney but after coming through 210 minutes of action unscathed this week he insists he’s back and ready to make up for lost time.
The club’s joint longest servant had started just 10 games for the club all season prior to his 120-minute outing in the Leinster Senior Cup away to St Patrick’s Athletic last Monday.
He followed that up with another 90 minutes and a goal in the 4-0 FAI Cup win over Limerick at the Markets Field on Friday night.
Speaking to The Argus afterwards, the Mayo man said he felt fresh and was confident that he had put the knee and thigh injuries which have plagued him this year behind him.
‘It’s the first time now that I’ve got the two games in a week and I still feel fresh,’ he smiled.
‘After playing the 90 minutes my body feels good so it’s a positive.
‘It’s been tough but our two physios, Danny Miller and Sam Rice, have been brilliant with whatever injury they’ve had to deal with this year.
‘They were explaining to me that when you come off the knee injury you’re vulnerable then in other areas. That’s what was happening because I was coming back in and getting niggles and then obviously redoing the knee and getting another niggle but now it’s the first time that I’ve got a rub of the green and hopefully it can keep going now.’
Mountney’s goal against Limerick was the 20th of his career and while he praised Dane Massey for his part in it he hopes it’s the first of many in what he hopes will be a busy end to the season for him.
‘It was Dane’s goal really,’ he said of his 36th minute strike.
‘He did all the work. He nicked it back off the winger and made the run to bounce it off Michael Duffy back down the line and then he just rolled it to me to tap in so I couldn’t really miss that one.
‘Hopefully there’s more from now until the season finishes.
‘I’ve been out for so long in the year now that I feel like I’ve a lot to give until the end of the season.’
The 25-year-old is now looking forward to the crunch meeting with Cork City at Turner’s Cross on Friday week.
‘We know we’ve two weeks to prepare for Cork so that’s what we’ll do and we won’t look past that. That will be a brilliant one. I know they’ve a game on Friday night but we’ll just focus on our game Friday week.’
After the victory away to Limerick, Mountney is also looking forward to an FAI Cup semi-final and the prospect of another outing at the Aviva Stadium.
‘It has been six semi-finals in seven years so that’s great. Obviously we’ll wait and see what the draw brings but it’s one step away from the Aviva which is just a brilliant occasion to be involved in.
‘The early goal made such a difference tonight. It was a tough game last week and it took us nearly the whole 90 minutes to get the goal so I think our mentality tonight was just to come out and attack, attack, attack but obviously we had to be wary at the same time that they are good on the break. I think we did that well and Pat got two early goals really set us up for the win.’