Even with O’Donnell’s departure, have Dundalk the quality to survive?

IN A PIECE I had penned after the Derry City game on Friday night, and which was published online on Sunday night, I commented that Dundalk’s owner, Brian Ainscough, had a big decision to make this week, for he had either to come out strongly and back his underfire head coach, Stephen O’Donnell, or look for a new manager/head coach to take over.

I felt that he couldn’t delay the call any longer, for with the team heading into another three-game week, starting with St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday, there was the distinct prospect that the team could be cut loose in the relegation place at the bottom of the league.

The point was also made that it was a decision Aincough never contemplated he would have to make at this stage into his tenure at the club, and added that he has had a baptism of fire since taking over – a decision he must be increasingly regretting – for he had now to assume the mantle of a blackjack player and either stick or twist in his decision over O’Donnell.

Well, events overtook those comments, for, on Sunday night, the decision was made, O’Donnell’s time was up, and it is only natural to feel a great deal of sympathy for both men.

Clearly, from reading the club statement, it was a decision Ainscough made with great reluctance, but was guided by the one obvious reality in football – it is results-based, that’s the bottom line.

O’Donnell will know, and probably knew, that there was inevitability about the outcome, for irrespective of financial considerations and the absence of a suitable candidate for the job, no manager or coach, at any level, can survive failing to win any of their opening eight league games, failing to score at home in four and registering only one win since the start of the season against Leinster League opposition.

In time, O’Donnell will reflect on his time at Oriel Park and it would be interesting to know how much he will dwell on his dealings with top striker Patrick Hoban who, despite being on a contract that extended into this term, was allowed leave in the close season for Derry.

INS AND OUTS

Whatever about the in and outs of that decision, and there are no shortage of stories in that regard, the failure, either on O’Donnell’s part or, indeed, the owner, to retain Hoban, especially when the three other top-scorers in the team last season – John Martin, Daniel Kelly and Conor Malley – also left, was hard for supporters to fathom.

While Martin and Kelly were out of contract and entitled to listen to offers from other clubs, the same didn’t apply to Hoban and Malley, who many felt was on a multi-season contract with the club when he joined at the start of 2023.

The owner, too, will also reflect on the Hoban deal, for on taking over the club he made it clear that he realised the importance of keeping the club’s all-time top scorer, but no doubt the playing budget he had set for the season and the belief that adequate replacements could be found within that budget factored into the decision.

In many ways, both men were victims of events, for O’Donnell was severely restricted in signing new players for the season by the delay in completing the change of ownership at the club until early December, and Ainscough had to concentrate on stabilising the club’s financial position before involving himself in player recruitment.

RECRUITMENT

Indeed, throughout O’Donnell’s tenure at Oriel Park, the ownership issue has been in the background and was, undoubtedly, a major factor in his recruitment policies, for he was unable to compete for the best players available in the league and had to seek inexperienced players in the UK and elsewhere.

He managed to bring in some very good players, Archie Davies, Nathan Sheppard, Connor Malley, Johannes Yli-Kokko, Rayhaan Tulloch, and this season, Zac Johnson, among the best, but, in many ways, especially in the first two seasons, he did well to gel his new signings and loan players for his team to be competitive, securing Europe in his first season and narrowly missing out last year.

Clearly, this season it was beyond O’Donnell’s capabilities for in Friday’s game against Derry, he was able to field only three players, Robbie Benson, Daryl Horgan and Ryan O’Kane, who played any amount of games last year, with the result being that the performance was one of the poorest of the season and contributed to the decision to end his tenure at the club.

The task of lifting the players to get a result against Pat’s on Friday night, followed by the rearranged away game against Bohemians on Monday, with the third game in Sligo on the Saturday, now falls to Liam Burns and Brian Gartland, two other stalwarts at the club in their playing days.

They will know that against Derry, the team lacked aggression, were way off the pace, looked completely rudderless at times and were rolled over far too easily.

AWAY PERFORMANCES

Yet again, as in the away performances this season against Pat’s, Shels and now Derry, they fell apart after the concession of the first goal, exposing the absence of character in the squad and a player with any leadership qualities to lift the team.

For Friday’s game, O’Donnell shuffled the pack again, opting for a new attacking formation, but at this stage, it’s almost like shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic for nothing he tries seems to make a difference.

He dropped Sam Durrant, who was his most threatening player against Drogheda, brought back Daryl Horgan, who is struggling to rekindle his glory days at Oriel, and introduced Robbie Mahon for his first start with the club.

A change in the back four was necessitated by the suspension of Archie Davies, allowing John Mountney move to the right-back position that favoured him more, while Zak Bradshaw, who O’Donnell tried in the holding midfield role in the early games, reverted to his more natural position in defence, coming in at left-back.

The midfield, too, was restructured for while Scott High and Koen Oosterbrink were retained, Horgan was given a free role in the sector to interchange with Robbie Benson.

THE SYSTEM

The initial exchanges gave some hope that the system might work, with Benson shoved forward to become the main striker at times, but any promising build-up play floundered on a lack of penetration in the final third.

In reality, Dundalk never looked like scoring and Derry played like a team lacking confidence after a run of poor results, which meant that they never really overstretched the visitors’ defence.

As is normally the case, the game turned on the opening goal, a fortuitous deflated shot that took it beyond Ross Munro’s dive, giving the home side an adrenaline shot of confidence that they needed, and whatever hope that Dundalk had of retrieving the situation ended a few minutes after the interval with Derry’s goal.

This was scored by Will Patching with a cracking shot, resembling a few he once scored in Dundalk’s colours, and to add injury to Dundalk’s wounds, another of their former players, Michael Duffy, also scored with a deflected effort.

In between the two goals by the former Dundalk players, Derry scored their third and yet a lack of aggression in their play contributed to the Lilywhites’ downfall, for they failed to close down opponents quickly enough.

Their only consolation from the game was their goal, a well-struck effort by Ryan O’Kane, which was just their third league goal of the season, all, ironically, away from home.

It will be interesting to see how Gartland and Burns approach Friday’s game and if they will go with radical changes which are needed, especially in midfield. One player, Paul Doyle, who had been overlooked by O’Donnell, may be brought back and, hopefully, Dara Keane can build on the promise he showed in Derry.

Unfortunately, it is a long haul ahead for the club this season, and even with O’Donnell’s departure, there is grave doubt that there is the quality in the squad to escape relegation.