Still way too early to make assessment on this Dundalk side

Dundalk's first Louth local derby ended in defeat last Friday, when they were beaten by two goals to one by Drogheda United at Oriel Park. Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley was in the stand to watch Stephen O'Donnell's men as his side play Dundalk in the first league game of the new season at Tallaght on Friday week. If this had not been Dundalk's only second pre-season game at Oriel then he would have headed home to Dublin without a worry in the world. As it is it's still way too early to make any assessment on the Dundalk side of season 2024. 

Dundalk were not at full strength; on  loan striker  Ciaran McGuckin was missing, as the club wait on his international clearance. A second striker Jamie Gullan was also not in the side. He was signed earlier in the week from Raith Rovers. John Mountney was missing again as he continues to recover from a slight knock. The side were also without new signing Darragh Keane. He remains out with an injury. Yet he is expected to be back for the start of the season. Ryan O'Kane missed the game through illness. The manager confirmed after the game that he would be signing a second goalkeeper this week along with at least two more players.

Dundalk's hopes of holding onto former academy player Senan Mullen evaporated during the week when it was confirmed he has been signed by top Italian league side Torino. It's a great move for the Cootehill youngster and shows how important it is to have a strong under 19 team and to have them under contract when the big clubs come calling. Senan was a free agent and therefore Dundalk will just get a token fee for him. He is a fantastic prospect. In the coming years I would see this young player make it onto the senior Republic of Ireland team. 

Dundalk were also without midfielder Sam Durrant on Friday who was also out with an injury. Word came through at around 5pm on Friday that Greg Sloggett would not be returning to Oriel as he had been signed by Cheltenham Town . Greg's girlfriend Chloe Mustaki plays for Bristol City's Ladies team. She is also a Republic of Ireland international. Greg's move to Cheltenham now means he will be very close to Bristol. He has been with Dundalk for the past four years. Luke Mulligan became the youngest ever player to line out for Dundalk in a competitive game against Malahide United two weeks ago.. He came on as a substitute in the last 15 minutes of  the  second half and was excellent.

Thus with O'Donnell strengthening his side again in the coming days and with his injured players coming back, the Dundalk boss should have a much stronger squad when it comes to facing Rovers in two weeks time. But yet again for the second year in a row the Dundalk boss has been forced to assemble a virtually new team in the space of a few weeks. This is through no fault of his own. Everything had to be put on hold at the end of the season until the new owner took control in mid December. To me what is disappointing is that Dundalk have only been able to sign one League of Ireland player in the close season. Instead Dundalk have been forced to raid the Scottish market in particular rather heavily. There is nothing wrong with this. But I would expect a club of Dundalk's stature to be able to sign good League of Ireland players easily enough. 

For example Drogheda seem to have found themselves a gem of a striker in Frantz Pierrot. The south Louth club signed Frantz from First Division Athlone. He scored goals for fun last year. On Friday night he had the ball in the net twice against Dundalk. The goals were disallowed for offside. At least one was a certain goal.

Ross Munro made his debut in goals for Dundalk. Jamie Walker played only his second game at Oriel at full back. Archie Davies was the other full back. Andy Boyle and were the centre backs . Daryl Horgan and Robert Mahon played on the wing. Both players had  top class games. New signing Koen Oostenbrink, Paul Doyle and Robbie Benson made up the remainder of the five man midfield. Cameron Elliott was the lone striker. 

Friday's game was a combination of a Leinster Senior Cup group game and the annual Jim Malone Cup game that has been played since 1997. Drogheda's win on Friday night was their 15th win in the Malone Cup. They also have won it now for the past three years running. The defeat also saw Dundalk lose their first Leinster Senior Cup group game. Last night they played Bohemians in the final group game. Both sides line out with their under 19 Academy teams.

Frantz Pierrot had the ball in the net on 11 minutes as he ran on with a great straight through ball. He finished the ball to the net with no problem. Referee Alan Patchell disallowed the goal for offside. I was very surprised with that decision. Drogheda manager Kevin Doherty was right to be very angry with the decision. Daryl Horgan came close with a good attempt after that. Drogheda had their chances in the first half as did Dundalk.

I was happy with Dundalk's midfield. Horgan and Mahon were excellent. Robbie Benson nearly scored for Dundalk, knocking a shot off the post. But striker Cameron Elliott really never had an impact upfront.

Elliott picked up an injury late in the first half. He was replaced by Eoin Kenny. He scored a top class goal on 55 minutes. Hayden Muller came on for Louie Annesley as a sub on 65 minutes. Annesley was forced off having picked up an injury. Drogheda levelled with a freak goal. Ross Munro playing his first game in goals for Dundalk had the ball at his feet near the edge of his penalty area. He made an awful blunder allowing Warren Davis to dispossess him. The Drogheda sub was only on the pitch when he shot home into an empty net.

Luke Mulligan came on as a sub for Archie Davis with 15 minutes remaining. As the game headed into injury time Paul Doyle fouled Warren Davies in the box. Davies took the spot kick which was pushed away by Munro. Davis was on hand to finish the ball to the net. The goal assured Drogheda of the win and a place in the next round of the Leinster Senior Cup. They also retained the Malone Cup.

Stephen O'Donnell said it was good for the majority of the team to get 90 minutes. He confirmed that Elliott and Davies were taken off as a result of slight injury scares. The Dundalk boss said the changes were just precautionary. He said the game was a great chance for the team to begin to gel together and put in a good performance. He says rightly there are many aspects of their performance his side can tidy up on. 

He confirmed that he will have two outfield players signing for the club and a first team keeper in the week ahead. Stephen says he is very hopeful that he will have a team to compete in all competitions with the season just two weeks away. The Dundalk boss says his side will be ready for Shamrock Rovers in two weeks time. He says he still has a lot to do with his team as has every manager with theirs. He also said he was not surprised that the Shamrock Rovers manager was in the stands on Friday night. He said he would have expected him to be.

The manager paid tribute to Senan Mullen. He said that he had spoken to him on the phone, the previous night. He says Senan was marvellous with Dundalk. O'Donnell says he has a good character and a great personality. It is an unbelievable opportunity for the 18 year old youngster. The manager says the club will be tracking his progress. Stephen was also delighted for Greg Sloggett signing for Cheltenham Town. He says it is great for Greg's personal life now playing with a club beside his girlfriend's club. The manager would not commit as to whether Jamie Gullan will be his chosen striker at this stage. O'Donnell says that this will be based on performances. He says that Jamie has a really good pedigree and at the age of 24 and with his experience he has it all ahead of him.

The manager was happy that his side would be having another good challenge today, Tuesday against UCD. The game is being played behind closed doors. This is the type of game that Dunndalk really need for their build up to the new season.

The manager was also  happy with the progress new signing Dara Keane was having with his injury. The midfielder will be a key player for Dundalk as the season progresses. The manager is hopeful he will get a few minutes game time against his old club UCD today. I asked the manager if he would be signing any other players for the defence. He says he was hopeful of getting a couple of defenders for this area of his side. I said to the manager that I would have a few concerns about his defence. He said to me that he did not really care.I felt the manager was seemingly indicating to me that he did not really care what my thoughts were on the team's defence.

Well the manager of course knows best. But from what I saw on Friday night I would have concerns. Archie Davies played his usually self assured style. I think Ross Munro was probably just very unlucky in the mistake for the first goal. The fact that there is another first team keeper coming in is good news. I have said it time and time again that for a team to be successful, the defence must be watertight. That was not the case on Friday night. The gaps in the defence last season were the main reason why Dundalk failed to get Europe. The manager also regularly changed the formation from three at the back to the flat back four. Defenders were also regularly played out of position. Stephen O'Donnell must get the defence right. It was good to hear he is bringing in new personnel in this area. The defence that was played on Friday face the real risk of shipping goals against some teams this season. I'm not just basing it on the one performance. I'm basing it on performances from last season as well.

I can not get my head around why Dundalk are not signing players from the League of Ireland. This is the second year in a row that it has happened. The project of going abroad to get players failed dismally last season in relation to performance. But who is not to say that it will not work this season. Stephen O'Donnell has also been left with the really tough task of putting a new team together in so short a time. It happened last season. It could happen again this season. One seasoned journalist I know says Dundalk will finish seventh this season. I have no answer to this. I have no idea as to whether it will be higher or lower. Dundalk have their toughest start to the season in years. Their first three away games are against Shamrock Rovers, Derry city and St Pats. Last season Stephen O'Donnell's team failed to get a single win over any of the top teams on their own patch. If Dundalk fail to get results from some of their opening away games, it will make things very difficult. Dundalk have to start to learn to win away from home  next season from the beginning.

In the days of Stephen Kenny and Vinny Perth, winning away from home was always taken for granted. That ship sailed a long time ago. To be fair to the current manager it had sailed quite a while before he joined Dundalk more than two years ago. In fairness weighing things up and with two new defenders coming in I feel it could be a good season for Dundalk.

Dundalk midfielder Robbie Benson says he is really looking forward to the new season. He played so well on Friday night. He says a year ago at this date he was only returning to training as he had been recovering from a hernia operation. He says it has been great to get such an amount of training behind him this season. Robbie is feeling quite fit. He is feeling quite strong and  is doing a lot of work so that he can stay on the pitch and avoid injury. Robbie is really looking forward to the season ahead. The squad are a good group who are only going to grow.Robbie feels that Dundalk will surprise quite a few people he knows. There  were a lot of positive things that could be seen from the team on Friday night despite the result. Robbie says there is a lot to build on going forward to the season.

Robbie says it was great to see Eoin Kenny do so well. He says Eoin has a lot of history at the club given that his dad was the great Stephen Kenny. It was good to see him getting on the score sheet on Friday night and scoring what hopefully will be the first of many goals in his career. Robbie says he is working so hard at the the club and is still at school. Eoin is in fact a sixth year  student at the Marist and will be sitting his Leaving Certificate in June. Robbie says he is feeling very old given all the young players that are now coming into the side. Eoin is working very hard at the club as everybody has been. The squad have made a good buy in to what the manager is aiming for . Robbie is confident that the side are going to have a good season.

The manager's training programme is working very well. Robbie says the players are working hard, but it's being done on a sensible basis. The players are raring to go for the Shamrock Rovers game. The Drogheda game on Friday night was a very good work out. He says games like the Drogheda game and the one against UCD behind closed doors today are so important. This he says is because every game this season will be very tough if anybody looked at the teams that are in the Premier Division this season. The league is growing into a very competitive competition both in the Premier and the first Division. The whole standard of the League of Ireland is being raised be a point as each season goes by. Hopefully Dundalk can push on as well.

Robbie says he thought the team played well on Friday night. He has no concerns about the defence. He  says they may have got a couple of goals, but they were disallowed. He says the side gave very little away. He says the Dundalk keeper had to make no saves. He says the keeper did get caught on the ball for the first goal and the team did give a penalty away in the last minute. But Robbie says he would have no concerns at all about the defence. He says they held their line very well throughout the game. 

The squad are building every day on the training ground as they prepare for the new season. He says the first game away to Shamrock Rovers is very important. But he emphasises that every game is equally important. Robbie says the game against Shamrock Rovers is not going to be the make or break of the season. But he says it is important that Dundalk give a good account of themselves and also illustrate that the team are a together one. It was also important that Dundalk show in the first game in Tallaght that they are a tough team to play against. He says that this will be the team's philosophy for the new season. Robbie finished the interview by saying there are lots to build on from Friday's game as there will be in any of the other pre season games.

Robbie Benson is a highly talented player. If he can avoid any serious injury this season, then it would be a massive boost for Dundalk. He was sharp and his usually talented self in midfield on Friday night. Robbie could be a key man given in Dundalk's season. The behind the closed doors game against UCD today will be very interesting. UCD lost some key players from last season's squad. But they have strengthened very well. Ronan Finn has returned to play for  UCD . The former Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk midfielder will be a major key in the University returning to the top flight next season.

Oriel Park looked very well on Friday night. Credit must go to owner Brian Ainscough and the staff and volunteers at the club for the big clean up that has taken place since the Longford game. Special credit must go to Stephen Neary who was the main person involved in the huge clean up operation.  Managers and at least one player will assemble in Dublin tomorrow for the official launch of the new league season.

The club sadly lost its former Chief Finance Officer Eamonn White who passed away last Thursday. During his time at Oriel and following his retirement  Eamonn, along with his wife Anne were regularly seen at both home and away games. Eamonn was a former partner at the well known accounting practice in Dundalk Farrelly Dawe White. He served as the club's finance officer on a voluntary basis between 2012 and 2016. Eamonn and his wife Ann were neighbours of mine when I lived in Oaklawns.  Eamonn and his wife Ann were very kind and considerate people. Eamonn was a relative of the great Joey Donnelly. I remember Eamonn popping in to let me know when Joey had sadly passed away. Eamonn has sadly passed away himself at much too young an age. To his wife and all relatives and friends I would like to take this opportunity to wish the deepest sympathies. Eamonn and his wife Ann have been living in Dromiskin now for many years.

Greg Sloggett posted on social media at the weekend that it was sad to say goodbye to Dundalk after it was confirmed he was heading to Cheltenham. He says it's the start of a new challenge for him, and that it is one that he is relishing. He says when he gets the chance that he will be back to support the Black and White at Oriel very soon. Greg was a great asset to Dundalk.I think it's a great move for him.

Have a great week and take care.