Frustrated Dundalk boss calls for response after Bray defeat

Dundalk FC were left wounded by a 2-0 defeat to Bray Wanderers on Friday night in the SSE Airtricity League First Division — a result that drew a furious response from manager Ciaran Kilduff.

The frustration was unmistakable, with Kilduff’s voice carrying through the walls of the away dressing room at the Carlisle Grounds, as members of the local media waited outside for a comment from the Kildare native.

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The loss was all the more painful for Dundalk, who squandered the chance to open up a seven-point lead at the top of the table, after second-placed Cobh Ramblers also fell 2-1 to Treaty United at Markets Field.

“They’re a very honest group, I’ve said that since day dot, they wanted honesty,” Kilduff remarked, when questioned about his message to the players.

“They don’t want anyone to tell them what it’s not. If there’s not a lot of frustration around tonight, you’re in the wrong club, because we’re still Dundalk, we still pride ourselves on being Dundalk.

“We’re trying to get the club back, of course, but there are standards there, and if you drop below them, and if you hurt the club… that’s a hurtful night for us as a group.

“I did us damage there tonight as well. Again, I would never throw any players or a team under the bus. I’m just saying tonight was a difficult night for us.

“We were hurt tonight, and in order to hurt, you’ve got to tell it as it is afterwards — and it was what it was tonight: very frustrating. Weirdly, we had a lot of chances, played quite well at times, looked overall the better team, but we lost 2-0, so we have to take it and move on.”

The Lilywhites enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and carved out the better chances, yet they found themselves trailing 1-0 when Max Murphy calmly converted a penalty in the 43rd minute, sending Dundalk goalkeeper Enda Minogue the wrong way.

The spot-kick was awarded after Sean Keogh was deemed to have fouled Billy O’Neill inside the area — though television replays cast doubt on the decision, suggesting not only that Keogh may have cleanly won the ball, but that any contact occurred outside the box.

“He didn’t hesitate anyway,” Kilduff said, when questioned about referee Declan Toland’s decision. “There was a little bit going on on the side, and there was pressure being put on the officials.

“He gave it quickly, but I was far away, so I didn’t see it. I’ll have to look back. We could have had a couple ourselves that might’ve been given on another night, but they weren’t — and theirs was.”

As Dundalk pressed desperately for a late equaliser, Bray delivered the decisive blow three minutes into stoppage time, when O’Neill’s delicate, lofted pass into the box was expertly controlled by substitute Danu Kinsella-Bishop, who calmly rounded Minogue before slotting the ball into an empty net to seal a 2-0 victory.

The result brought The Seagulls to within just two points of second-placed Cobh and six behind leaders Dundalk, with 13 fixtures remaining — setting the stage for an increasingly fierce battle for automatic promotion to the Premier Division.

“Absolutely, they’ve just beaten us 2-0, and they drew with us 2-2 in the last home game as well,” Kilduff responded, when asked whether he considered Bray a genuine threat to Dundalk’s promotion ambitions.

“We’ve always had respect for everyone we’ve played. That’s a reality check for our group as well there tonight — that if you haven’t got that final piece, if you can’t be really clinical, not give away the penalty, and can’t take your chances, you’re going to struggle to win games.

“Tonight we didn’t, and maybe in other weeks we’ve been critical in that we could have scored a few more and not done it, and we’ve won 1-0 — but eventually you’ll have nights like these where the ball just won’t go in, and you get done a few times, and it hurts.”

Kilduff will be hoping for a strong response from his players, as they prepare for back-to-back home games, beginning with Sligo Rovers in the second round of the Sports Direct FAI Cup this Friday night (kick-off, 7:45pm), followed by a First Division clash with Wexford a week later.

“You have to respond,” he said. “In fairness, we’ve responded quite well at times this season, and we’re going to have to again. Nothing is won or lost here tonight either way, but we dropped three points. We were coming here to win. We weren’t coming here for a draw.

“Ironically, as weird as this sounds, at no stage would I have taken a draw — even when you’re one down with 20 minutes to go. I was going, we’ll get one, and we’ll get the second one. The first one never came, and you then succumb to a 2-0 defeat. So we’ll have to own it, and we’ll have to dust off.”