The Commentary Box: The Dundalk skipper shone like a beacon of light

I learned a lot on the way Ciaran Kilduff reads the game of football on Friday during their 3-0 demolition of Wexford FC at Oriel Park on Friday night.

I was watching the Dundalk boss with keen interest during the game, just to get an even greater insight as to how this man has dragged a club that was on the edge of extinction in May, to top Division One.

Kilduff never takes his eye off the game even for a minute. He busily notes anything he sees that must be taken up with his players either at half-time or full-time.

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Then he brings up what he has noted in a cool and calm way. And this is good. Ciaran Kilduff is not a manager who shouts or roars at his players.

His calm demeanour, allows him to manage and lead this Dundalk team. Dundalk brushed the challenge of Wexford aside with some difficulty.

But in the end, they managed to put as many goals in the Wexford net as they had conceded in the season so far. Wexford came to Oriel with the precise aim of making things difficult for the Division One league leaders as possible.

They played five at the back from the start. The move made it very difficult for Dundalk in the first half to break down the resolute men from the southeast.

As the first half continued and frustration grew among the home support, Kilduff's note-taking got more vigorous. Dundalk did dominate the first half.

But they failed to take chance after chance, You always got the impression that if Wexford scored there would be no way back for Dundalk.

When the whistle blew for half time the Dundalk boss went down the tunnel. He headed straight for the home dressing room.

He and his management team allowed the team to reflect on their own for about three minutes on their performance in the first half before he said anything.

It was a masterstroke from Kilduff. As he entered the dressing room he too had taken time to reflect on the first half. He was able to go into the dressing room and turn the apprehension players may have felt into something positive.

He calmly explained where things were going wrong. He used his notes so wisely. As a result, he was able to turn things around and ensure his side came out on the pitch in the second half a totally different team.

Dundalk tore at such a fast speed that their opponents could not cope with the Black and White tornadoes, The home side had Wexford on the ropes throughout the entire second half Daryl Horgan was magnificent in his role as captain.

He created scoring opportunities for himself and others. He missed a couple of glorious chances. But he created some as well which materialised into scores.

Leo Gaxha became an Oriel hero scoring twice and having a majestic game overall. Republic of Ireland international Sean Keogh returned to the side after being away with the under-19 squad for nearly two weeks.

Dundalk got three goals in a 12-minute spell that won them the game. But even in the build-up to the goals one could see that Ciaran Kilduff's half time team talk had worked.

They were able to get in behind the Wexford defence that bit easier. Dundalk played much more direct football. It was the kind of football that produced the goals.

The lead goal came on 66 minutes. Leo Gaxha was given a much more forward role in the second half. He cut in from the left before curling a right-foot shot past Wexford keeper Paul Martin had been excellent the whole night.

But there was nothing he could do about the second goal either. It reminded me of the way Georgie Best used to score his goals for Manchester United.

Sean Keogh dribbled the ball so skillfully past two Wexford defenders and then fired an unstoppable shot to the net. It was one of the best goals that I have seen at Oriel in some time.

The scoring rout was complete on 77 minutes when Daryl Horgan went on a great run down the left. His cross found Leo Gaxha 12 yards out. He volleyed to the net, to end the game as a contest.

It was a great finish and great also to see Leo get two goals. The news got even better for Dundalk with the news that Cobh were beaten by Bray by a late penalty.

This leaves Ciaran Kilduff's men five points clear at the top of the table. The game was just finished at Oriel when the news filtered through about Cobh. They had just been beaten by two goals to one with Bray getting a late goal.

The Dundalk boss made only one significant change from the side that beat Longford the week before. Keith Ward was left on the bench with Andy Paraschiv keeping his place from the week before.

The 18-year-old had been magnificent against Longford creating the goal for Eoin Kenny that won three very hard-earned points for Dundalk.

Peter Cherrie showed how safe Dundalk are with a keeper who did what he had to do when called upon. It really irks me that Peter was not used last season when Dundalk could not find a good keeper bar Sean Molloy.

This was one of the main reasons why Dundalk were relegated. Peter was a registered Dundalk keeper last season. Yet Stephen O'Donnell could not see his value nor could John Daly, when they were in charge long term.

George Shelvey, Ross Monro and Felix Goddard were simply not good enough for the League of Ireland Premier Division Buy they were the ones that were used.

You must have a strong keeper to create a good spine in a team. Dundalk FM's John Murphy said that to me last season so many times in interviews I did with him.

Dundalk's loss of Pat Hoban for last season was the other key reason why Dundalk were relegated. They could not score nor could they stop conceding goals.

Ciaran Kilduff has shown great wisdom in his young age by using Peter this season in place of Enda Minogue while he is out injured. This brings up another factor from last season.

Why did Dundalk not sign Enda Minogue or somebody like him instead of going across the channel for keepers who were not up to the standard of keepers in Ireland?

If Ciaran Kilduff could find them, then the people who were in charge of recruitment last season should also have been able to get the right keeper and other players as well from the Irish market.

It was great to see Sean Keogh and Vinny Leonard back from their respective under-19 and under-17 International team duties the previous weekend.

It was a pity that Sean Keogh's under-19 team did not qualify from their group for their competition. But Sean came back to Oriel and scored a top-class second goal that sealed Dundalk's win on Friday night.

Sean was also immense at full-back. Vinny Leonard's Republic of Ireland under 17 team had great success the week before. They qualified for the next stage of their competition. Vinny had a great game on Friday night.

He was the stability man in the centre of the Dundalk defence. Nothing got past him. It's amazing to think that 18-year-old Sean and 17-year-old Vinny are sitting their Leaving Certs in June.

This is the youngest ever Dundalk squad that I have ever seen. Aodh Dervin was once again in top form at full back even though his normal position is in the engine room at centre midfield.

Aodh went on constant runs into the enemy territory of Wexford. They could just not cope with his darting runs nor his strong defending. Sean McHale played alongside Vinny Leonard at centre half.

I thought Sean had one of his best games for Dundalk this season. He has a great football brain. He was often able to clear whatever Wexford attacks came at Dundalk and also set up some excellent attacks.

He was also a constant danger to Wexford when he got forward. Daryl Horgan created so much for Dundalk in midfield. But the Dundalk skipper shone like a beacon of light as captain as he led his troops into battle.

He guided the younger players all the time on the pitch during the game. He also stamped his authority with any players no matter what age, if he felt they needed that at any stage during the game.

Horgan must be a great man to have in the dressing room. I would say that Daryl is the key person along with his vice Captain Aodh Dervin who gets the players to reflect on their performances, good or bad before the manager and his team spoke to the players.

I have seen teams that I have managed myself talking together where they are going right or wrong at halftime before the management team would speak to them.

I used to manage the Colaiste Ris soccer teams. I brought soccer into the school. It was a staunch GAA school which I always respected. But the two codes were able to live beside each other without any difficulty.

We were very successful. We won over 20 competitions during my time at soccer. We won the Leinster senior league in my first season. We beat the Marist in the North Leinster Senior League final, at a packed Oriel Park on a Thursday afternoon.

We went on to win Leinster. The great memories sweep back to me as I write about this. We had many fine players. David Crawley was top-class. He was the last local player to captain Dundalk to an FAI cup win.

That was in 2002.Alan Larkin, Anto Reilly, and the late Ciaran Casey are just some of the names I could mention. I could name a page-load of skilled players who could have made a career in soccer.

The late Nasser Ahmed was another great player. Nasser very sadly died at such a young age. The same too for Ciaran Casey. He played centre half. I always thought he was the most gifted player we ever had along with Anto Reilly.

Ciaran sadly died at such a young age. He left a very young family behind him. Tiarnan Mulvenna was on my school team that won the under-14 Leinster League at another stage and had a great management team behind me at times.

The late Tommy Connolly was so good. He was a former Dundalk manager and an assistant boss to Turlough O'Connor at Dundalk. He won three league titles and one FAI cup with Turlough.

Former Dundalk and Sean O'Mahony's player Willy Crawley was of great assistance as was then local journalist Gerry McDermott. I will be forever grateful to these men.

Anyway as Daryl Horgan and Aodh Dervan got a chance to get the players to reflect on the first half, the manager Ciaran Kilduff would began to speak after 3 minutes.

He would calmly and showing great understanding go over the first half. He went over what was going right and what was going wrong. There could be inputs from some of the other coaching staff.

I have been very impressed with them this season. Of the different coaches Dundalk had last season, Liam Burns was head and shoulders above the lot of them when he was manager on his own for a short time.

This man has a great understanding of the game. Whatever was said in that Dundalk dressing room on Friday worked. Dundalk were vastly improved in the second half.

Harry Groome added real power to the central midfield. He was terrific. Eoin Kenny was played on the wing once more. He also got forward as much as he could. Leo Gaxha was the man of the match.

It's not just because he got the two goals. He was terrific on the wing. In the second half. He tore the Wexford defence to pieces. He was simply the best.

Both of his goals were top-drawer material. Gaxha could easily be used as a striker if needed to be called upon. Dean Ebbe did not get on the score sheet for the first time in five games.

He had a quiet night on the pitch in comparison to other games to be honest. But Wexford had him well marked as they knew he was the Dundalk danger man.

Dean was replaced by Gbemi Arubi on 76 minutes. Andy Paraschiv was replaced by Shane Tracey on 76 minutes. Two-goal hero Leo Gaxha was replaced by 18-year-old Muhammad Harris on 88 minutes. He is a player for the future.

Gussie Hearty of Dundalk FM said to me at half time that Wexford were the toughest team Dundalk had played so far this season. He was right.

But from the start of the second half, like a breath of fresh air blowing in from the sea at Blackrock four miles away, Dundalk went at Wexford in a totally different way. And it worked.

Ciaran Kilduff told me after the game that they were a little bit frustrated at halftime as a group as they did feel they could have been doing much better.

''Wexford deployed five men at the back. This was a bit frustrating. But it was a game of two halves. The lads were able to get much more into the game in the second forty-five minutes.

We were far more convincing in that second half. Dean Ebbe, Harry Groome and Daryl Horgan all had chances in the first half. We are delighted with the second half and take a lot of encouragement from it.

I always use the notes I take down in the first half and use them in the dressing room at half-time. We let the lads go in at half-time themselves to reflect and while and my management team are silent for a short spell.

I wanted to ensure that I did not go shouting and screaming. We spoke about the fact that the players needed to be more clinical in their pressing.

We were by far the best team in the second half. We will take a lot of satisfaction from that. We did not impose ourselves in the first half the way we usually do. In the second half, we sorted that problem out.''

''I was really delighted the way the team played in the second half. I could not have been prouder of them. We knew we let the first half get away from us. Some of it was on us, some on Wexford and some on the pitch.

But we knew at halftime that once we get the players in, we would be able to reset the button and play as we can in the second half. Tonight I said to the players I wanted to blow the doors of the place.

I wanted to entertain. I wanted us to really impose ourselves on the game. It took us to the second half to get things sorted. The players that came on late in the game really made an impact.

We could have created more goals. Tonight Wexford were so well set up and organised. Their Head coach has their team so well organised. Before tonight, Wexford had only conceded three goals all season.

They conceded three against us in fifteen minutes. I built up Wexford all week as one of our biggest tests. Tonight was the first game which was one of our biggest tests.

It was the first game where everybody is finding their feet. We are six games in. And that is all teams. I have seen Wexford play. I knew how good they were.

Their keeper Paul Martin was top-class. Sean Keogh's goal was so good. He got in behind their defence and scored a great goal. It's something our coach Ken Kiernan has been encouraging him to do.

Sean has the ability to get himself into a position where he can score. He had already scored for us against Finn harps up in Ballybofey.''

''Sean has all the quality in the world. He also has the coaching staff and a team that will continue to help him improve. As a club, we have nothing but confidence in Sean's ability.

He will be able to go as far as he wants to go in football. I did have words with him at halftime about how to impose himself even more on the game. It worked. Sean is only 18 and sits his Leaving Cert in June.

He really lit the place up in the second half. He has been away all week on international duty. Maybe this was the reason why he was playing in a lower gear than usual in the first half.

But he just took off in the second half and was superb. I hope no other clubs have an interest in Sean at the moment. Anyway, I have not heard of any. Sean is only a Leaving Cert student.

He is playing here and is a key part of our squad. Sean has a really good head on his shoulders. But look the day will come when he and other members of our young squad will get offers.''

''The injury list is getting smaller. Enda Minogue is getting the pins out of his fractured finger shortly. He is back by mid-April. Mayowa has been out since the Finn harps game.

We were just about to bring him on as a sub. It was only a minute and a half away when we scored. He just has not done a full week of training yet. It would have been a risk to bring him in tonight.

But it was a risk I was willing to take. In the end, I did not have to take the risk. But Mayowa has trained on Wednesday and Thursday. He did a bit of training tonight before the game.

He will train fully all next week and will be available for the UCD game next Friday. Conor O'Keefe will also be fully available next Friday for the UCD game.''

Sean Keogh says he was delighted with the result. ''Three goals, three points and a clean sheet. I can not ask for much more really. We were disappointed at half-time. But we really stepped it up in the second half.

We really showed what we are about. Sometimes you get a first half like we had tonight, where you get the chances, but do not convert them into goals. We were in third to fourth gear at half-time.

We knew we had to greatly increase that and step up to the mark. We ripped Wexford apart in that golden spell in the second half, where we got three goals in 12 minutes.

Leo Gaxha really weaved his magic, getting two of the goals. It really opened up the game. They had to change their formation of five at the back after I got the second goal. Leo Gaxha's first goal was top-class.

I was already celebrating, the moment the ball was struck by his boot. He does it in training, week in and week out, beating players, scoring, crossing everything. For my goal, I just made the run.

Obviously, Sean found me. I beat the Wexford player and just hit it. Thankfully it went in. I like getting forward. I am not just a left-back. I defend first.

When I am sure there is no threat to the defence, I instinctively like to get forward. Make no doubt about it. That's what I am going to be about this season.''

''The third goal we got was superb. Keith Ward initially set up Daryl. He put in a great cross for Leo. He could not really miss it. But it was a great way to top off the night.

As far as playing for the under-19 Republic of Ireland team this week away, from a personal perspective I thought I did very well in two of the games. But we just did not get the results to qualify.

But I am just glad to be back here in Oriel to continue to chase for promotion which is our main aim. That is to get the automatic promotion place. My international career has gone really well. I got my first call-up for Moldova in November.

I had two games there. Then last week I had two games in Berlin in Germany. I thought I did well. I will be pushing on for a place in the under-21 squad when that comes around next.''

''I learned a lot when we were in the Premier Division last season. I had Daryl around me all the time helping me around with the little things. He helped me to improve my game massively.

Even in training last season it really makes the player when you can see the analysis. As far as we are concerned, we are just going to focus on ourselves.

We are not going to bother with anybody else. I know Cobh were beaten tonight and that our lead at the top has been stretched. But we just worry about ourselves. This is the best approach.''

''Next Friday night we go to the Belfield Bowl to take on UCD. They won tonight. They will be looking for the three points as will we. But that does not matter.

We will do our best to beat them. I am not going to stop at getting the two goals I have scored for Dundalk so far this season. I told the lads I will be looking for more.

I will be looking for more goals and more assists. I really enjoy getting in behind the defence's of our opponents. I have to say I am really buzzing with that score tonight.''

Dundalk go to Belfield next Friday night. UCD got a good win on Friday. Last night they played Bray in a game both sides had in hand. UCD will be formidable opponents. Their pitch is also used by the University rugby team.

At times it can be cut up rather badly. Let's hope it will be in the usual fine condition it's in. Dundalk can play good football in a stadium like the Belfield bowl. I think they are good enough to get the points.

Have a great week. This is a time in the world when there is so much going on. The war in the Ukraine is a huge worry. So is the threat by Donald Trump to impose tariffs.

There is a worry that the war in the Ukraine could spread to other parts of Europe. We have no control over these things. We must appreciate what we have.

We must look after each other at all times. We must all be very careful out there. Have a safe week.