The Commentary Box: If Dundalk can keep this going they have a great chance of topping the First Division

Dundalk's precious 1-0 win over Cobh Ramblers on Friday night, tightened their grip on the leadership of the First Division and also put a severe dent in the automatic promotion hopes of Cobh Ramblers.

Dundalk remain seven points clear of Bray Wanderers. But now they have a significant eleven points lead over Cobh Ramblers, who have since the start of the season been seen as Dundalk's biggest threat for the automatic promotion spot.

The win ended the first round of games in the First Division. After 9 games Dundalk remain unbeaten and have won eight and drawn just one. Dundalk now have built up a strong momentum behind them.

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If they can keep this going, then they have a great chance of topping the Division at the end of the season and making a speedy return to the Premier Division. But there is a long way to go.

But manager Ciaran Kilduff issued a warning to Dundalk fans not to get carried away, as the team are bound to hit a bad patch at some stage.

It's how they cope with this that will show if they really can go all the way this season and win the Division One title for the third time in the club's history.

Sean Keogh was easily the man of the match. The Republic Of Ireland under 19 player created the winning goal on 55 minutes.

He was strong at the back the entire night. He was also magnificent in his runs down the left and the way he could get in behind the Cobh defence constantly.

The entire team was excellent. Conor O'Keeffe at right full also starred with similar runs down the flanks. Mayowa was strong in the heart of the Dundalk defence.

But being booked midway through the first half, he was very lucky not to have got a second yellow for a couple of fouls he got away with. His booking was very harsh.

However, after taking down a Cobh player in front of the referee, he was very lucky the official did not appear to see the incident.

It was no surprise when Sean McHale replaced Mayowa at the start of the second half. McHale was excellent. Leo Gaxha was given a striker's role behind and beside Dean Ebe.

He caused havoc to the Cobh defence. Ebbe seemed to play a little below par. Watching him, I felt he may have been carrying an injury or he may not have been feeling 100 per cent.

He was still able to cause a lot of damage to the Cobh defence and at times brilliantly created a number of superb openings for his teammates.

Daryl Horgan was his usual superb self. It was his 150th appearance in a Dundalk jersey. He linked up so well with Sean Keogh down the left flank. This is where the key winner came from.

Aodh Dervin once again was a key man in the engine room of midfield along with Harry Groome. Vinny Leonard returned to the centre-half position and never put a foot wrong.

Eoin Kenny had a good night on the wing until he was replaced late in the game.41-year-old Peter Cherrie continues to roll back the years, he made a number of significant saves that left him having his third clean sheet in a row.

He was able to deal perfectly with whatever Cobh fired at him. His back 4 had every confidence in him. He was like the Peter Cherrie of 2014 when Dundalk won their first league title under Stephen Kenny.

It was also his 200th appearance for Dundalk. It's such a pity that those who managed Dundalk last season never used Peter as a keeper.

He is streaks ahead of any of the different keepers that were used when Dundalk struggled against going down and finally did.

The keepers that were recruited from the UK last season were not of the quality needed for the Premier Division in the League of Ireland.

Despite this being raised in this column regularly, the powers that controlled Dundalk then just brought in successive UK keepers who were not up to standard.

This deprived the side of a strong spine and resulted in so many needless goals being given away. Had Pat Hoban stayed and Peter Cherrie got the keepers slot I feel Dundalk would never have been relegated.

Friday night's game was played in front of a crowd of 1,834 people. This was a fantastic attendance considering Cobh had no support with them.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff made three changes to the team that started against UCD last Friday week in Belfield. Keith Ward, Andy Paraschiv and Sean McHale dropped to the bench while Eoin Kenny, Mayowa and Harry Groome started.

Sean McHale replaced Mayowa at half-time. Harry Groome was replaced by Andy Paraschiv on 71 minutes as was Dean Ebbe by  Keith Ward on 71 minutes.

Gbemi Arubi replaced Eoin Kenny on 83 minutes. Thus the Dundalk line-out started as follows. Peter Cherrie in Goals.Two Full Backs Conor O'Keeffe.

Sean Keogh.Two centre-halves Vinny Leonard. Mayowa.Two wingersDaryl Horgan,Eoin Kenny. Two centre midfielders Harry Groome. Aodh Dervin. The two strikers were Leo Gaxha and Dean Ebbe. 

I thought it was a very exciting first 25 minutes in the first half. Dundalk's first chance came on 6 minutes when Leo Gaxhas's cross found Eoin Kenny who headed across the face of the Cobh goal.

Harry Groome and Leo Gaxha had two good efforts blocked by the Cobh Defence. Cobh's Luke Le Bervet went in on a heavy tackle on Conor O'Keefe. He was in agony on the ground.

The referee failed to give the Cobh midfielder even a yellow card. Minutes earlier he had booked Mayowa for a nothing incident.

Cobh was very physical as the game went on and had four players booked. Dundalk came close to scoring on 14 minutes when Aodh Dervin's corner was headed narrowly over by Vinny Leonard.

The closest the home side came to breaking the deadlock was three minutes later. Again Aodh Dervin was involved. His pass across the Cobh penalty area set up Leo Gaxha.

The Dundalk striker's effort was bound for the net, as it beat Cobh keeper Paul Martin. It was cleared off the Cobh line in a dramatic fashion by fullback John O'Donovan. Cobh brought out the best in Cherrie on 24 minutes when Luke De Beveret fired in a dangerous shot.

Dundalk had a great start in the second half with Eoin Kenny having two shots blocked on the line. The golden goal came on 55 minutes. Sean Keogh went on a darting run down the left.

He cut inside the Cobh back four. His cross into the box caused havoc inside the penalty area with multiple players trying to get to the ball.

Cobh full-back Joseph Donovan, in trying to clear the danger, turned the ball into his own net. Dundalk were now dramatically in front and deservingly so.

Kenny came close again for Dundalk as the half wore on as did Gaxha. But Cobh pushed Dundalk back into their own half for long periods of the last 20 minutes of the game.

Peter Cherrie took off three good saves. Having said that, Ciaran Kilduff's side never gave up running. Eoin Kenny and Sean Keogh brought out the best in Paul Martin as did Leo Gaxha.

Dundalk could easily have won this game by two or three, just as Cobh had a number of efforts that could have brought home a share of the spoils.

This Dundalk team are playing with an abundance of confidence and self-belief. They remind me of the Galway United team that beat Dundalk in the cup 4-0 three years ago.

Galway went on to clinch the First Division that season. Ciaran Kilduff's Black and White Army are on the march. The players say the dressing room is a happy place in Oriel.

They are all focused on one single aim and that is to get Dundalk out of Division One. The atmosphere is so positive around the team.

They have the self-belief to achieve their aim of winning the First Division title. Dundalk boss Ciaran Kilduff told me after the game that he was very pleased with the win over Cobh.

''I would have taken any win against Cobh. They are a good team with very good players. Their captain lifted the Division One title for Cork City last year. We have not had any games in this Division so far.

Tonight's win was no different. Once we got the lead, we would have liked to have made things easy for ourselves. But this is the division of the long throw-ins and frees.

Cork were the top scorers in the Division going into the game. We are taking a lot of pride in our clean sheets. That is three in a row for Peter Cherrie.

There is competition for every place in that team. I think in the first half we were really good. We dictated the play. We always looked threatening.

It was the final ball that let us down. We had one cleared off the line. You are waiting for that final breakthrough. Then five minutes after half time you are left wondering are we going to get the breakthrough.

Then we get it. Then you have the old adage that they are going to throw the kitchen sink at you. It's not that you are left hanging on. But maybe at times, we were left at times with a feeling of just seeing the game out.

We should not have been in that situation as we could have been further ahead. But we take pride in our defending and our clean sheets.

Peter has been great since he came in for Enda Minogue who is out injured. He has been superb since the Treaty game. Three clean sheets in a row. What more can you ask of him.''

''Sean Keogh was excellent as he has been for a long time now. He has scored two goals this season. He got the assist for the Gaxha goal in Belfield against UCD last Friday night.

He has been a great outlet at left-back. But he is not just a left-back able to defend.`He is a goal-scoring threat as you can see. He was superb for the goal.

He gets into the opposition's box so many times and poses a real threat. Leo Gaxha is a top-class striker. We moved him from midfield to that position tonight. We felt it would hurt the opposition and it did''.

'''We are very happy with the way the first round of nine games has gone. If we can repeat that over the next three rounds, then we probably will go up. But we have three more rounds to go.

We could easily drop as many points in the same way as we gained them in the first round. We will hit adversity at some stage. People must also remember that we are a new team.

Andy Paraschiv was playing in the Leinster Senior League a few months ago. Now look at him and see how well he has fitted into the team. He is one of many.

Shane Tracey is a local boy. He was brilliant here against Longford. He is just waiting for his next chance to get into the team. We are in a very good place as a group. But we are still learning a lot.''

''We will go to Limerick next Friday to play Treaty. Then the following Monday we play Finn Harps at Oriel. Two very difficult games. Treaty are the only side to take points off us.

They are a real threat because they can score goals. They started the season quite well. They came up here and really hurt us, by getting two late goals to come from behind and grab a precious point.

We have responded with five straight wins which is great. We will have three games in eight days from next Friday. That will really test us.''

''Enda Minogue is out for another three weeks. He was supposed to get the pins and the screw out from his broken finger. That was delayed this week. He went in last week to get the pins and the screw out.

But they would not take them out. I am just hoping to get Enda back as quickly as we can''. Ciaran Kilduff can be very happy with the way things have started for him at Oriel.

But the Dundalk boss is experienced enough to know that soccer can be a cruel game as well. A team can lose players through injuries. They can lose them through transfers to clubs in Ireland.

Europe or the UK. Sean Keogh is one player who is attracting much interest. He is a top-class left full. One social media sports writer said during the week that Sean is so good, he doubted if he will be at Oriel at the end of the season.

The same media commentator also said that he would not be surprised if 17-year-old Vinny Leonard does not depart Oriel before the end of the season.

He says the pair are that good. I think the two underage internationals will still be here by November. But the chances are that they will be snapped up after that by the top clubs.

Kilduff has assembled a highly talented young squad. But this is the First Division. The Dundalk manager told me a month ago that they are still a First Division team.

The Dundalk boss will have to assemble some really talented and experienced Premier Division players at the end of the season if Dundalk are promoted and that is a big if.

Ciaran Kilduff also really impresses as a manager. You can see how much his team respects him. This includes coaching staff, players and the other Oriel staff who all hold him in the highest regard.

In many ways, the boss reminds me of a young Stephen Kenny. I interviewed Stephen when he won the cup with Longford Town and when his Bohemians side were beaten in the FAI Cup final by Martin Murray's relegated Dundalk 2002 team.

Martin did an unbelievable job with Dundalk in 2002. He brought Dundalk up from the First Division. They were so unlucky that the FAI decided to relegate three teams in 2002.

This was to reduce the Premier Division to ten teams. Dundalk finished third from bottom, about 14 points clear of the second-from-bottom team.

Dundalk still had a chance to stay up going into the last game. They hammered Monaghan in Gortakeegan. However, results did not go their way elsewhere.

Seven days out from a cup final, the Dundalk dressing room was in despair in Monaghan having just been relegated. Somehow Martin Murray lifted his team and they went on to beat Bohs by two goals to one in the final.

Gary Haylock got the goals. Bohemians were that confident that they had a big flag flying across the road outside St Peter's church in Phibsboro from the Saturday night which had the words''.

Bohemians, FAI cup winners 2002. The arrogance was unreal. Well, Dundalk took them down a peg or two with a great win and one of the most memorable cup wins in the club's history.

I interviewed Stephen Kenny in the build-up to the final. As manager of Bohs, he was in no way expecting to have things easy in the final. His leadership qualities were there for all to see.

The next time I got to interview Stephen was in December 2012 when he had just signed up as manager of Dundalk. Now Stephen was already a successful manager.

But after the interview, I knew he beat potential and imagination to bring success to Dundalk. I would say the exact same of Ciaran Kilduff. He has had great success as women's manager at Athlone winning the league and the cup.

I believe Ciaran will have a very successful career in management. When the history writers come to write about him, I think success at Oriel will be heavily stamped on his CV.

The very sad news came through last week of the passing of yet another member of the great 1962-63 league-winning team. Days before this news, we heard of the sad passing of the late great Leo O'Reilly.

Jimmy Redmond may not be as well known as some of the other famous players from that great team. But his contribution to Dundalk winning only their second title was as good as anybody's.

He made 16 appearances in the league that season scoring an impressive 5 goals. He made two FAI Cup appearances, scoring once.

In all, he made 19 appearances for Dundalk in that famous season. He made his league debut for Dundalk on 25th November 1962. That was the opening day of the League season.

In the early part of the 62-63 season, Jimmy was playing for Leinster Senior League side Workman's Club. He really impressed against Dundalk in a Leinster Senior Cup game. He was signed up straight away.

He went straight into the first team for the opening League game of the season against Cork Celtic. He only missed two of Dundalk's league games that season on the Oriel Park side's way to the famous title.

He missed the games for two reasons. Once when he missed his train from Dublin to Dundalk. The second miss was because he took time out to get married in late February 1963.

Jimmy began his career with Cork Hibernians who were in their first year in the League of Ireland. Jimmy scored 8 goals for Hibs that season. He finished his time at Hibs with a 2-0 win over Dundalk at Oriel in 1959.

Ironically he returned the favour towards the end of the 1963 season when his goal against Hibs at Oriel earned Dundalk a 2-0 win which paved the way for Dundalk to clinch the title in the last game of the season.

Jimmy made 73 appearances for Cork Hibs and scored 19 goals. He was the only member of the 14, 1962-63 league-winning panel to leave Oriel at the end of the season.

He moved to Sligo initially the following season and then went to Drogheda who were making their senior debut in League of  Ireland Football.

Jimmy won one League of Ireland medal and that was with Dundalk. But Jimmy did win an FAI Cup medal with Pats in 1961.

He was deprived of a league medal when Drumcondra just pipped Pats for the league. But Pats beat Drums in the FAI Cup final by two goals to one. Jimmy got his cup medal.

You never stop learning. I have to be honest. I never heard about Jimmy and his association with Dundalk until news came through of his passing.

But Dundalk fans should make sure they take note of his name now. He played every bit as much a part in that great Dundalk side of the 1962-63 league-winning team as the other members of that great 14-man panel.

The results from the weekend's First Division games were Bray 2 Treaty 1. Dundalk 1 Cobh 0. Kerry 2 Athlone 0. Wexford 2 Finn Harps 2. Longford 0 UCD 1.

Dundalk tops the table with 25 points. Bray are second with 18. Cobh are third with 14. Wexford are four and have 13 points. UCD have 12 and Treaty have 11.

Finn Harps have 9. Longford have 8. Kerry have seven. Athlone are rock bottom with seven points. On Saturday night Athlone Town manager Dario Castelo departed the club by mutual consent.

They were tipped as the side who would compete with Dundalk for promotion along with Cobh. Well, it seems the Midlanders are going to have to have to wait for another season for that.

Dundalk make the long 350 kilometre round trip next Friday when they travel to Limerick to take on Treaty United at the Market's field. Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic.

It's always had a great tradition in the senior ranks of the League of Ireland. Sadly the city has seen its soccer team play mainly in the lower Division in the League of Ireland in the past twenty years.

It's a city that badly needs a senior soccer team. It can only be good for the League. I would love to see them getting promotion this season.

It's a beautiful city made up of really decent people. Sport is their religion. Rugby is very popular in working-class areas. Hurling is very popular throughout the county.

But men's soccer is a sleeping giant. I think it's ready to waken. Thankfully Dundalk are on the right promotion road. I would love to of course see Dundalk getting promotion first. And hopefully, Treaty can get promoted the following season.

Have a great week and a very Happy Easter.Look after yourselves everybody.And please of course, always be careful out there.