The Commentary Box: The Dundalk fans are truly fantastic

Former manager Turlough O'Connor was the talk of Finn Park Ballybofey last Friday after Dundalk secured a 1-0 win over Finn Harps. No, the former manager was not at the game.

But Dundalk's 1-0 win over Finn Harps meant that Ciaran Kilduff had become the first new Dundalk manager to win two league games in a row from the start of a season since Turlough O'Connor did it when he arrived at Oriel in 1985.

Now Ciaran Kilduff has equalled that record. Can he go to Kerry next Friday night and lead Dundalk to a third league win in a row and set up a new record? His side were well able to get the win. But Kerry are a good side.

GALLERY | Pictures from Louth's gutsy NFL win over Down

They too have got off to a good start with a win over Finn Harps and a scoreless draw against league favourites Cobh Ramblers in Cobh on Friday night, Treaty United's 5-0 win over Athlone at Lissywollen shows they are going to be a force. Wexford, Longford, UCD  and Bray all saw their games postponed because of the weather.

Dundalk had to grind out a result against Finn Harps on Friday, Gone was the usual attractive football we have seen from Ciaran Kilduff's side this season. The pitch was just about playable.

It was like playing in a bog. Dundalk had to fight with all their guile and energy. But they got the result and the three points to go to the top of the table.

I was afraid that the game would be called off because of the heavy rain that battered the country on Friday. The Harps pitch has poor drainage and usually, it's not a surprise that games are called off in bad weather.

Luckily the northwest saw a dry spell set in for five hours before the game was due to start. It meant there was good drying and the game was allowed to go ahead.

And there was no rain during the game. Had that happened it would have resulted in playing conditions becoming impossible.

Harps supporters  were sending out messages in the days coming up to the game that they were a weakened side from last season, having lost a lot of their strongest players in the close season.

But that did not wash with me. I knew Harps would give Dundalk a strong game. They always do this to any side that plays them in Ballybofey.

Make no mistake, Dundalk were very lucky to come away with the full three points; they were by far the better side in the first half. In the second half,  Harps dominated.

They laid siege to the Dundalk goals. Enda Minogue was outstanding in goals. It was great to see a keeper who took off some top-class saves.

I am sure Enda sent out a message on Friday night to the soccer world that Dundalk have an outstanding keeper again just as Nathan Shepperd and Peter Cherrie were.

It's great too that Dundalk manager Ciaran Kilduff would have no hesitation in using Peter Cherrie were anything to happen to Enda.

Kilduff named the same team as he did in the first league game against Athlone. Enda Minogue was in goals. The two fullbacks were once again Conor O'Keefe and Sean Woods.

The two central defenders were Mayowa and Vincent Leonard. Daryl Horgan and Leonardo Gaxha played on the wings. Aodh Dervan and Harry Groome played in the central midfield positions. Eoin Kenny played in behind out-and-out striker Dean Ebbe.

There were two changes on the subs bench where Norman Garbett and Sean Spaight replaced TJ Molloy and Shane Tracey, Dundalk made four substitutions during the game.

Dean Ebbe was replaced by Sean McHale on 61 minutes. Andy Paraschiv replaced Harry Groome on 83 minutes. Norman Garbett replaced Leo Gaxha while Mayowa was replaced by Luke Mulligan with five minutes remaining.

It was a night when both sides had many chances. But it was Dundalk's strength in defence that was to win out. For the second week in a row, they ended up with a clean sheet.

Last season Dundalk never had two clean sheets in a row. They only won one league game away from home. This season they have already won a game away from home and have had two straight wins.

Last season they spent the year on the bottom of the table for almost the entire season. This season they top the division even though this is just after two games.

Make no mistake, Dundalk will hit bad patches during the season as all teams do. But even at this early stage of the season, Ciaran Kilduff has built a team that is inspiring confidence among themselves.

They are playing so well as a unit. Goals can come from the defence, midfield and upfront. Once again Dundalk were top-class in defence. Mayowa was a tower of strength in the middle of the back four.

Very little got past him. He was really impressive on the night. Dundalk are very lucky that they have been able to keep him at Oriel this season. Mayowa broke down many of the threats that Harps posed to them on the night.

I thought that once again Conor O'Keefe was top-class at fullback. He was well able to deal with the threats that Harps posed down the flanks as he did against Athlone.

Conor reveled in his role as an attacking wing-back also. This man will create goals for Dundalk this season. Sean Keogh was terrific at left-back. Apart from getting the winning goal, he was well able to deal with the Harps attack.

The 19-year-old has a great future ahead of him in football. It's only a matter of time before he is signed up by a top UK or European team. Aodh Dervin and Harry Groome worked their socks off in the engine room in the centre of midfield.

Aodh's work rate for the entire night was exemplary while Harry's was also. I thought Daryl Horgan rolled back the years. It was his early run at the Harps defence that forced the home side to concede a free that led to the opening goal.

Horgan was able to open up the defence on occasions and create chances for Dundalk that should have been put away.

Leonardo Gaxha looks like he is going to be very influential in Dundalk's chase for promotion this season. His runs down the right were superb. He

created so many goal chances for Dundalk.

His passing was top class also. It was a real delight to see. Eoin Kenny had another top-class game for Dundalk playing just behind striker Dean Ebbe. He was well able to take the Harps' defence on.

He was unlucky not to get on the score sheet. But he should have half midway through the second half when Daryl Horgan's cross left him in the clear. He headed over with the goal at his mercy.

Striker Dean Ebbe has yet to get on the score sheet for Dundalk. Despite this, he has great potential. He creates many chances and shows all the instincts of being a terrific striker. Last season he was the leading goal scorer in the First Division.

He was replaced by Sean McHale on 63 minutes. It was a good move by the manager. It allowed McHale to move to left back and Sean Keogh to push to midfield while Kenny played as an out-and-out striker. Dundalk had to dig deep to get the points.

But they did. Mayowa was injured with five minutes remaining. The manager was asked about his fitness for next Friday's game down in Tralee.

Ciaran Kilduff says the injury will be checked out over the weekend. But he added that such was Mayowa's enthusiasm that he had already declared himself fit for Kerry.

Dundalk got the dream start against Harps after just 106 seconds when they hit the front. They were awarded a 23-yard free after a foul on Daryl Horgan. Sean Keogh took the free-kick.

The bending effort around the Harps, the near side of the Harps wall, went beyond the reach of goalkeeper Oisin Cooney and rested in the bottom right-hand corner of the net.

It was Sean's first senior goal for Dundalk. Amazingly in a night of near misses and great saves, it was the only goal of the night and gave Dundalk the three points which sent them top.

Harps did grow more and more into the game while Dundalk continued to have chances. The home side should have levelled in injury time in the first half.

David Cawley unleashed a strong shot that looked bound for the net. It took a wicked deflection and went wide. Enda Minogue then showed his true value when he took off two great saves.

Harps substitute Gavin McAteer let fly with a great effort that forced the Dundalk keeper into a terrific save. But Minogue produced for me what will be the save of the season when Patrick Ferry broke clear down the left.

He unleashed a superb 25-yard effort that looked like a goal all the way. How Enda Minogue was able to produce a one-handed save and push the ball onto the crossbar and out for a corner. I saw the save.

Many of the media thought it was a goal kick. I had to persuade the only other member of the Dundalk media present there, that it was indeed a great save.

Even the referee hesitated before giving the corner kick. But I was right. Enda had produced a truly terrific save.

Dundalk should have sewn up the game midway through the second half. Daryl Horgan put in the Cross. Eoin Kenny headed over when it would have been easier to put the ball in the net.

With nine minutes remaining Harps missed a glorious chance to level. The ball bobbled dangerously on the edge of the six-yard box. All that was needed was a Harps boot to stick the ball in the net.

There was nobody there. Harps substitute Max Johnston missed another great chance two minutes into injury time. Luckily for Dundalk, it was a weak effort that Enda Minogue was able to deal with easily.

The referee blew the final whistle two minutes later and Dundalk could make the 100-mile journey home, happy in the knowledge they had collected three priceless points.

Dundalk had at least 250 supporters in the ground urging them on for the win. The fans are truly fantastic turning out in such numbers on such a terrible night weather wise.

Next Friday night the journey to Tralee is 378 kilometres one way. There are a lot of supporters travelling. It's mainly for the reason that Dundalk have never played in Tralee before.

Many are travelling by plane from Dublin. It has a return cost of 40 euros. It seems to be of great value. Those taking the flight will spend the night in Tralee and fly home on Saturday. Kerry are an excellent team.

They have had significant investment pumped into the club this season. They will be in the top division in the not-too-distant future. Dundalk will have to be at their very best to get the points.

Ciaran Kilduff told me after the game that his team were ready for a battle and a war in Ballybofey.''It was a hard-fought game. This is what life is like in Division One.

You have to come to places and weather storms and then take your chances. Apart from the goal, we had chances when Eoin Kenny's goal looked to be a sure thing.

He also had a header just over the bar after a great magical ball from Daryl. We did have other chances on a night when the pitch did not look great from the sidelines.

It was worse on the pitch. It was in fact unplayable. But we came down here and we dealt with it. We knew what we were signing up for.

You never get an easy game up in Ballybofey. It's never an easy place to come particularly in February. We defended very well also and got another clean sheet. So we are delighted with the result.''

The Dundalk boss confirmed that the Sean Keogh goal was one from the training ground. ''Sean has the technical ability to score goals like that. We started the game so well as we did against Athlone last week.

The goal was a true moment of quality. When you score early, you are not thinking that this is not going to be the only goal of the game. But amazingly that's how it turned out to be.

It was a real battle. I thought that we defended really well. My players really enjoyed the game and they enjoyed the result. I am particularly delighted for Enda Minogue. He is a terrific goalkeeper.

That's why we brought him to Oriel. Not only is he a great goalkeeper, he is a fantastic person. Enda is a great asset to have around the place. Enda also wants to push on with his career.

He knows how playing with Dundalk will be a terrific help in bolstering his career. He was one of the first people I sat down with in the off-season.

Before tonight, we had not conceded many shots on target. Tonight we did concede a lot of shots. We really needed Enda tonight. And he met the challenge.

''I spoke to Mayowa about his injury after the game. He declared himself fit for Kerry straight after the game. But he did feel something in his hamstring.

We will have to look after him now and look at his availability for the Kerry game later in the week. It was a very heavy pitch out there tonight. I am just hoping that it's not something too serious.''

I asked Ciaran where the team was planning on flying down to Tralee for the Kerry game on Friday. Jokingly he said they were planning on flying until the fans took all the seats on the planes. ''I am only joking. No, we are going down the night before by bus. We are going to stay over and do things the correct way.

We will be returning home straight after the game. It's Norman Garbett's twenty-first weekend. We want to get home for that.

So we want to get home late Friday night. We are going to look after the lads on Thursday. Hopefully, we can win the game and then get home safely late Friday night.''

When asked who was booked in the Dundalk dugout in the second half, Ciaran said that it was Liam Burns. He added that they reckon that it was a case of mistaken identity. But he added that he did not know anybody that looked like Liam Burns.

Enda Minogue thought the referee was going to give a goal kick after he had taken off a terrific save early in the second half.

He stopped a certain goal by pushing the ball onto the crossbar in the save of the night. ''I just saw the ball bounce up. I have known Patrick Ferry for years. He hit the ball.

But I knew he was going to hit it early. I just had to go for it. And I was confident that I would get to it. I pushed it onto the bar. I was very lucky that it did not go in.

Thankfully it was a good save. I was called upon to make another great save. But that's what we want. We want to get as many clean sheets as we can.

Tonight I was really tested with the long throws, the corners and the frees. There were so many scraps in the six-yard box. I just love it. I can not really talk about the four keepers that were at Oriel last season.

My knowledge of the club is that there has always been really good keepers at Oriel. Peter Cherrie was here as was Nathan Shepperd. Last season there may have been other reasons why things did not go to plan.

This season we have had two clean sheets already with thirty-four games to go. We want to keep on racking up as many clean sheets as we can. We must focus on this season. And our aim is to get promotion and get back to where we belong.

''We are delighted with our start to the league. We could not really have asked for more. The back four sitting in front of me have been great. We are developing a familiarity with one another.

The whole team were throwing their bodies everywhere. Playing in Ballybofey and the tough pitch you would always have that.

I was delighted for Sean McHale when he came on. I thought that he had a terrific game. I hope we can build on tonight's win for the Kerry game next Friday night.

''In the close season, I got an early call from Ciaran. It did not take much persuasion for me to go to Oriel. I was confident that I would be the number one keeper. I knew I was going to a good place.

I was delighted to see Peter Cherie was among the staff as well. He still goes around as if he was in his twenties. Luke Murphy is also a great addition. It means that we have a good group of goalkeepers this year.

I am delighted with the decision to move and with the start of the season as well. It's been a great move for me. It has not been hard to settle in either. I knew three of the players who were coming in.

That was a great help as well. We are all familiar with each other. Look, it's the League of Ireland. It's a small enough league. When you play college football and also in the league, you get to know players very well and quickly.

So I did not feel it daunting going into a new dressing room. I am delighted with the group we have at Oriel and look forward to playing with Dundalk for the rest of the season.

''The manager and the captain want us all to play for each other. There are times when we will have to show graft and doggedness to win a game. We may sometimes have to slug it out with teams.

We had to do that tonight. That's what the boss and the captain told us tonight. Tonight was the first game in which I was really tested. We are really going to try and dominate teams in most games.

That's not how it was tonight. But we were ready for that. The game in Kerry is going to be really tough. I am familiar with that. I have played down there four times over the past two seasons.

Kerry have a very strong squad. They are a very direct team. But when you give them time and space, they are well able to mix it and play the ball skillfully. We will be playing on an Astro pitch as well.

I would prefer if all the pitches were grass. But the astro pitch will not present any problems to us. We just want to go down there and get a good result. But tonight, we got three points and a clean sheet that is sending us home very happy''.

There was good news for former Dundalk player and Academy star Senan Mullen over the weekend. He made the bench for Italian Serie A first-team Torino on Saturday.

It's only a matter of time before he makes the first team. If he had come on as a sub on Saturday Dundalk would have been entitled to a considerable amount of money because of his connection with the club.

I'm sure next time if he is on the bench like on Saturday that he will play for the first team. Then Dundalk will get some much-needed cash.

I hope that all supporters travelling to Tralee next weekend have a great time. Forty euro by plane is a no-brainer.Have a great week.

Please look after each other and remember to be very careful out there.