The Commentary Box: Life in the First Division can be difficult

This game in the Midlands was a hard watch on Friday night, as Dundalk were held to a scoreless draw by second from bottom Athlone Town at Lisseywoolen. Life in the First Division can be difficult for any club.

Dundalk have done so well to top the league from the start. They remain unbeaten after thirteen games and have won nine. This was their fourth draw of the campaign.

The big worry for me is that other clubs are getting draws from them now at a more frequent pace than they did in the first round of the campaign.

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Dundalk have suddenly found it difficult to penetrate teams and to be held to draws. Indeed in some of their recent games they could have been beaten, but for some excellent defending.

Friday night's game was a totally forgettable affair as Athlone were simply happy to pack their half and not allow Dundalk to play to their full potential.

It's true that other teams have now learned Dundalk's playing style and methods. The opposition are simply content to sit back and soak up the pressure from the Oriel Park side.

But unless Kieran Kilduff can find a way to unlock defences like those of Athlone, they will continue to drop points needlessly. And these points are vital if they are to secure the automatic promotion position at the end of the season.

Athlone came into the game with an appalling goalscoring record. They had only scored six goals after 12 games. Now it's six in 13.

Dundalk have the best defence and goal difference. Their effort from defence to midfield to attack can not be questioned.

Nor can Kieran Kilduff's abilities or his coaching staff. Yet Dundalk are being dragged down to the level of teams that periodically just will not allow them to play the football we all know they are capable of.

But welcome to the First Division. It is a very hard league to get promoted from. A team must have something extra special to get out of this Division.

I feel very strongly that Dundalk must strengthen this team as quickly as they can. I have said it before. They need more experienced players to get them out of the nightmare division they are in.

Ciaran Kilduff was entrusted with the job of trying to get them out of this quagmire.

This was by the owners, who themselves were given the job of rebuilding the club from nothing after taking over from previous owners, who disappointed in their task of keeping the club at the top of Irish football.

Stephen Kenny has left the club since 2018. Yet despite that, Dundalk remained at the top of the elite as a League of Ireland club for years afterwards.

The club's fall from being one of the top clubs to being in the first Division is one where the historians for years to come will look at where it all went wrong.

Last Saturday week Dundalk played Longford again in the midlands. The midlanders won two FAI cups under Stephen Kenny.

They may be bottom of the first Division now, but the Kenny success story can be seen around all of their stadium. It's all seater.

It's got facilities that are top class for a First Division club. My point is that one can see the success story of Kenny in how good their stadium is.

Kenny's success story at Dundalk was way better than at Longford. Yet Oriel is a stadium that has nothing to show from the success story Dundalk had under Stephen Kenny, Vinny Perth, Filippo Giovangoli, and others.

Oriel is stuck in time. That time is the mid 1960s when the stadium was redeveloped.

There can be no excuses as to why Oriel Park was not transformed into a modern day stadium and also why the club nearly went out of existence last season in September 2024.

The facts are that Dundalk was a club at the top for so many seasons. Oriel Park did not move forward with this success in terms of being upgraded to a brand new stadium.

And then off the field the club nearly went out of existence. I do not know how this happened. I have no doubt that the succession of owners under Kenny and post his departure for years following were all well intentioned people.

But how did we nearly lose our club. And why is there not a single trace of the clubs successes, visible and embedded in Oriel as a stadium with modern facilities.

The ghost of Stephen Kenny's successful reign at Longford remains. It can be seen in their stadium. If you walk into Oriel today you would not see one sign of all the successes the club had over a golden decade of Irish soccer. Instead you would be shocked to see a club that were kingpins are now in Division One.

We are lucky that John Temple has come in and stabilised things. We are lucky to have a club and be in Division One.

I think when I look at how poor some First Division games can be, I am only realising now that the club are back in in the same Division that Trevor Anderson managed for three seasons winning just around eight games in 58. And it's the division that John Gill was robbed of a place in the Premier Division in one season before eventually guiding the club back to the top flight.

We are back in a Division that brings back some horrible memories to me.But we must face facts as I must. We are where we are.

We as a club, owners, supporters and our team must stick together in unity and help as much as we can to get Dundalk back to the Premier Division.

But there is little point in going straight back up and not having a team that is good enough to stay in the Premier Division.

One soccer writer told me at the weekend it will take Dundalk a decade to build a side to win the Premier Division title. I do not accept this. I believe this club can return and stabilise itself as a force in the Premier Division much sooner.

I believe in Ciaran Kilduff and his management team and that he can guide Dundalk back to the promised land. But he needs to strengthen in the window as his squad are too thin on the ground. That's the reality.

Ironically a member of staff of Athlone said to me after the game that the current Dundalk team are not good enough to get promotion. I got the manager's reaction to the comment.

“Well it's easy to say that. We are top of the league. We are working hard. There are a lot of positives in our armoury. We have a great group of lads. We brought over 300 supporters here tonight. I am happy.”

The manager is right in the sense that the league table does not lie. But that lead has narrowed. I do believe myself that Dundalk are more than good enough to get promotion. But I say over and over again they must strengthen.

Dundalk dominated the game possession wise from beginning to end. They showed their best form in the first half. They were very unlucky not to go ahead on 18 minutes when Sean Keogh's free on the edge of the box found Vinny Leonard in the six yard box. Vinny's header was just inches over. He did well to get to the ball. But he should have scored.

Andy Paraschiv had an excellent game. In a good move with Harry Groome, he shot narrowly over. Harry Groome was injured minutes later.

He was replaced by Aodh Dervin on 31 minutes. Andy Parachiv caused panic in the Athlone defence when he fired a screamer across the face of the Athlone goal. If there had been anybody in the box Dundalk would have scored.

Eight minutes from the break, Dundalk were very unlucky not to go ahead. Keith Ward struck a free kick from 25 yards that was heading to the top right hand corner of the net, Athlone keeper Matt Connor took off a top class save touching the ball over the bar.

It was as good a save as I have seen in a long time. Sean Keogh tested Sean Connor with two fine efforts in a row at his left post. Conor was equal to the challenge. He had a superb game for Athlone.

Dundalk never really challenged Athlone in the second half in the way they did in the first. They failed to continue their momentum in the second half as the game developed into a rather dour affair. I spoke to an Athlone spectator during that half about how poor the game.

His reply was “Welcome to the First Division”. It was then that it really hit me at how poor this division can be. It's 17 years since Dundalk were last in the Division and I had forgotten just how poor a division Dundalk were in.

The blood flowed deeply through my veins at that point. The feelings were, and they were angry feelings, that Dundalk should not be in this division given they were the aristocrats of League of Ireland Football only a few short years ago.

This fast decline of this great club should never have happened. But it has, and we all have to accept that no club has a god given right to be in the Premier Division.

So Dundalk must battle their way out of all this. We must be patient as fans. But we should never have been allowed to come to this situation.

Athlone nearly broke the deadlock on the half hour. A long kick out from keeper Connor allowed Giddeon Tetteh to break free. The Athlone striker easily outpaced Conor O'Keeffe.

His shot looked a goal all the way. But veteran Peter Cherrie, who has been a revelation this season, took off a superb save. Mayowa had to clear away the rebound as the ball still spun dangerously in the box. Dundalk failed to carve open a defiant Athlone defence.

All through the second half they looked like a team that were content to play out the draw with Dundalk. And they got it. Dundalk were dealt a bad blow on 37 minutes when Harry Groome was forced of with an in jury.

When I asked the boss about Harry's injury, he said that they would have to look at it over the weekend.

Dundalk need Harry for the upcoming games against Bray and Cobh. His creative skills in midfield will be badly missed if he misses even one of these games.

Add to that the name of Aodh Dervin. He replaced Harry, but was booked during the game. He is now out of the Bray game through suspension.

Aodh was injured last Saturday week in the warm up before the Longford game. It was clear that he was not fit to start that game. But he started and lasted until half time.

Aodh went through a detailed fitness test two hours before Friday's game in Athlone. It was clear he was still carrying an injury. He was left on the bench. He came on as a sub in the 37th minute to replace Groome.

I could not understand this. But if Dundalk deemed Aodh fit,then he was fit. But he got the yellow card and that means Dundalk will have a weakened team against Bray at Oriel next Friday.

Dundalk need Aodh's skill, bravery,and leadership for the Bray game. Now they wont have him. Let's hope that Harry Groome is ok. But from where I could see the game, I think it will be a real battle to ensure that he can play.

Enda Minogue is available for selection after being missing since the Kerry game with a broken finger two months ago. Now the manager had to make the decision does he keep veteran keeper Peter Cherrie in goals or bring Minogue straight back into the team.

I would have said that it was a no brainer and that Minogue will return. Now I have to say that the boss must keep Peter Cherrie in the goals, at least for the moment.

Cherrie is playing magnificently. His save at the end of Friday night's game ensured that Dundalk travelled home with a point. He has taken off vital saves that has kept Dundalk in games that they could have lost or drawn.

Enda will have to work his way back into the first team. He will of course be back.But right now Cherrie is in top form.

And with the next two games against Dundalk's most serious competitors, I would not tamper with the most important part of the team and that is the defence.

Dundalk have only conceded six goals in the league this season. My opinion is to leave Cherrie where he is.

After the game I did a detailed interview with manager Ciaran Kilduff. “I am very disappointed with the result. We always try and win every game.

“I think that for large periods we were quite good. But when you are trying to win a game so much and you are not getting the final ball and failing to penetrate and not putting the ball in the net, you are leaving yourself open to losing the game.

“There is an element of frustration with the result. We had a lot of good phases. We just could not capitalise on our efforts. It feels like we have dropped two points. Teams are crowding their defences against us now.

“It's always going to take a moment of quality like a set piece to get the breakthrough. We nearly did that with Sean Keogh's free to Vinny and his header going so close.

“Keith's free was bound for the top left hand corner of the net. It took a great save from their keeper to prevent us from scoring.

“The first goal tends to be the hardest. Get that, and you will force the opposition to come out and play. We just did not get the all important goal.

“We got into their penalty area a lot. We just could not get that clear cut opportunity to score. There were positives in terms of our build up play. But we just could not convert them.

“Of course I am worried that we were unable to get the breakthrough goal. Teams seem to be happy that they are holding us to a draw.

“In one sense that's a compliment. But it's not because we have to win games. We have to be better in the box. That's because it's a smaller area and it's tighter.

“All in all it's another point on the board. We have two massive games coming up against Bray and Cobh in the next two weeks.

“We just keep going. I just think we have had some good nights with great results. Just tonight was another point on the board.

“Cobh have closed their gap on us by two points, with their win over Bray. I am well aware that they are lurking in the bushes. We have extended our lead on Bray by a point.

“But look, we just have to react the way we did against Longford by getting a win following the draw the week before. The funny thing is that Athlone has some quality players. Some played in the Premier Division last season.

“We have picked up four points from six in our two games against Athlone this season. If you had said at that, the start of the season given some of the quality in that Athlone side, you would have been happy to take it.

“Tonight, I am left thinking we should have got the three points given our build up play throughout the game. We were the better team in the first half. They came more into the game in the second half as we had thrown the extra bodies forward.

“In order to win a game, at times there is always the risk you might lose it. By the end of the game we were the only team who were trying to win it.

“At one stage even had Sean McHale and Vinny Leonard playing up front. Sadly we did not get the break through.

“In the First Division it is hard to break teams down. It can be a very frustrating league. But we know what we signed up for.

“At times, we are going to have games like we had tonight. But we need to be better ourselves. There have been times this season when we have not put teams to the sword.

“Tonight is also the first time we have not scored. That is particularly disappointing. We have scored in all of the other games. It's easy for people to say that Dundalk are not good enough to get promoted this season.

“We are top of the league and we are also unbeaten. I have a great group of lads in there. We brought a huge support here tonight. I think it was around 350 people. We are doing okay.

“Enda has been in full training this week. He will be available for selection for the Bray game. Aodh did a fitness test at six this evening.

“He did not train all week. But after the fitness test, we knew he would only be available for 45 minutes. Harry Groome will be assessed over the weekend after picking up the injury just before halftime.

“I am delighted where we are in the league at the moment. Four points clear of second placed Bray and and a further point ahead of third placed Cobh.

“We are going to lose a game before the end of the season. It's how we react to this that matters.

“We are constantly learning. And we have to learn our lessons from tonight as well. There have been reports all season that there is huge interest by clubs outside the country in both Sean Keogh and Vinny Leonard.

“I am not surprised by this at all. But nobody has been in contact with me at all. Vinny is enjoying his football at the club and he is contracted to us as well.

“There is nothing I can report on those rumours at all. Both of the lads are having a great season. And we have other young players as well. And then you hear comments tonight that we are not in a good place.

“We are most certainly doing very well, TJ Molloy is just sixteen. He is in our environment at all times. He will get opportunities with us along the line. TJ is improving every week.He is training with us at all times.”

Team captain Daryl Horgan says he was very disappointed with the result against Athlone. “I think we were the better team overall. We did not really do enough,to be honest. But there was a lot of good stuff to our play as well.

“But there were a couple of moments at the end, where the game could have completely changed. They could have won the game.

“But there was a lot of good stuff from us. We have to keep on improving. We needed to have more goal scoring opportunities like the efforts from Vinny Leonard and Keith Ward in the first half.

“We did have moments in the game and we did have opportunities. We did have good spells in the first and second halves. But those spells were not long enough. We needed to put them under real pressure. We did not.

“We were very calm in the second half and played well. But there was just not enough from us in the final third. We have to just keep pushing and trying to improve. I am very disappointed that we are not going away with all three points. The whole team must improve.

“I most certainly would not put the result as the fault of our strikers. We are the second top scorers in the league.

“We have built ourselves on a very solid foundation. But we just did not really do enough to win that game.

“When you are at the top teams will set up a certain way to play against us and try to make things difficult. But we are all doing our best to get the correct results.

“Teams are entitled to set up whatever way they want to do. We have just to get better at breaking down teams. We just have to work our way around the problems.

“The game next week against Bray is a big game. It will be tough. They have a lot of very good young players.

“Last time we played them was at the Carlisle Grounds. We caught them on the hop. They were just moving back into their ground with a new pitch.

“They had played a month at the start of the season away from home. A few things just simply did not go their way. But after that, they have had a really good reign of form winning eight games in a row.

“They are a very talented group of young players. We will have to be right on our game to beat them.''

“The young lads who have come into our team have really done so well. We have two sixteen year olds an eighteen year old and a fifteen year old. These young lads are really learning their way and they are doing very well.

“It's on the more senior players to step up and be counted even more at times. We are confident that we can beat Bray on Friday.

“We are top of the table. We are unbeaten. There is a long way to go. All we can do is to take each game at a time.

“The next game is against Bray. All we can do is get ready for that game. It's a total waste of time thinking what's going to happen in October. It's a waste of time.”

With that Daryl wished me a safe trip home and to look after myself. From the manager to the captain to the players, Dundalk have assembled a great bunch of people. The manager is so accessible for the media as are the rest of the players. You are treated with respect.

It certainly has not always been like that in the past. Wait for my book when I can reveal all, Congratulations to the Louth under 20's in Gaelic Games for winning the Leinster title.

Best of luck to Louth in the Leinster senior final next Sunday. Louth have not won it since 1957. They did win it in 2010, but a goal that was never a goal was allowed late in the game which robbed Louth of the title.

Louth were cheated out of winning that trophy as a result of terrible refereeing. Let us hope there is a God in heaven next Sunday and that we can take the Leinster title home.

It was also great to see that Louth can now move on developing the new home stadium in Dundalk. Well done to all involved.

Have a great week. Look after yourselves and others. And be careful out there.