‘Kenny felt the pressure’
did, winning the first 21 of 22 games in the league, losing our goal scorer Sean Maguire and captain John Dunleavy, people will reflect and realise this was a phenomenal team, one of the best teams in the league, maybe ever,’ Caulfield said. ‘Winning the double is incredible. The first time to retain the cup, another stat. I think in time people will realise this was a phenomenal team.’ Shootout hero McNulty, who was booed throughout by Dundalk fans for singing a disrespectful song about the club in the build-up, insisted Lilywhites boss Stephen Kenny cracked under the pressure after publicly labelling his behaviour as ‘out of the gutter’. ‘Look there’s a lot of our things he bites about. When the pressure is on him, he bites,’ he said. ‘He felt the pressure this week because he bit straight away. Coming here today and getting the grief from Dundalk fans, same as I always get from them, I loved it. I turned around at the end when we won, and I gave them a smile. ‘If we lose, I’m the villain. I get the height of abuse from everyone. It couldn’t have worked out any better. To win a double in front of the Dundalk fans, who’ve given me a lot of grief, was nice.’ Naturally, the Dundalk camp was a sombre one as Kenny attempted to sum up the events. ‘We’re disappointed, it’s a cruel way to lose and I can’t fault the players, they gave everything for 120 minutes,’ he said. ‘You put so much into it, work so hard, but, it’s a penalty shootout and very fine margins. It’s a harsh way to lose, a very harsh way to lose, we have to accept that.’