Boyle eyeing place in team for cup final
SSE AIRTRICITY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
IT might be next season before we really see the best of Andy Boyle but the centre half is in no mood to wait around to make his mark on the Dundalk team.
The one-time Republic of Ireland cap returned to Oriel Park in July after two years in England and Scotland.
Coming straight into the side for Champions League matches when he should have been entering pre-season saw him thrown in at the deep end and while his performances have been good to date, there is a feeling that there will be more to come from the 28-year-old once he gets fully up to speed next season.
Boyle has already collected an EA Sports Cup winners’ medal since his return to the club, with a league winners’ medal to follow later this month. Now the centre half is hoping he can do enough in the two remaining league games away to Cork City on Friday and at home to St Patrick’s Athletic on October 25th to convince Vinny Perth to start him in the FAI Cup final against Shamrock Rovers on November 3rd.
“I’ve come in straight at the deep end where I should only be in pre-season but you’re playing big games,” he said of his start to life at Oriel Park in his second spell here.
“That’s a good complaint as such but I think the fitter you get the more enjoyable it will be and the better you will play.”
Boyle dismissed the idea though that he had one eye on next season.
“I wouldn’t say so,” he said. “You have to live in the present and I’m really enjoying it. It’s nice to come in and get a couple of medals and I’m looking to get a couple more before the end ALL good things must come to an end and for Dundalk it was their six month unbeaten run domestically at Dalymount Park on Friday.
You had to go back to April 12th when Vinny Perth’s side lost 2-1 away to Sligo Rovers to find the last time the champions lost a game. In between there had been 24 league matches unbeaten and 31 games overall domestically.
That run inspired the soon-tobe-collected 14th league title, not to mention another EA Sports Cup triumph and a march to the Aviva Stadium for next month’s FAI Cup decider against Shamrock Rovers. It was therefore sad to see it ending but, in truth, Friday’s defeat matters little to Dundalk.
Perth, who had several players in his squad battling the flu in the of the season. They’re what you look back on at the end of your career when you retire. They’re the magic nights when you’re winning the league in Oriel and stuff like that. They’re the best nights of your career and this year is no different.”
Having experienced the FAI Cup as a winner (2015), as a loser (2016 and 2011) and as a fan (2017), Boyle knows all about the big day out at the Aviva and he says he is just as keen as anyone to be involved against Shamrock Rovers next month.
“It’s a massive game. I’ve just got to make sure that every time I play in between now and then that I perform as best I can.
“As you can see, there’s plenty of competition for places in every position. There are 20-odd lads who want to be in that Cup final team and it’s probably hard for the manager to pick a squad never mind a starting 11. Myself personally, I’ve just got to make sure that I give him a headache really.”
While Dundalk’s experiment with three centre halves on build-up to the game, opted to be brave by trying out a new system with three at the back.
It worked up to a point, with Dundalk dominating possession in the early stages but once Luke Wade-Slater gave Bohs the lead with their first attempt of the game on 28 minutes, there appeared no higher gear for the visitors to slip into.
That goal, and the second from Andre Wright on 64 minutes, were both avoidable and came from needless errors. Perth and the management team can only hope they’re a case of players not being quite switched on for a game that ultimately mattered little with the title already in the bag.
What Friday did outline, however, was just how important Chris Shields is to this side. It’s perhaps no coinciFriday night ended with defeat away to Bohemians, Boyle said it is something he feels could be worth exploring further.
“To be honest with you, I actually thought it went well,” he said.
“I know the result would probably suggest otherwise but individual mistakes happen. That happens to us all but overall I thought we passed the ball well and I thought we got out from the back at times well. Overall I think it’s a positive one. It’s one that we can put in our armoury going forward. It’s not the result that we wanted. We didn’t want the run to end like this but I suppose it had to end somewhere.
“You’re probably always going to have a night like this once the league is wrapped up but like I say we did our business right. We did have a bit of flu in the camp and sometimes when we’re around each other that much it’s usually the case that if one gets the flu then six or seven get it but we prepared well and like we would for any league game. It wasn’t for a lack of effort that we went down to them. It just wasn’t to be.”
Now Boyle is expecting another tough test against a Cork City side who finally clinched their first win under new boss Neale Fenn on Friday.
“It probably takes a bit of pressure off them because they can go and enjoy it a bit more. Any game I’ve ever played against Cork, including the one this season, they’re always tough games and they’re always right up for it. Obviously there’s a little bit of needle that has been there over the years. It’s a nice place to play football. I’ve always enjoyed going down there to play but we’ll be looking now to dust ourselves down and set the record straight by finishing the league with two wins,” he said. dence that the three games Dundalk have now lost in the league this season have been in his absence. His shielding of the back four is the best around and you got the sense looking back at both the Bohs goals that he could well have cut both opportunities out before they ever really became chances.
Sean Murray and Robbie Benson have both had their injury problems this season and getting game time for them was perhaps more important than getting into blood Photo: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile and thunder stuff. In that regard, it was 18-year-old Ross Tierney who bossed the midfield.
Despite all the possession, chances of note were at a premium for Dundalk but they will hardly spend too long analysing this game. Having wrapped up the title with four games to spare, they’ve afforded themselves an off day. Getting back to winning ways now will be a short-term goal as they look to step things up now heading into the FAI Cup final.
The visitors had started well with the first real chance coming their way on 12 minutes. Jamie McGrath did well to spin away from Wade-Slater on the left to cross for Georgie Kelly but his glancing header at the near post lacked the proper connection and it flashed harmlessly to the right and wide.
McGrath then turned provider once again on 17 minutes when he slipped Sean Murray in behind Scott Allardice only for James Talbot to deny him from an effort which he never really got any real purchase on.
Then on 23 minutes a superb ball from Sean Hoare picked out Daniel Kelly’s run into the box but his effort was blocked by Rob Cornwall before Cameron Dummigan blazed over from the follow up.
At this stage Dundalk were well in control but they coughed up a simple goal on 28 minutes. Danny Grant’s pass played Wade-Slater in behind Dane Massey on the right with the winger slotting past the advancing Gary Rogers, who probably didn’t need to come. One of a handful of players whose contract situation has yet to be resolved for next season, perhaps a need to impress influenced what was an uncharacteristically poor judgement call by the Lilywhites netminder.
Bohs were on top after the goal and almost made it 2-0 in the third minute of injury time at the end of the half when a poor touch from Hoare inadvertently put Keith Ward in on goal only for the former Dundalk player to lift his effort over the bar.
Dundalk then almost equalised two minutes after that when Talbot missed Dummigan’s cross from the right only for Daniel Kelly’s effort at the back post to be blocked at close range.
Bohs had a couple of half-chances at the start of the second half with Andy Boyle doing well to block from