Kilduff proud of Dundalk players despite Treaty setback

Ciaran Kilduff expressed his disappointment at Dundalk FC being held to a 1-1 draw with Treaty United, but also voiced pride in his side’s overall performance across the opening 10 games of this season’s SSE Airtricity League First Division campaign.

Were it not for bogey side Treaty clawing back two draws from the jaws of defeat—first a 2-2 stalemate at Oriel Park in March, followed by Friday night’s 1-1 result at Markets Field—The Lilywhites, victorious in their other eight fixtures, would have boasted a perfect 10 from 10.

The disappointment etched on the faces of Dundalk’s players as they emerged from the dressing room after the full-time whistle in Limerick spoke volumes about the high standards established since Kilduff’s appointment last November—yet the manager remained upbeat, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the bigger picture.

READ MORE: Benching Keogh explained in Dundalk draw with Treaty

“We want to win,” he told The Democrat afterwards. “We said that earlier in the season, and we’ve won a lot of games this year, but we didn’t tonight. It’s a nicer feeling when you win, especially when you take the lead and see it out.

“You’ve got to be so proud of the lads, with the points tally they’ve picked up—eight wins and two draws. We could have easily been winning here tonight, but there’s loads to improve.

“We’re 10 games into this team, we’re still figuring things out, but when you zoom out, we’re in a great place. Tonight feels a little bit like we dropped two points. Of course it does, but thankfully we don’t have time to dwell on it.”

The Lilywhites returned to action on Easter Monday with a home fixture against Finn Harps at Oriel, and now turn their focus to a forthcoming trip to Bishopsgate, where Kilduff’s men will face Longford Town this Saturday evening (kick-off: 7.30pm).

“We’ll have had two games in eight days,” said the Dundalk boss. “It’s great, that’s what you want. The lads are happy to do that, it’s better than training. Games are what we’re judged on.

“This is nowhere near over. As I said last week when we won, we don’t think we’ve achieved anything yet; we’re far from it.

“We are literally just chucking on, one game at a time, and lads need to be ready and step up because, at times tonight, I thought the fellows who came on were excellent, and the fellows who started showed some great things as well, so there’s great competition within the group now.”

At the time of writing, Dundalk sit five points clear at the summit of the First Division table, with Bray Wanderers—buoyed by five consecutive victories—occupying second place as they prepared to host UCD at the Carlisle Grounds on Easter Monday.

“You go on a run of winning games, you look like you’re running away. You go on a run of losing games, which anyone’s capable of at any given time, you fall away quickly.

“I said the same last week, it’s never going to be easy. Football is never easy, and as soon as you think it is, you get punched in the nose. We are going back into our own shell of one game at a time. We’re worrying about ourselves.

“There’s a lot of positives going on around the club, it’s just too soon to be looking at tables right now or reading too much into form.

“Some teams had poor starts, and they’re getting going now. Hopefully, we can pick up another three points and add to our tally.”