Dundalk kick off title defence at home to Sligo
RONAN Murray admits to having had a little chuckle to himself when the fixtures for 2019 came out just before Christmas. Now as the opening night of the season rolls around, he’s sweating on whether or not he’ll be able to face his old club.
The 27-year-old left Dundalk for Friday night’s opponents Sligo Rovers at the end of November only for the fixtures computer to throw up an immediate return to Oriel Park on the opening day.
The Mayo man is hoping to play a key role for Liam Buckley’s side this season but those plans suffered setback recently when just minutes after scoring the opener for the Bit O Red in their 4-0 win over Athlone Town he suffered an ankle injury that saw him carried off after just 20 minutes.
Thankfully, fears of a break subsided last Thursday but Murray admits Friday’s game might be a little too soon for him to get back on the pitch.
‘It’s not broke but it’s just a case of letting the ligaments and tendons heal around the ankle that have been damaged from the roll on it,’ he told The Argus.
‘It’s just a case of time. Time is a healer here but I’m in a race against time to be fit for the start of the season which is not ideal but it is what it is.
‘I’m quite happy that it’s only damage that’s done to it. Hopefully I can get back a lot quicker than I initially thought because I initially thought I was going to be two or three months out so it’s a relief really that it’s only a short term thing because it would really have been a disaster to be out for that amount of time and not be able to feature at all for the first two or three months.
‘Touch wood now I can get back as quick as possible and be flying fit for the first game at home. That’s my main aim, to get fit for that.’
That said, the former Ipswich Town player hasn’t given up hope of playing a part against his old team-mates.
‘I’m not ruling Oriel out but it’s touch and go,’ he said.
‘It’s not a case that this happened during the season where your match fitness is up. It’s pre-season so this is affecting my pre-season and if you go straight back in thinking you’re fine on your ankle your body might not be prepared for a game of football so there’s that aspect of it to take into consideration as well.
‘If you try to push yourself back you could be doing yourself more damage in the long run so you’ve just got to take all these things into consideration.’
Murray told The Argus he enjoyed his time at Dundalk but said he felt he had to move on in order to play more at this stage of his career.
‘I saw stats last year and some of the main players like Pat Hoban and Sean Gannon played 2,500 minutes but I think I only got 1,100 or 1,200 so I played somewhere between a third to half of the games.
‘That’s not bad really considering we had such a strong squad and were very successful but at the same time I’m coming to a stage where I want to be playing week in, week out.
‘You’re really fighting day in, day out for a place in the squad at Dundalk but I just felt I’ve done that enough in my career. I’m not in the frame of mind to be going into another season having that competition for a spot. Hopefully I can play a lot more games this season for Sligo and get back playing football week in, week out.’
Admittedly the former Galway Utd player had tough competition to break into a side given that two potential roles he could have filled were those of PFAI Player of the Year Michael Duffy and the country’s top scorer Pat Hoban.
‘It was a phenomenal year from them two but everyone else was not far behind them either.
‘The whole squad from back to front was hitting major heights. Then you had Patrick McEleney and Jamie McGrath in the 10 as well. Patrick is probably the best player in the league and Jamie was Young Player of the Year so you’re facing a losing battle.
‘It was a very difficult place to get into the team but to be fair I was happy with the amount I contributed in the end to such a quality team.
‘That was one of the main rea- sons why I went to Dundalk, to be in the title race and to be in the latter end of the cups as well. Luckily we came out the right end of it. It was an enjoyable season and I’m just happy we got the double in the bag because it’s not often that happens.
A nine hour round trip to his family home in Belmullet was also a factor in his decision to leave.
‘Coming back and playing my football at home is what I wanted to do. It allows family get to games more often.
‘Dundalk was a bit too far for family to be going up and down. It’s a nine hour round trip and I was doing that quite a lot last season so that was another factor because the driving isn’t good for you as a footballer.
‘Now I’m living in Sligo and I can come home to Mayo at my leisure. It’s great to be home and hopefully I can get on the pitch as soon as possible and show Sligo supporters what I can do.’
While the Bit O Red haven’t been in the title shake up in recent years, Murray is hopeful they can build themselves back up this season under new boss Liam Buckley.
‘It’s exciting to be part of this squad he has put together. There has been a couple of finds I think in Dante and Romeo from what I’ve seen so far. Hopefully now they can adapt to the league as quick as possible.
‘We can definitely do something this season but I think it’s about building for next season because it’s the first season for the manager and a first season for a lot of the players. Look at Dundalk, in 2012 they were going out of business. Things don’t just happen overnight and like everything in life things take a while to bed in. We’re not going to be like Barcelona in the first 10 games. It could take a while to get to know each other and to appreciate what each player can do so we can build something here.’
With some unknown quantities in their ranks, Sligo could be this season’s surprise package though and Murray, more than anyone, knows that opening night shocks can happen.
‘We drew with Bray on the opening night last year. We just couldn’t hit the back of the net that night and hopefully it’ll be the same again for Dundalk this season.
‘It’ll either go one of two ways, they could come out of the traps absolutely firing or they could have a little bit of an off night because of the change of manager and change of atmosphere at the club. Hopefully that will be the case because we’re going to be up for it as best we can.
‘We’ll be ready for the battle in hand and hopefully we can get something up there because it’s a very tough place to go.’
Regardless of Friday night’s outcome, Murray expects his old team-mates to retain their title this season.
‘I think Dundalk are miles ahead of anybody else to be honest and the signings that they’ve made have only bolstered the squad.
‘I don’t think the teams around them have done quite as much. Dundalk have the philosophy and work ethic there day in, day out that has been built over the years and that’s so tough to beat.
‘I think there’ll be a mini-league in behind the for the European spots and hopefully we’ll be involved there or thereabouts for them. That would be the aim anyway,’ he said.