The Commentary Box: Kilduff is a manager who understands what his job is all about

You have to be at a League of Ireland game, to really see what happens on and off the field. Do not get me wrong. The LOI TV service at Oriel provided by Chris Clarke, Adrian  Taaffe and John Flanagan is top-class.

The production, camera work of Chris Clarke is of the highest quality. The analysis by John Flanagan and the commentary from Adrian Taffe is streets ahead of most of the LOI TV services provided by other clubs.

But despite all of that, to be at a game lets you see exactly what is happening, both on and off the pitch. I could see that last Friday at Oriel.

READ MORE: Inside Track: It's only the fortunes of Kilduff's team that concerns Orielites

I always watch closely what goes on at Oriel with an intense eye. On Friday night Dundalk were down to the bare bones, with injured players and two away on international duty.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff was forced to use even more of his very young players, than usual.16-year-old Sean Spaight who is seen as one of the most exciting players of this young Dundalk squad was making his first full league debut as was 18-year-old Shane Tracey.

I could see manager Ciaran Kilduff speak quietly to these two young players in the warm-up on their own half an hour before the game. I can only guess what Ciaran was telling the two lads.

It was one of encouragement and reassurance. Kilduff is a manager who understands what his job is all about. He has the three key management skills of leadership, motivation and communication. He showed that to his youngest of players on Friday.

Sean Spaight and Shane Tracey listened to what the manager told them. They had excellent games and were well able to stand up and be counted against a big physical Longford side.

That small word of encouragement from a very good manager was as good as two goals in some ways, as Dundalk had to fight very hard to win this game.

Yes, Longford may be the bottom team in Division One. But they are a tough nut to crack and Dundalk had to do it by coming from behind.

Dundalk were without two key youngsters in Sean Keogh and Vinny Leonard who were both away on international duty They play for the Republic of Ireland under 17 and 19 teams Manager Kilduff is calling for games to be postponed if underage players are away on international duty.

He says that since more and more clubs must do without their younger players who may have been playing with their home club teams by now.

Conor O'Keefe was named in the squad but was not deemed fit enough to play due to injury. Mayowa was again out with the hamstring injury he picked up in Ballybofey.

He was also named in the squad but was never going to be used. Enda Minogue remains out with a broken finger, he has had surgery,But you can expect him to be out for another six weeks.

Leo Gaxha returned from his two-match suspension and was top-class. Veteran Peter Cherrie stood in as goalkeeper. He did what he had to do and was in general a safe pair of hands.

In fairness, he had little to do. He and other defenders do have to take responsibility for the Longford goal. It should never have happened.

Dean Ebbe scored from the penalty spot and missed one as well. Eoin Kenny is only 19. As in other games Eoin had chances to score. But he hit the winner and that is what he will be remembered for.

But for Eoin Kenny Dundalk would have dropped two points And Dean Ebbe's goal from the penalty spot was his fourth goal on the spin in four weeks.

Centre midfielder Harry Groome was forced to slot in as centre half in place of Leonard and the injured Mayowa. Eoin Kenny was put back into his position of playing behind Dean Ebbe up front. Keith Ward was slotted back into a deeper midfield role.

Sean McHale settled well as the game went on. But he was guilty of making some uncharacteristic errors at times. But again remember Sean is only 18 and is a very good player.

The captain Daryl Horgan was exceptional. He worked tirelessly at times in the engine room in centre midfield while also doing damage to Longford down the flanks.

Aodh Dervin battled well at full-back, which is not his natural position. I thought the two young players Sean Spaight and Shane Tracey could be very happy with their performances.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff was only able to make three substitutions as his remaining ones were carrying injuries. Andy Parashiv was brought on as a sub with 17 minutes remaining and created the winner.

He came in for Keith Ward, who at that stage had done all he could. Sean Spaight was replaced by Luke Mulligan with fifteen minutes remaining and Gbemi Arubi replaced Dundalk's golden striker Dean Ebbe a minute into injury time.

Dundalk had a completely different back four on Friday, in comparison to the one that lined out in the first league game this season against Athlone.

The manager did a long interview with me after the game. He pointed out that Aodh Dervan is a centre midfielder. Now he is played at left and right full.

The boss also pointed out that Enda Minnigue was missing Harry Groome has never played centre-half in his life. Again he raised the point of 16-year-old Sean Spaight playing right back.

Shane Tracey getting a start at centre half was also a huge deal in which rose to the challenge. The manager believes that Dundalk were just firefighting considering the amount of players he had missing.

Kilduff was a lot stronger this week on the point of losing Sean Keogh and Vinny Leonard. He believes the rule has to be looked at now. I agree with him.

For God's sake, the Premier Division teams were given a week off because of the international team playing. There were no LOI players in the panel that would have meant the whole programme would be called off.

Well for me it's just another example of the FAI ignoring the First Division and leaving them to concentrate on the Premier Division. The Dublin media are equally as bad.

They never give it a mention and only cover the promotion relegation playoff games, at the end of the season. In fairness, the Irish Examiner gave great coverage to the Munster teams in the First Division.

Apart from that there is nothing. If the Premier division is the problem child of the FAI then the First Division is the problem newly born baby.

Ciaran Kilduff says that First Division clubs can no longer be expected to be without their key players, even if they are on international duty. Kilduff says he believes there must be a quota of games called off, not the entire programme.

I have no problem with this. But the rebel in me believes the entire programme of games should be called off. The Dundalk manager says that Bohemians had two games called off because they had two Estonians away on international duty.

The Dundalk boss says that they had to play their game on Friday night just because their players were on underage international duty and not Under 21 or senior international level.

It is ridiculous that the Premier Division programme was wiped out. The Dundalk boss agreed with me to a point on this. But he was very forceful in his point that the football authorities in this country should become more and more aware that a lot of underage international players are playing in the First Division.

My message to the men in grey suits at the FAI is, that they should make themselves fully aware of this problem. Every game Dundalk play is so important.

It would have been sickening to see them drop points on Friday just because the grey suits men in the FAI appear to not realise how key it is to win games with a full team in the First Division.

It is also a disgrace to think that Dundalk could have lost their place at the top of Division One because they had players away on international duty. Sort this out FAI. And to the Dublin media.

It's time you realise that the Division exists. So often on a Friday, you would see nothing in the national papers before and after games.

The national radio stations in RTE and Newstalk do not even mention that the games are on nor do they ever have reporters at the games.

When Dundalk were awarded the penalty for the equaliser on Friday night Daryl Horgan collected the ball and looked set to take it. I was expecting this to be so. However, Dean Ebbe got the ball off Horgan and went on to score.

But minutes later he missed another one. I asked the Dundalk manager who was his penalty taker. He said that you only had to look at Dean Ebbe's stats from the penalty spot with Athlone Town last season to show that how good he is.

The manager says that both Ebbe and Horgan are good penalty-takers. He says he will leave it up to the two players to a point to decide who will take the penalties.

He says the two lads practice the penalties and both are good. But I am afraid I must say it's a bad idea to have two potential penalty-takers going into a game. The club must have just one.

I do not mind whether it is Daryl or Dean. There can not be two. It causes confusion and tension on a team as well. If the penalty is missed. It's fine for the penalty taker to be the same.

There is also nothing wrong with another spot kicker taking the penalty. But in the end, there can only be one penalty taker. I think Kieran Kilduff must look at this situation again.

The manager said Andy Parrasiv did so well in creating the winner. He did indeed get the ball into the danger area, for Eoin Kenny to finish the ball to the net.

The skill Paraschiv showed in getting around the Longford players was magnificent. His cross was sublime. Eoin Kenny scored for the second week in a row.

The Dundalk manager had good news about Enda Minogue. He had his surgery on his broken finger. The pins come out the first week in April. Kilduff says his keeper should be back by the middle of April.

But I have a feeling that we will not see Enda back until the end of April. Conor O'Keefe was due to start the game against Wexford.

Dundalk got the result of scans done on Conor on Friday afternoon. He could have played against Longford. But it was felt playing him could result in long-term

permanent damage. So playing Conor was never going to happen. He has a calf muscle injury. He will train this week and should be available for the Wexford game on Friday.

The manager is confident Conor O'Keefe will return in seven days. I have a feeling it could be two weeks before O'Keefe returns. Mayowa is very close to returning.

He came to the manager and said he could play against Longford. But the manager believes that he is just 20 per cent away from returning. He looks likely he will be back next Friday.

The Dundalk boss will have more players coming back for Friday. Vinny Leonard and Sean Keogh will be back from international duty. Mayowa will greatly strengthen the defence.

After the Wexford game, Dundalk will play UCD away and Cobh at home. There is no doubt that Dundalk will know where they are at by now. Cobh won on Friday night and are breathing down Dundalk's neck.

They are only two points behind Dundalk. I said it at the start of the season, that Cobh and Dundalk would probably battle it out for the automatic promotion spot.

I still think that at least one more club will be there or thereabouts. Cobh are a very experienced side. They are also managed by a former Glentoran manager who has won many trophies.

The age profile of the Cobh team is certainly a lot older than Dundalk. Conor O'Keefe is only 16. TJ Molloy is also only 16. Vinny Leonard is 16 while Sean Keogh is 19. Eoin Kenny is 19.

Luke Mulligan is aged 17. Muhamed Harris is 19 while Andy Paracshiv is only 17. All of these players have played for Dundalk this season. Of course, the side has a number of older players.

But there is no doubt that the team will be leaning on many of the youngsters to help get them over the automatic promotion line.

I just think Dundalk need to get at least 3 more experienced players to get them over the line. Experienced players are vital to get you out of Division One.

I think the youngsters deserve massive credit. They are the ones along with the older members of the squad who have got Dundalk to the top after the 6 games.

But there is a long way to go. And the extra blood of experience will help Dundalk's promotion challenge. The number of injuries that has hit Dundalk so early in the season is large enough.

The speculation mongers will say the astroturf pitch laid in 2017 has played its part. I don't have the answers to that. But one thing is for sure.

The injuries will keep on coming for all teams. For Dundalk, there is always the strong belief that the pitch may be a factor in causing injuries. I will leave that to the experts.

Longford opened the scoring on 18 minutes when Daryl Murtagh knocked the ball past Peter Cherrie and into the net after a long throw-in by Dean O'Shea.

It was headed out by the Dundalk defence again, only for Longford to get a header into the danger zone. The defence were ball-watching and should have cleared it.

Murtagh should never have had the opportunity to score. Even when he did get the shot in, Peter Cherrie should have got to the ball. I do not know what happened to the usually reliable Dundalk keeper.

But his failure to save certainly played its part in Longford taking the lead. But the other Dundalk defenders must also take responsibility.

Dundalk were level on 28 minutes after Dean Ebbe was taken down in the box. Daryl Horgan took the ball to take the penalty. But Dean Ebbe took the ball from him and took the penalty himself. He had no problem scoring.

Dundalk got a second penalty five minutes from half time.Again Dean Ebbe was taken down in the box by the Longford keeper Halwax.

He turned out to be a hero as he saved the Ebbe penalty.Shane Tracey followed up with a rebound effort to the net. The referee gave the goal.

Stadium announcer Mickey Duffy announced it as a goal. Amazingly, at least a minute after the goal went in, the linesman indidacted an offside. Dundalk were denied what looked to be a perfectly good goal.

Dundalk totally dominated the second half. Longford let Dundalk come at them. But they rarely seemed to have a chance to create many chances.

With 12 minutes remaining, Andy Paracshiv only on as a sub beat two players in a sublime manner on the left-hand edge of the box. His cross found Eoin Kenny. This time he met the ball on the turn. He shot home to get the most precious of goals.

Dundalk were never troubled by Longford after that. They had no problem maintaining their lead and were totally deserving of their three points.

The return of Leo Gaxa was pivotal in this Dundalk victory. He had been out for the last two games due to suspension. Leo told me it was great to be back after getting the red card in Kerry.'It is what it is.

I have to support the gaffer and my teammates. I worked hard the two games I was out. I could not wait for this game. I was really looking forward to it.

I knew I would add to the team's strength. The only thing I am still waiting for is a goal. It was a tough game. They threw everything and went a goal up.

That was the first time this season we have gone a goal behind. We showed just how good we were character-wise. We dominated after we went a goal down. They just sat in trying to make it difficult for us. But we got the job done and came away with the points''.

''It was hard to get the chances. I always felt the best chance to get a goal was by shooting from outside the box. Our second goal to win the game was top class.

Other than that, we got the three points to win. That is all that matters. The first goal was very good as well. Dean was taken down in the box. He converted it so well.

The second penalty we got was bizarre. Dean took the penalty, but it was saved by their keeper. I had a go at the rebound. It came back to Dean Ebbe who converted the goal.

The referee has pointed back for a goal. Then there was a discussion for around three minutes between the linesman and the referee. They disallowed it for offside.

I do not want to comment on it too much. We were not even told why it was disallowed. The referee gave us a goal and then took it away from us. It was frustrating.''

''Andy Paraschiv did so well to create a great goal fifteen minutes from time. Eoin converted it so well. I have seen Andy working in training at exactly the way he scored the goal.

I was not surprised by what he did to get the second goal. Eoin got that goal. He is always in the right place at the right time. We kept going all the time.

We went hunting in packs looking for the winner and eventually, we got the all-important goal. We never give up. We always play like this in training.''

''We kept going at Longford. We just never gave up. The main thing from this game was the three points. I love living in Dundalk. Every game we have played so far has been great.

I am living in Dundalk. It's great. You really get to know the place. I just love it. I have enjoyed every part of it. It's easy when your team has been winning every week.

But no it's been great. A lot of us did not know each other when we arrived for pre-season. Some did, others did not. But there is a great spirit among the team.

We will look back on games like tonight and Kerry as some of the vital places where we picked up points if we get promotion. The manager is always helping us to improve and also encouraging us.

I had a tough year last year. But the manager has allowed me to express myself in any way I can this season. That is fantastic''.

''Every game is tough. Our next game is the quarter-final of the Leinster Senior Cup at Oriel next Tuesday against Northend.

That is tonight at Oriel Park. Our eyes are on the Northend game. Then we look at Friday's Wexford game in the League on Friday''.

Meanwhile, Sean Keogh's Ireland under19 team are heading for the Elite rounds of the UEFA European under -19 Championship qualifiers after a 2-1 win over Iceland saw them top their group.

The Dundalk full-back played for the entire 90 minutes. Vinny Leonard's under-17 team had a great 2-0 win over Poland in the elite phase.

Vinny also played for the entire game. But there was an ugly side to that game. The FAI confirmed on Sunday evening that a racist incident towards one of the Republic Of Ireland players was reported to UEFA, It occurred during the Elite Phase qualification game against Poland.

Have a safe and good week. Please look after each other. And of course be very careful out there, everybody.