Commentary Box: This is the best start a Dundalk side has ever made to a league campaign

Dundalk dropped a rare but key two points on Friday night when they were held to a 1-1 draw, by Limerick side Treaty United.

The game was played at the spiritual home of Limerick soccer in the Garryowen area of the city. The attendance of 1,300, was boosted by a crowd of around 200 Dundalk supporters.

They made the long 340-kilometre round trip on a day and night of continuous rain. The result saw second-placed Bray close the gap on Dundalk to just five points and to third placed Cobh to nine points.

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Dundalk are still unbeaten and have won eight games out of their opening ten. The two they have failed to win have been against Treaty. Both were draws.

This has been the best-ever start a Dundalk side has made to a league campaign. It was a game that they should have won. That they did not was not down to their lack of effort.

They had by far the bulk of the possession and efforts on goal. But they did lack penetration and fluffed numerous chances, particularly in the first half. If they had even taken one or two of these, they would have been home and hosed by halftime.

Limerick FC took six points off Dundalk in 2013. They proved to be a bogey team for Stephen Kenny's side in his first year of management at Oriel. Dundalk could have won the league that season, but for the points dropped to Limerick.

A red-headed youngster just starting out on the scene named Rory Gaffney scored key goals against Dundalk that season. It saw Dundalk fall short of winning the title.

Rory went on to make a great career for himself in the League of Ireland with Shamrock Rovers and across the channel. He returned from the UK and was a major success story with Shamrock Rovers under the guidance of Stephen Bradley.

Stephen Kenny could not believe how Limerick were able to beat his Dundalk side in 2013 or take vital points off them. Now Limerick were a good side then.

But they really did seem to make the extra effort when they came up against Dundalk in 2013. But the Treaty side of 2025 are not like that.

They have taken points off Dundalk as a result of very poor defending. It was like that in the first game this season against the Limerick side at Oriel.

A rare gaffe by Petter Cherre with only minutes to go at Oriel and poor defending for the second goal allowed Treaty to snatch a point at Oriel in March, they never looked like getting.

In the Market's Field on Friday night, Dundalk could have lost the game in injury time, but for an inspiring save from Peter Cherrie.

It would have been like the great train robbery had Treaty got all of the points.The result was a dampener for supporters. But for some, it ended with a shock as when they returned to their bus, it was discovered that it had been broken into.

There were no reports if there was any damage or if any property was taken. It's terrible that genuine supporters can not go to see a game and then come from the match to find their bus has been interfered with. But incidents like this happen all over the country to fans of every club and in most sports.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff had only one change to make from the side that beat Cobh the previous week. Sean Keogh was left on the bench with Sean McHale starting.

Peter Cherrie lined out in goals for this two-hundred-and-first appearance for Dundalk. Conor O'Keefe and Sean McHale were the two full-backs, Mayowa and Vinny Leonard were the centre-halves.

Aodh Dervin and Harry Groome were in the engine room at the centre of the midfield, Daryl Horgan and Eoin Kenny were the wingers while Leo Gaxha played in behind striker Dean Ebbe.

Gaxha was one of Dundalk's best players. But he seemed to play just a little bit too deep behind Ebbe. He looked more like a mainstream midfielder for much of the game.

Dean Ebbe once again failed to get on the score sheet. For the second week in a row, Dean just did not seem to be himself. For long spells of the game, he seemed to play on the fringes.

This was exactly how he played against Cobh the previous week. He is one of Dundalk's best players. He will find form again, I have no doubt about that.

When he does, the goals will start flying in again. Conor O'Keefe and Sean Mchale were very solid in the full-back positions while Mayowa and Vinny Leonard were fine at centre-back.

Daryl Horgan did well enough on the wing, He worked so hard and got Dundalk's all-important goal. Eoin Kenny missed a number of chances. But this can happen to any player. His work rate was good. But I still feel he could have done better. 

Peter Cherrie did all that was asked of him in goals. He was not at fault for the Treaty goal. It was a Dundalk defender who made the mistake that led to the Treaty equaliser.

The creativity of left back Sean Keogh was badly missing with his lurking runs down the left and linking up with Daryl Horgan. He had an injury which prevented him from training all week. #

It was revealed later that Keogh was allowed to play for the last twenty minutes. He was inspirational when he did come on in the 68th minute. He created the goal.

Dundalk brought on Keogh for McHale. Harry Groome was replaced by Keith Ward and Shane Tracey replaced Dean Ebbe. The three substitutions were all made on 68 minutes.

Within a minute Dundalk were in front. Sean Keogh got down the left. His cross was headed out by a Treaty defender. The ball came to Daryl Horgan who smashed an unstoppable volley to the net from just inside the box.

But Treaty levelled nine minutes later when substitute Mahody reacted the fastest to a loose ball.This was after Trevor Vrjicak's long range effort was cleared off the line by Vinnie Leonard.

Eoin Kenny had a great chance late on. Peter Cherrie produced a stunning save right on 90 minutes with an effort from Mahody.

At the other end, Leo Gaxha came close right at the end of injury time. The game ended in a stalemate. In truth, Treaty deserved their draw.

Dundalk were just not good enough on the night to get the win, despite all the chances they had throughout the game.Aodh Dervin's workrate was once again immense.He was my Dundalk man of the match.

Dundalk were looking over their shoulders from the third minute when Harry Groome got a yellow card. Another foul from Harry could have resulted in Dundalk going down to ten men.

Karl Sullivan went close for Treaty on three minutes from a free. Peter Cherrie took off a great save. Three minutes later Eoin Kenny's cross for Aodh Dervin was cleared.

Aodh Dervin returned the favour in the 22nd minute when his free into the box set up Eoin Kenny. His header was saved by Treaty Keeper Corey Chambers.

Daryl Horgan missed the chance of the half when he headed over in front of an empty goal on 27 minutes. Three minutes from the break Dean Ebbe pumped a cross into the box. Daryl Horgan's header forced the Treaty keeper into a great save.

The second half continued on much the same pattern as the first until Dundalk made their three substitutions. The goal came a minute after the changes, Dundalk had to wait for their first corner of the game until 55 minutes.

After that, they forced a string of the corners. But they got nowhere with them. Friday night was Dundalk's first visit to the Market's Field since 2021. It was in the FAI Cup.

Patrick McEleney's penalty won the game for Dundalk in extra time. It really was a very scrappy game throughout. The fact remains that Dundalk came up against a well-organised and disciplined Treaty side.

They found it hard to get the breakthrough. When they did, they gave away a really silly goal that ensured the Treaty hoodoo as a bogey side continues.

Ciaran Kilduff accepted that it was a case of two points dropped. But the boss said there were a lot of positives, as the team had created many chances. He said that it was eight wins and two draws.

''We are not going to celebrate a draw. We went in front and did not win it from there. Treaty are a big physical side and were well organised. We just could not break them down. Sean Keogh has been carrying a bit of an injury.

I was told he could play for around 15 minutes. We got him for 35. When we got the breakthrough we had mainly attacking players on the pitch. We went looking for a second goal to kill the game off. It just was not to be.''

The manager said that it was great to play Finn Harps yesterday Monday. He said that it would help get the Treaty game out of their system.

And he was also happy to play Longford next Saturday. It will make sure we have no time to dwell on the Treaty result. Killduff says nothing is going to be won after nine games.

The race for promotion will go to the wire. He said that his team was going to take each game at a time. He said that I sometimes make him look at the league table.

But he said Dundalk have a lot of talent and there is a lot of hard work going on. The manager was showing good humour towards me. I think that's great that Ciaran has the gift of having a sense of humour.

This is why there is always a great atmosphere among this young Dundalk team. They have a great leader in Ciaran. Hopefully, his inspiration will get Dundalk over the line at the end of the season.

Peter Cherrie told me he is delighted at the way Dundalk are doing this season under the new manager. Speaking in an interview days before the game with Treaty United, Cherrie says it's very unfortunate that Enda Minogue has been out injured over the past few weeks with a broken finger.

Peter is the Dundalk goalkeeping coach and has been deputising for Enda. Before Friday he had three clean sheets in a row. The goal conceded at the Market's Field was not his fault.

''We have to just keep plugging away. I am happy to be just playing in any game, to be honest. If I can help the boys out in any way at all, then I am doing my job.

The gaffer actually asked me if I was enjoying being back playing again. I love it. I absolutely love it. I am forty-one now. My main aim when I am playing and as the goalkeeping coach is to try and ensure we keep as many clean sheets as possible.

Playing in any game always brings back the good memories I have of Oriel. But I am enjoying my time at Oriel this season as a coach and playing the odd game much more than any other time I have played with Dundalk. And that goes back to 2008. Much of this is due to the enlightened leadership of the new manager here''.

''It also has to do with the group of players we have this season. They are a very special group. They are also so young. The entire squad are so talented. They are also a key united group.

I have never seen this in any of the teams I have been involved with going back down the years. They are all great friends. In relation to Enda's injury, I broke my hand years ago and made the serious mistake of rushing back as quickly as possible.

I still get pain from that injury as a result of rushing back too quickly. My sincere advice to Enda is to make sure he is 100 percent certain before he comes back.

He has to also make sure he gets himself fit again as well. I have said that coming back too quickly from an injury like he has now, could backfire on him if the injury is not 100 percent sorted. Rushing back from the hand injury in the early part of my career still haunts me today when I get pain from it''.

''Enda Minogue is a  class act.He is a great keeper. I can not wait to see him returning to the number-one position in the team. Enda will need recovery time and also get himself fit again.

As long as he takes it easy and his time, he will be fine. I was devastated at the mistakes I made in the game against Treaty at Oriel. To tell you the truth I was heartbroken.

But the support I got from the gaffer was so good. It was so inspiring. I was able to put it behind me and just get on with my job. There is no point in looking back.

If we can all learn from our mistakes, we can go forward that bit easier. I strive for clean sheets and that will continue. Enda does the same and he will soon be striving when he returns.

Enda was always going to be the number one keeper and of course, still is. But I told the gaffer at the start of the season that if I could help in any other way I would. I never expected I would be playing so much first-team football this season. But I want Enda back when he is ready.''

When I spoke to Peter about the way he was left out of the team last season when Dundalk had signed such a weak collection of keepers for the first team, he said there could have been a fear factor among some of the managers who took charge of Dundalk.

Ciaran Kilduff trusts me. He has put his faith in me this season and it is working out well. As long as the manager trusts me and the players as well I am good.

People see me on a Friday. They do not see me training. At one stage last season, I did speak to Jon Daly about putting me in goals. I said to him that we were in trouble as regards the goalkeeping situation.

I asked him to just throw me in. He told me that we will train this week and let us see how it goes. I trained. But Jon just made the decision to go with the goalkeepers he had.

That was fine. I accepted his decision no problem. Who knows what could have happened? But my job now is to focus on the current group we have including our number one keeper Enda and the younger keepers as well.

We are in a good position in the league. But we still have to come to our work every day and focus on the task at hand. Every team runs into a difficult patch at some stage.

When that comes, how we react to it, will be what matters. There are still 26 league games left. We must go out and win as many as we can and hope it is good enough to get the automatic promotion slot''.

''The manager is working so hard to ensure we do not become complacent. That is working well throughout the squad. No way are we going to be complacent.

We go out to win every game and that will continue to be our aim for the rest of the season. This league will not be decided until the last game of the season.

Hopefully, we can get the automatic promotion spot. But that is most definitely in the lap of the gods''.I said earlier that Dundalk's last game at the Market's field was in 2021 in the cup. It's a strange piece of irony that Peter is the only survivor from that team.

I was very sorry to hear that a former Bohemians manager Billy Young had passed away at the weekend. He was Bohs manager between 1973 and 1988.

He won two league titles, an FAI Cup and two League Cups. His two league titles were won in 1975 and 1978. He won the cup in 1976. Bohemians success at that time paralleled the success Jim McLaughlin had with Dundalk.

The Oriel Park club won the league title in 1976 a year after Billy Young won the title in 1975. Bohs won the cup in 1976, Dundalk won it in 1977, and Bohs won the league again in 1978.

Dundalk won the league and cup in 1979. Billy was Bohemians longest-ever manager. He made a great contribution to soccer in this country, he will never be forgotten.

I was also very sad to hear of the death of the father of the former Dundalk media officer Keith Wallace. Keith is a tireless volunteer at the club and has been working in Oriel as far back as 2005.

He has worked for the club media service over different spells. Keith has given up his own time over the years to produce some great media work.

He was also media officer for Limerick FC for a number of years. He is a very popular figure around Oriel. Long may that continue. His dad Matty passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was in his late sixties.

Keith lost his sister three years ago following a sudden illness. Matty was a well-known and popular figure around Dundalk. To Keith and his family, I wish to pass on my deepest sympathy.

A team consisting of Dundalk legends took on a team managed by the Republic of Ireland under 19 manager Tom Mohan to raise funds for the charity Feileacain.

The proceeds from the game and a raffle are going to the non-profit organisation which offers support to anyone affected by the death of a baby during or after pregnancy. The Charlie Mai Shield was first played in 2003 in memory of their late baby Charlie Mai.

She was the first daughter of the former Dundalk Promotions Officer and kitman Dean Arrowsmith and his wife Emily in December 2003. Before Saturday's event, both Dean and Emily had raised over 30,000 euro in Charli Mai's memory.

Waterford have let manager Keith Long go after their poor start to the season. Keith is a former Dundalk player. He took Waterford back to the Premier Division and then consolidated their place last season.

But their opening ten games have been far from impressive. They look set to have a season facing an Immense battle against the drop.

Dundalk played Finn Harps in the league yesterday.At the the time of writing that result is not to hand.I can only hope that Dundalk got back to winning ways.

Dundalk have another tough away game against Longford next weekend. They are always a difficult team to play in their own ground. Dundalk will start as firm favourites. I am not sure at all about that.

Have a great week. Look after each other and please be careful out there.