Lillies in turmoil after Keegan exit
DUNDALK sporting director Jim Magilton refused to be drawn on the club’s management set-up following team manager Shane Keegan’s departure from Oriel Park yesterday morning.
The former Northern Irish international issued a firm ‘no comment’ on anything bar the match action after his side’s 1-1 draw with St Patrick’s Athletic last night.
Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe found the net five minutes from time to earn Dundalk just their second point from five matches to cancel out Sam Bone’s 56th-minute header, but all the focus was on the Lilywhites dugout following Keegan’s decision to walk away from the club on the eve of the game.
His exit came just 40 days after being appointed team manager as the Louth men looked to get around the fact that Filippo Giovagnoli, who had been named head coach last December, had no UEFA Pro Licence.
Magilton was named as interim manager on the teamsheet for the clash with Stephen O’Donnell’s men but watched on from the stands as Giovagnoli took his place in the dugout.
Speculation raged beforehand that the Italian could be following Keegan out the exit door at Oriel Park but Magilton refused to say whether he would be in charge or not when they travel to face Derry City on Tuesday.
‘We’ll make a statement in due course. So, if you want to talk about the game, we can talk about game,’ said Magilton
When pressed that it was difficult to talk about the game without factoring in the change in the dugout, the ex-Ipswich Town boss added: ‘We will clarify all this in due course, I promise you that.
‘We will clarify everything that you want to ask and that will be done in the next few days I’m sure.’
Asked if Giovagnoli had also left,
Magilton reiterated: ‘We will clarify everything in the next few days, I promise you that.’
When it was put to him that supporters were concerned with banners hung beforehand saying the club was ‘run like a circus’, Magilton dismissed the unrest and backed the squad to turn things around.
‘Well if you’ve lost three out four, what were they 20 kids?
‘At the end of the day nobody is working harder than the people within this football club to turn results around - players, staff, everyone.
‘We know that the start hasn’t been what we wanted it to be but that was a massive result for them tonight.’
Asked had chairman Bill Hulsizer had an influence on first-team affairs, Magilton said: ‘No. He doesn’t get involved in anything. Nothing.’
When it was put to him that Hulsizer had interfered in the past, Magilton replied with: ‘Well it won’t happen on my watch.
‘We keep reflecting on last year but we made a decision this year, a conscious decision, to build our coaching structure and that’s what we’ve done and we’re not going to go away from that. We won’t change that.’
When asked whether the players were aware who would be leading them in Derry on Tuesday, he added: ‘They will know. We are in tomorrow in preparation for the game.’
DunDalk: Abibi; Jurkovskis, Cleary, Boyle, Dummigan (Leahy 78); Shields, Stanton (McMillan 78); Han (Junior 59), Midtskogen, Duffy; Hoban.
St Patrick’S athletic: Jaros; Mountney, Bone, Desmond, Bermingham; Forrester, Lennon (Lewis 87); Coughlan (King 69), Benson, McClelland (Barrett 49); Smith. referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).