Dundalk are “Going after it this year” says Kilduff

Dundalk FC manager Ciaran Kilduff believes Friday night’s opponents, Athlone Town, will be strong contenders for the SSE Airtricity League First Division title this season.

For the first time in 16 years, The Lilywhites embark on a League of Ireland campaign in the second tier, facing Athlone in their season opener at Oriel Park (kick-off, 7.45 pm).

Before taking over at Dundalk, Kilduff managed Athlone with distinction in the Women’s National League, a tenure that saw him develop strong ties with the Westmeath club.

Following his appointment, he recruited Athlone trio Enda Minogue, Dean Ebbe, and Leo Gaxha to Oriel, while in turn, the Midlanders strengthened their squad with several players that were previously on Dundalk’s radar, most notably forward Dean Williams.

“They’re a top team,” manager Kilduff told The Democrat when previewing Friday’s game. “They have to be (among the favourites), look at the players they have recruited.

“They were in the playoff final last year and only lost that in a penalty shootout. They’re not going to be far away, but I’d like to think we’re not going to be either, so it’s a perfect game.

“Obviously I have the connection to people there and we took a few players, but they also took a few players that we were talking to too.

“There’ll be a nice little bit of needle in it. There’s a bit of history involved with players coming over, myself included from my last job with Athlone.

“It should make for a great night, but there’s a game the following week and the week after and the week after. It’s one at a time, but it’s obviously a special night, and for more than one reason, not just the fact that it’s Athlone, but because it’s a game of football in Oriel Park as we keep alluding to. I think it really tees us up for a special season and a special night in particular.”

While Athlone are expected to challenge at the top of the First Division this season, Dundalk, relegated last October, enter the campaign as the clear favourites to secure an immediate return to the Premier Division – a challenge Kilduff fully acknowledges.

“It comes with the territory,” he admitted. “We are still Dundalk. We have the history. A couple of years ago we were winning leagues and cups and everything.

“There is a reality check as we’re trying to flag, but don’t get me wrong, we’re smelling blood, we’re optimistic, we’re going to be competitive and we’re going after it this year.

“I didn’t see the odds. I’m not surprised (to be favourites). We are Dundalk, that’s never going to be going away. We won’t know until a football is kicked; we don’t know what other teams are like.

“You can see the recruitment at Cobh, Athlone, UCD, Bray, Wexford – anyone can turn up. It’s just whatever happens, whoever gets a run of form, whoever’s recruited the best.

“It’ll take a round of games before we actually know where we are. It’s hard to judge, we’re such a new entity. We got a little bit of a taster that we look good (versus Drogheda United), but then if you look back to the Usher game, we look like we have work to do, so we’re going to have weeks like that where we’re going to be learning on the job and tweaking things, but we’ll get there.

“The most important thing is that there is football in Oriel Park and we know we have the quality and the team to be very, very competitive, so we just need to keep it on that track.”

After kicking off their campaign against Athlone, Kilduff and Dundalk will embark on a demanding stretch of back-to-back away fixtures, travelling to Finn Harps on February 21st before making a first-ever visit to Mounthawk Park to face Kerry on February 28th.

“It’s what we signed up for,” said the Dundalk manager. “It’s a geographical spread this season, outrageously. It’s the same for every team, there’s a lot of travel and it’s whoever deals with that the best.

“There are no easy places to go, but I think we do have a lot of players. I was lucky enough to win two First Divisions, one at Shels and one at UCD. I think (Aodh) Dervin has won one and Keith (Ward) has won one.

“They’re lads that have been around and won this division. They know that this is not going to be easy. Whoever wins it is not going to have it easy.

“There’s going to be an awful fight for it and we’re just one of the chasing pack and we’ll be there thereabouts hopefully.”