Easier to criticise O’Donnell if he was not a club legend

I don’t recall the first time I met or spoke to Stephen O’Donnell but it must be in the region of 11 years ago now.

I wouldn’t claim to know the Dundalk head coach well on a personal level but I’ve always found him to be an upstanding person, as honest as they come and, ultimately, a good guy.

As someone who has supported Dundalk FC for as long as I can remember, O’Donnell, both individually and as part of the team Stephen Kenny built, gave me and many others some of our best days as a supporter – memories that will last a lifetime.

For all of those reasons and more, it’s difficult to see the position he is in right now with such intense speculation surrounding his future.

There is a human element to all of this after all and as well as being a football coach, he’s also a husband, a father, a son, a brother and a friend to many.

Even if the Galway man had never returned to the club from St Patrick’s Athletic in 2021, he would have been someone deeply ingrained in the history of Dundalk FC for all-time. It’ll be 10 years this October since he returned from a potential career-threatening injury, suffered on Good Friday, to fire the Lilywhites in front against Cork City on the way to a first league title in 19 years.

The second goal on that memorable night was, of course, scored by the club’s current Head of Football Operations, Brian Gartland, who is equally deserving of the sort of plaudits given to O’Donnell above.

It would perhaps be easier to criticise such individuals if you didn’t have such time for them as people and as legends of the club.

All that said, football is about the last place you can rely on sentiment in. Just as players are offloaded when they slow down or are no longer deemed assets, the same frequently happens off the field too.

As much as O’Donnell might be professing his belief in his and his side’s ability in coming through the club’s current sticky patch, the amount of fans who share that faith is wearing thin.

A return of just three points from a possible 21 on offer mirrors the start to the 1998/’99 season when Dundalk were, ultimately, relegated for the first time in the club’s history. It took until matchday 10 to get a win that season but fans are looking at the fixtures ahead, with three of the next four away from home, and wondering where the class of 2024’s first is coming from.

There have been some levels of improvement in recent weeks to be fair to the side, most notably defensively, but even in their best spells against Shelbourne and Drogheda United at the weekend, the attack looked blunt.

A return of two goals so far is paltry and what’s most worrying is, there’s not even chances being missed. Dundalk just can’t create them right now, with the decision to let all-time leading goalscorer Patrick Hoban depart looking an increasing faux pas with each passing week.

O’Donnell came out fighting on Friday night when asked if he would walk away, defiantly saying there was no chance of him doing so.

He rightly pointed out that he gave up a lot to come to the club and added that people need to “wake up” about the position the club had been in even prior to his arrival.

He’ll perhaps never admit it publicly but the 38-year-old must deeply regret his decision to walk away from St Pat’s on the back of their FAI Cup success. Sentiment towards Dundalk undoubtedly played a part but he was, ultimately, sold a pup by an ownership group who never delivered for him like he did for them by delivering European football at the end of his first season.

Equally, Gartland – who has also come in for criticism – never received the backing he should have in a role that was always going to be new to him on the back of a playing career.

Neither were appointments of Brian Ainscough so sentiment towards either is minimal.

Unless the tide can be turned quickly, the new owner will increasingly be tormented by the dilemma of sticking or twisting with the current management team.

He has shown support until now but as Dundalk’s struggles continue, he’ll have to determine what is the key reason for backing O’Donnell. It is a belief he can turn things around? Is it a case of he’d be too expensive to get rid of or is it a lack of alternative options?

Whatever the key reason is, ultimately, what it may come down to at this stage, is whether or not he trusts the current regime to recruit the kind of players we will need to either improve in the summer or kick on next season, wherever the club might be.

It’s hard not to feel for O’Donnell and there are mitigating reasons for where the club finds itself in relation to its ability to attract players but, ultimately, that could be what costs him unless things start to come together sooner rather than later.

THE 38-YEAROLD MUST DEEPLY REGRET HIS DECISION TO WALK AWAY FROM ST PAT’S ON THE BACK OF THEIR FAI CUP SUCCESS