No complacency from Dundalk ahead of busy Easter weekend

Ciaran Kilduff is confident that Dundalk FC will not succumb to complacency, despite a dream start to the season that has propelled them seven points clear at the summit of the SSE Airtricity League First Division.

With the opening round of fixtures now behind them, The Lilywhites have successfully negotiated the first quarter of their campaign in the League of Ireland’s second tier undefeated and look well-positioned for a swift return to the Premier Division following last season’s relegation.

Yet Kilduff is refusing to rest on his laurels, maintaining that both he and his players remain firmly grounded and fully focused on the challenges that lie ahead.

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The Dundalk manager said: “We have enough experienced lads in there who’ve played at the highest level, Daryl (Horgan) as a captain, who’s played for Ireland, Peter (Cherrie), who’s played hundreds of games.

 “I’m hoping the group itself won’t get complacent; they don’t strike me in any way to have those characteristics of a team that are ever going to take anything for granted.

“I’d hope that wouldn’t be the case — it won’t be. It’s definitely not the way we’ve been working so far, and I’ve no reason to suspect it.

 “There’s enough in that dressing room to know we’ve played nine games, and we’re far from achieving anything just yet. You’re two defeats before you’re under pressure, and they’ll come at some stage.

“It’s always the next game and it’s always one game at a time. That’s not just a cliché, that’s actually genuinely how I feel.

 “I don’t really look back and I don’t look at the totals or anything like that. I know we’ve had a nice first round of games, but we have three more to go.

“From where we are as a group and from where we are as a staff, we’re still learning the ropes here. We’re nine games into a very long season, we’re a quarter of the way there.

“Of course, we’re very proud of what we’ve done to this point, but we’ve a long, long way to go before we’ll be celebrating or anything like that. We’ve got a tough three games coming in the next week and we’ll take each one at a time.”

That trio of crucial fixtures begins this Friday night with a clash against Treaty United at Markets Field (kick-off: 7.45pm), followed by a home encounter with Finn Harps on Easter Monday (kick-off: 5pm).

The month then culminates with a visit to Bishopsgate to face Longford Town on Saturday, April 26th.

Treaty remain the only side to have taken so much as a point from Dundalk during the opening round of the campaign, having held The Lilywhites to a 2-2 draw at Oriel Park in early March.

Indeed, eight victories from their opening nine fixtures could easily have been a perfect nine, had The Lilywhites not let a two-goal advantage slip in the final four minutes of regulation during their previous encounter with the Limerick outfit.

“Treaty took points off us, the only team to do so,” reflected Kilduff. “Every team in this division has a threat, and they definitely have a threat.

 “They’ve started the season quite well themselves. They came up here and hurt us late, but that felt like a turning point for us.

“We’ve responded with five straight wins since, which is a great reaction to that night. The importance of the squad is going to be tested over these three games in eight days, and we’re going to need everybody.”

Veteran goalkeeper Peter Cherrie faced scrutiny in the aftermath of that draw, but Kilduff has since lauded the Scotsman, who has responded by recording clean sheets in each of his last three outings between the sticks for Dundalk.

“Peter, after that game, showed great resolve,” praised the Dundalk boss. “Not that it was all on him, but as a team we got hurt that night.

 “The response and calibre of the man that Peter is, it’s a great example for the young lads. That sounds like Peter’s the reason we didn’t beat Treaty — it’s not.

“It was just one moment in our season where it was like, okay, let’s see how we react here, because that felt as bad as any defeat. When you’re two up with 10 minutes to go and you don’t win the game, it’s a defeat.

“In all of those nine games, I can honestly say I don’t feel like any of them were easy. I don’t think it was a case where we were just turning up and turning teams over and then going on to the next one.

“Every game has been a struggle, every game will continue to do so. The first time football feels easy, that’s the time to worry — and there was nothing easy with those first nine. I can tell you there’s going to be nothing easy with the next 27 either.”