Kilduff hails game-changing impact of Dundalk substitutes

Ciaran Kilduff expressed immense pride in his Dundalk FC side, praising their resilience and spirit after they staged a dramatic comeback to secure a 3-2 victory away to Wexford in the SSE Airtricity League First Division.

The Lilywhites had drawn first blood with a stunning strike from Leo Gaxha, only to see their early advantage undone by lapses at the back, leaving them trailing 2-1 at the break.

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Yet, Dundalk’s response in the second half was one of grit and determination, with Dean Ebbe bringing them level with 20 minutes remaining, before 17-year-old Luke Mulligan etched his name into club lore with his first-ever senior goal—an emphatic winner that sealed all three points.

The triumph not only showcased Dundalk’s mettle but also preserved their six-point cushion at the summit of the table, keeping their aspirations of automatic promotion back to the Premier Division firmly on course.

“I’m delighted for the lads,” manager Kilduff said afterwards. “We’ve just gone 17 games unbeaten. It’s three wins on the bounce now. We’re going to try and take as much satisfaction out of that.

“The week break is coming at the right time for us in terms of being down a lot of bodies. The team changed a few times today with lads being sick. Andy Paraschiv was sick earlier in the week, Sean Keogh was sick, so we had a lot of lads, probably a few lads that were sick even in there playing.

“We were a little bit tired the last week or two and you could see that in last week’s performance (against Kerry), but to go to the end there and then dig out a huge three points away to a team that is more than capable of beating anyone in this division – they’ve already beaten Cobh, they’ve beaten Bray twice, they’ve beaten Treaty – to come back on the other side with a positive result is great.”

With the team still trailing 2-1 shortly before the hour mark, Kilduff brought on Eoin Kenny, Shane Tracey, and Mulligan from the bench, and their presence swiftly shifted the momentum, culminating in Mulligan’s thrilling winner scored just three minutes from time.

“We have to trust young lads all the time and sometimes it’s when to trust them too,” outlined the Dundalk boss. “It’s not just throwing them into the deep end from the start and then taking them off.

“As funny as it was, I thought we started the game quite well, were well on top, got our goal and then just stopped doing what we were doing.

“Had Dundalk not gone through what we’ve gone through, these young lads, Vinnie (Leonard), Luke, they wouldn’t be having these nights like tonight, so it’s special.

“As a group tonight, the subs coming on last week, the subs coming on this week, they’ve all made a huge contribution.”

When Wexford edged in front three minutes before half-time, it marked just the third occasion this season that Dundalk had fallen behind in a match.

On each of those rare occasions, The Lilywhites responded with resilience—rallying to defeat Longford Town 2-1 at Oriel Park in March, and salvaging a dramatic stoppage-time 2-2 draw against Bray Wanderers at the same ground last month.

“It’s all about the amount of fight we have in us, and we never stop fighting,” said Kilduff. “We had to scrap, and it wasn’t pretty at times, and we had to weather a few storms, but we were trying to fix what was going wrong. We even flipped into a back three for one of the first times, just to try and get a better foothold in the game.

“The subs coming on—it wasn’t even anything tactical—they just gave us a freshness. I heard Eoin Kenny saying to the two lads, ‘Come on, come on, let’s make a big impact here,’ and, to a player, they did, and that’s what we needed.”