The Commentary Box: Dundalk are under pressure on Friday

Dundalk served up their worst performance of the season on Saturday night, when they went down to their most shocking defeat of the season to lowly Longford by three goals to one.

Dundalk literally had the winning of the First Division in their sights on Saturday night, after Cobh were beaten in a shock defeat by Wexford on a three goals to two scoreline twenty four hours earlier.

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The result leaves Dundalk six points clear of closest rivals Cobh, with just four games to play. But the race for the automatic promotion spot, instead of being virtually over, is now very much back in the melting pot.

Dundalk have to win three of their last four games to seal it. And that means beating UCD at Oriel on Friday night, winning at Athlone away and beating an inform Finn Harps team at Oriel, before heading to Cobh on the last day to face their closest rivals.

Put it simply, if Cobh win their next three games, Dundalk must win theirs to make it mathematically impossible for Cobh to catch them going into the last game.

Dundalk have now won just once in their last four games. Some say Dundalk must just win two of their next four games, and they will be home and hosed.

But they can only guarantee themselves automatic promotion for sure by winning their next three games. Even if Cobh win their next three games, Dundalk could not be caught then. Dundalk have a better goal difference of plus eight.

But looking at the way the Oriel Park side leaked goals on Saturday night, that goal difference could easily vanish over the remaining games.

Ciaran Kilduff was without Conor O'Keeffe and Aodh Dervin from the side that beat Bray at Oriel the previous week. Daryl Horgan is out for the rest of the season. This is a massive blow.

His guidance and leadership, which has been there all season, was badly missed on Saturday night. Sean McHale is also out for the rest of the season through injury. This is another huge blow. He was so badly missed on Friday night.

Sean has not played in weeks. But it was still hoped he would be there for some of the last remaining games. Dundalk are under huge pressure Friday against UCD as they have lost centre half Mayowa, who misses the game through suspension.

He picked up the one match ban after he was booked in Longford. This was his 10th booking, and means an automatic one match ban next Friday. I saw this game as a huge banana skin waiting to happen.

Dundalk, for some reason, always find it difficult against Longford on their home pitch. But last weekend they were going to Bishopsgate, having already emphatically beaten Longford three nil earlier in the season on their home pitch.

Dundalk also beat the Midlanders emphatically the two times they visited Oriel. But Saturday night was different.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff told me after the game that it was the worst Dundalk performance he had encountered since he had taken over at Oriel. He was stunned by the performance. It was written all over his face.

But the manager and his staff had to go into Oriel on Sunday morning to begin their six day preparation for the UCD game. Ciaran Kilduff will have to show all his guile and football experience to kick start his side's form again.

But he has little time left to do it. Put simply, Dundalk were shocking on Saturday. The heads seemed to go down when Longford retook the lead on 51 minutes.

They had been down anyway. The fact that they could not come back even after Longford were down to ten men on 63 minutes when Daire Murtagh was given a straight red card says it all.

In fact, Dundalk's display got even worse when they went further behind on 71 minutes with a Dean George goal. Peter Cherrie made a number of gaffes that let Longford in for at least one of their second half goals.

Does it mean that Enda Minogue will be brought back. Who knows. In my mind, that would not be the right decision. Cherrie took off two top class saves near the end, preventing the home team from scoring another goal.

Dundalk did get a goal back three minutes into injury time when Mayowa scraped the ball over the line in a packed goalmouth. The ball was credited to Harry Groome in some quarters.

But although it did get a touch off him, it was Mayowa who scored. He was credited with the goal. The game was played in front of crowd of 550 people.

Around 250 supporters from Oriel travelled to the game. But despite their large vocal support, they could just not lift the players.

It was suggested that Dundalk's dip in form is due to the pressure that they are under, as they are now so close to winning the golden apple of automatic promotion. I do not go with this.

The main reason is that the team have lost a number of key players through injury and also one being transferred. Sean Keogh has been missed badly at the back. He went to Brighton.

He has also been missed badly by the inspirational way he spoke to the players beside him. He's also missed for his attacking prowess and how he was able to throw opposition defences into disarray.

His free kicks were inspirational as well. Do not get me wrong. Dundalk did the right thing by allowing Sean go to Brighton.

They were also happy with the transfer fee. But right now, the team could badly do with Sean, just for his presence on the pitch. Daryl Horgan is a massive blow. He is the skipper. He is the leader.

He is a beacon of light when he takes to the pitch for Dundalk. He has led his charges into battle for every game this season, until he sustained a recurrence of a calf muscle injury against Wexford two weeks ago.

He did not seem to be missed in Dundalk's terrific win over Bray. But of course he was. This was laid bare for all to see on Saturday night. The leader had to sit in the stands to watch the game.

He was missed all over the pitch. His influence alone is worth a goal start for Dundalk in any game. His absence on Saturday saw the Dundalk midfield greatly weakened for once. There were no runs down the wings.

There was little or no goal creation. Dundalk were just very flat all over the pitch. Aodh Dervin was badly missed in the centre of midfield. He sat with his captain in the stands, looking at what was unfolding in front of him.

The team, the captain and vice captain have led all season, just wilted under a pressure from a team close to the bottom of the table. It was a shock for all Dundalk supporters in the stadium.

Harry Groome was moved back into the centre of midfield from the position of playing behind the striker. He played there with Shane Tracey. This is the engine room of the team. It has fired on all cylinders for practically the whole season.

On Saturday night, it badly misfired. Shane Tracey is a great prospect, and he will have better nights, much better. So will Harry Groome. It was just hard on the two players that things did not go right on Saturday.

Both centre midfielders were affected by the malaise that seemed to seep through the whole team. Declan McDaid is another of the signings in the window who has done so well.

On Saturday, it was just not his night, as it was not for any of the team. Declan failed to get the much needed to get the much needed crosses at times into the box. He seemed like most of the other players to be completely out of sorts.

Eoin Kenny did well on the other wing. His first half equaliser, within two minutes of Longford going ahead, was excellent. He was supplied for the goal by a great corner on the left by Declan McDaid. 

Supporters were stunned by the result. Some I spoke to the following day after the game said they thought Dundalk players had not treated Longford with the respect they deserved. I found that point difficult to argue against.

I had thought that during the game that some of the players showed a type of arrogance towards the Longford team.

Well, if true, these players will now left themselves to their detriment a lot of work to do to get over the line and win automatic promotion.

So we have the debate that it's arrogance versus letting pressure get to them that badly disrupted Dundalk's plans of winning the Division One title with a number of games left. The word shocking was described by one person of Saturday's performance.

And yes, it was a shocking performance. It looked throughout much of the game that Longford were the team going for the Division One title and that Dundalk were the team stumbling at the bottom of Division One.

Luke Mulligan was brought back as a right back. The 16 year old Ballybay Community College student has struggled with injury since the window in June. He has only started two games since then.

He found it difficult to deal with the ever growing Longford attacks down the flanks. Luke is a highly talented player. He will have much better days ahead. JR Wilson has been as solid as a rock since he came in during the window.

On Saturday, JR served up a much below par level performance. To be fair, he was the victim of a nasty and dangerous tackle 18 minutes into the second half.

As a result, Darragh Murtagh got a straight red card from referee Glen Geraghty. It was the right decision. That Dundalk failed to take advantage to go on and win the game shows there are serious problems in this Dundalk team.

The manager and his coaching staff have five days got to get the problems sorted for the UCD game on Friday and the run-in to the rest of the games this season. Ciaran Kilduff made three changes to the team 16 minutes into the second half.

Andy Paraschiv replaced Harry Groome, Keith Ward replaced Dean Ebbe, and Rohan Vaughan replaced Luke Mulligan. One other change was made in the second half. Declan McDaid was replaced by Norman Garbett on 68 minutes.

Longford hit the front on 22 minutes. Doran's free into the Dundalk box on 22 minutes. The ball came off Vinny Leonard's chest, falling to Alex O'Brien.

He shot home from close range. Dundalk showed great determination to level within two minutes. McDaid's corner saw Eoin Kenny drill the ball home from just inside the box.

Peter Cherrie was caught way off his line on 43 minutes. Dean George saw his shot heading for the net. Harry Groome made a miraculous clearance off the line.

Eoin Kenny then put Gbemi Arubi in the clear. His weak shot was saved by the Longford keeper, Kian Moore. Longford restored their lead six minutes into the second half when Dean George's cross fell to Aaron Doran.

He controlled the ball on the right hand edge of the penalty area. He went on to shoot home to put Longford back in front.

I saw the handball happen just in front of me. I could not believe that referee Glen Gerraghty allowed the goal to stand. Once again, the referee and his assistants made a terrible decision.

But it did not surprise me that the goal stood. I was amazed that there were very few protests from the Dundalk players or the bench itself.

It seemed to be nearly just an acceptance that this was not to be Dundalk's night and that they were going to be beaten. Dundalk were sinking fast. JR Wilson nearly diverted a Darragh Murtagh shot into his own net.

The same man, Murtagh, was sent off for a foul on JR Wilson. Instead of Dundalk getting the game by the scruff of the neck, they went further into a shell.

Oisin Hand put Dean George away with a great ball over the top. George was clean through. He lobbed the ball over the head of Peter Cherrie into the net. Dundalk were dead and buried.

Peter Cherrie made a great save when Doran's effort was bound for the net. Dundalk got their second goal deep in stoppage time, when the ball came off Mayowa's chest and into the net from a corner. And so Dundalk went down to a dreadful defeat.

There was a sense of numbness in the stadium among Dundalk fans and the two members of the local media who were in attendance. This was myself and Niall Newberry. Both from the Democrat.

I spoke to Ciaran Kilduff after the game. The boss did not mince his words on what he had just witnessed. "The performance was inexcusable. It was my worst as manager. We had a great opportunity after Cobh were beaten last night.

"It's the first time I can honestly say that we did not deserve to win over the three games we have have lost. How we played tonight was inexcusable. There was nothing different in our preparation for the game.

"We looked at how they scored from set pieces against us this season. We went ahead and gave silly fouls that allowed them to take a grip on the game.

"I did see the game slipping away from us. Our usual focus we have on games, just was not there. Our performance was so lacklustre tonight. We were bereft of ideas and also energy.

"We certainly did not look like First Division leaders tonight or even a team who were the favourites to get automatic promotion. Emotions are high now. We are still where we wanted to be.

"But tonight was a hugely missed opportunity to go close to achieving our objective. Mayowa was booked tonight. He is suspended for the UCD game. This just compounded our misery. We lost Conor O'Keeffe earlier in the week.

"It's to do with the head injury he picked up earlier in the season. But the good news even though he has had a setback with the injury, he should be available for the UCD game on Friday.

"Conor would be so important for us to have back, given that Mayowa is now suspended. Aodh Dervin will be coming back from suspension. It does not look as if Daryl will be back anytime soon.

"Sean McHale is gone for the rest of the season.TJ Molloy was also injured during the week. He is getting a scan this weekend. But listen, the season will not be judged on the Longford game. But it is a very dark night for the club.

"It's hard to argue against the fact that the Cobh defeat did not put pressure on the team. I know we spoke that this can not or ever be the way.

"Things can never be easy for this club. We are not going to have anything easy to win the First Division. We play UCD next Friday. I saw them playing in Belfield last night. They were excellent."

Saturday was a disaster. It need not be the case that the automatic promotion place is gone. That suggestion is ridiculous. They still have their destiny in their own hands. But their form has taken a severe dip.

One win in four games is simply not good enough. This is where the leadership of Ciaran Kilduff is so important. I am very concerned that Dundalk may let this slip through their hands.

If they still need a result going into the second last game of the season, they will be in trouble. Harps are playing very well. Dundalk will be without three, if not four, underage internationals.  They just can not afford to lose these players at such a critical time.

The playoff places are generating big competition between the clubs. But whoever emerges from the pack, I just can not see them beating the Premier Division team in the playoffs.

The gulf between the Premier and First Division has grown even wider and wider since Dundalk were relegated a year ago. If Dundalk do go up, they will have to strengthen the team considerably.

That will involve money. It will involve huge investment in the squad. Should that investment not happen, then Dundalk would go straight back down to Division One. That would be a disaster.

The club just could not afford to go through that process again. Cork City have been moving between the Premier and First Division a number of times in the past few years.

Although experiencing a bit of a revival again late this season, it sadly looks like the relegation trap door is wide open and awaits Cork City once more. Dundalk will need new investors. There is no doubt about that.

Head up to Oriel on Friday night. It will be a very exciting game between Dundalk and UCD. Dundalk must win. Have a great week. Look after each other and be careful out there.