Dundalk display in Longford “unforgivable,” says Kilduff

Ciaran Kilduff delivered a scathing assessment of his Dundalk FC side after the SSE Airtricity League First Division leaders slumped to a shock 3-2 defeat against struggling Longford Town on Saturday night.

In a display well below their usual standards, Dundalk never looked convincing against the Midlanders, who played the final half-hour with 10 players, in what many had expected to be a routine victory for a team unbeaten in the league since July.

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Afterwards, Kilduff did not hold back, branding the performance “unforgivable” in his post-match remarks to The Democrat.

“It was an inexcusable, unforgivable performance—my worst as manager, without a doubt,” he said. “When you price everything in—the opportunity that was tonight, how we’ve been this season—it’s the first time I can honestly say we didn’t deserve to win, even when we lost three games all year.

“This is the third, but the previous two I could say we made an account of ourselves. That was inexcusable tonight.”

Longford struck first through Alex O’Brien, and while Eoin Kenny restored parity to send the sides in level at half-time, second-half goals from Aaron Doran and Dean George pushed the hosts into a commanding 3-1 lead, before Mayowa Animasahun netted a 94th-minute consolation for Dundalk.

“To be honest, we were lucky going in 1-1 at half-time,” admitted Kilduff. “There was a scramble at the end of the first half. It was a night where you’re looking for a performance, the basics, the standards, and they just weren’t there, and we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves.

“I don’t know if eyes were off the ball. Definitely nothing was different in our prep or anything like that, but it felt tonight that we were flatter, not our usual self, and derived of energy at times and focus.

“We talked about the goals they’ve scored this year, are all second-phase set-pieces, and to give two of them away, it’s just inexcusable. Everything you work on during the week, and we’re a great honest group, but that was a really tough night for us tonight.”

He added: “I felt it (slipping away), and that was the hard part of it. Knowing that was frustrating, and we were huffing and puffing, but it wasn’t really down to football tonight and stuff.

“It was about winning your tackles, second balls, reactions—not even the simple side, but actually the hardest part of football, which is to be tuned in and focused on them. You could tell a long way out that somehow they were hungrier.

“That’s the inexcusable and unforgivable part I spoke about at the start. There’s no excuse for that. I will have to watch that back. There’ll be some soul-searching done, I’m sure, from the lads.

“We have a game in six days, but that is a really, really, really bad night for us tonight. We looked just derived of ideas and derived of energy.”

Victory would have stretched Dundalk’s advantage at the summit to nine points after second-placed Cobh Ramblers also stumbled over the weekend, yet The Lilywhites remain firmly in command of the promotion race and on course for a return to the Premier Division.

“We didn’t look like champions there tonight, far from it,” Kilduff critiqued. “It’s hard to say that we do. Obviously, emotions are high now. We are still where we wanted to be, but it’s another opportunity missed, and it seems to be a concentration or a focus thing at critical moments.

“We had a lot of young players again here tonight, and maybe it’s their first time experiencing these demands. It’s hard, and we’re there to be shot at. Teams can come up and play to that level against us because they know it’s maybe a bonus.

“Credit to Longford tonight; they were well worth their win, and that’s probably the most frustrating thing for me.”