Kilduff admits Dundalk’s stature makes Oriel Park a target ahead of Kerry clash

Ciaran Kilduff says that Dundalk FC’s stature as the biggest club in the SSE Airtricity League First Division has made home games at Oriel Park an added challenge ahead of Kerry’s visit this Friday night (kick-off, 7:45pm).

Since their relegation, the 14-time League of Ireland champions have remained unbeaten in the First Division, though successive home draws against Finn Harps and Bray Wanderers had slightly dampened their momentum prior to a 2-1 away win over Cobh Ramblers last time out.

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As they prepare to host Kerry, Kilduff will be keen to see his side reassert their dominance as league leaders and return to winning ways on home turf.

“I suppose the reality for us as a whole team is that we have to manage expectations,” the Dundalk manager stated.

“We have dropped some points of late, and Kerry have a new manager; Colin Healy is a legend of the league as well. We’re going to get a real test there.

“To be honest, we’ve probably found it harder in Oriel. First Division teams are enjoying coming to Oriel Park, the huge crowd, frustrating us and getting opportunities on the break.

“Our pitch has been invaded by Finn Harps, Treaty and Bray for draws. It’s been a tough run of things, but it comes with the territory of Dundalk at the moment in the First Division.

“We’ll keep going. We’re going to get a tough game against Kerry, but honestly, there will be nothing taken for granted. We know that in this division there’s nothing between any of the teams, ourselves included, so we’ll prepare accordingly.”

Kerry’s inaugural visit to Oriel follows The Lilywhites’ narrow 1-0 victory over the Tralee side at Mounthawk Park in February — a match marked by Kilduff equalling a 56-year-old record set by Liam Tuohy, securing wins in his first three League of Ireland fixtures as Dundalk manager.

“There’s not much between any of the teams,” he continued. “They’ll probably feel aggrieved at the night down there. I know we went down to 10 players, but they could have got something out of that game.

“I’ve watched a lot of them this year. The way the fixtures have been going, when we’re prepping for a particular team, they might have played Kerry the week before.

“They play some good stuff, and with a new manager with a new style now, there’s going to be a lot on the line for them. They’re on an unbeaten start under Colin Healy, so they will be coming up to spoil any bit of momentum we might feel.”

Dundalk will be without defender Sean McHale for their match against Kerry, as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury sustained in the recent 2-2 draw with Bray Wanderers and is not expected to return until after the mid-season break.

“It’s not great, but it’s not too bad,” explained Kilduff. “There’s no break or anything like that. He got a good scan, and there’s a lot of swelling. We’re looking at ligaments.

“It’ll be weeks, not months, thankfully. It’s two weeks until that mid-season break, so I’d be surprised if we saw him before that.

“He’s a hungry player, and like the rest of them, I’m sure he wants to be part of every match going forward. I would say he’s probably two, three weeks away.”

Also eyeing a return following the mid-season break in June are Norman Garbett and Ethen Vaughan, both steadily progressing in their rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, Sean Keogh and Leo Gaxha tread cautiously, each just one booking away from serving a one-match suspension.

In more encouraging news for The Lilywhites, Harry Groome has made his comeback from a knee injury, marking his return to the starting 11 in the recent clash against Cobh, where he featured for just over an hour.

“He’s come back from an injury. He wasn’t perfect, but we went with him. He hadn’t done any training in a fortnight, so seeing him come in and put in 60 minutes was a big boost.

“He’s just been a little bit leggy with it. He even said to me there that he needed to get his lungs back more than anything, because when you don’t train for a week, and the way we want to play is very high intensity, it’s hard to get to the pitch of it, so that’s very understandable.

“I thought the character to go out and try anyway, and play and give 60 minutes like he did, putting in blocks on the edge of the box – another player who we can honestly say stood up.”