The Commentary Box: Dundalk are now four points off winning the title

Dundalk were vastly improved against UCD on Friday night, from the team that were beaten by Longford Town the previous Saturday in Longford. The fact the game was played in Oriel was a big bonus.

But Ciaran Kilduff had a massive injury crisis and player shortage going into the game. So much so that I honestly thought UCD would win.

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That they did not says much for the skill of the manager, the determination of the players and the self belief of the squad. Dundalk beat UCD 3-2 and are now just four points off winning the First Division title.

They remain six points clear of Cobh Ramblers with just three games remaining. UCD came into the game as the current inform side of the First Division.

The home support of 1607 people could clearly see that, as they went all out at Dundalk and caused them many problems. I had a feeling UCD would get the win as Dundalk were playing an injured Conor O'Keeffe.

Daryl Horgan was missing from the first 11 through injury. Mayowa was suspended. Shane Tracey was injured. Conor O'Keeffe missed the Longford game at Bishopsgate and was really needed for Friday.

But he is still suffering from the effects of a head injury that has been bothering him all season and kept him out of the side periodically throughout the season.

I was amazed that he played on Friday. He should not have been playing. But the fact that he was possibly the best player on the pitch is a great credit to him. Sean Spaight started for Dundalk at left back.

He is sixteen, just turning 17. He was magnificent, and in many ways, he too was my man of the match. I thought he was head and shoulders above many of the other players on the pitch.

So much so, I was left wondering why Ciaran Kilduff has not played him on a regular basis this season. He is a Republic of Ireland under-16 international. He has played for the under-17s and even the under-19s.

I have mentioned him before. Sean is a grandson of former club director Ted Kieran. Ted was on the board as far back as the 1970s for the entire Jim McLaughlin and Turlough O'Connor era into the 1990s.

Ted's success with Dundalk was off the field. His grandson's success will be on the field. Daryl Horgan was supposed to be out for the rest of the season. But the captain bravely returned to the bench and won the game for Dundalk in the second half.

Mayowa was suspended for the game. I knew he would be a huge loss. But that loss was greatly mitigated by the performance of O'Keeffe. Andy Paraschiv was another player who started this game. He had been on the bench in the Longford game.

But he did play a part in the Bishopsgate debacle, joining the game midway through the second half. Vice-Captain Aodh Dervin had a powerful game in the centre of midfield. When the heads were down, he rallied the troops so bravely.

Declan McDaid was also outstanding. He was fouled for the two penalties Dundalk got. The first penalty, most now agree, Dundalk should not have got. Eoin Kenny was once again top class. He scored yet again. But he did a lot more than that.

He was excellent on the wing and caused UCD much trouble when he was in the box. JR Wilson was very solid at full back, while Harry Groome, yet again, was well on top of his game.

Gbemi Arubi gets better as the weeks go on. He scored twice from the spot kicks. But he did a whole lot more. His inspiration and courage powered Dundalk to the win. I was surprised that Luke Mulligan did not start.

The Ballybay youngster has been hit by injury since he scored the huge winner against Wexford just before the window. He has featured in some games since then. But not to the same extent that he did for the first three months of the season.

Daryl Horgan trained on Thursday night for the first time in nearly a month. There were others who have not trained at all because of injury. Yet they played on the day and were superb. And they won.

UCD midfielder Louis Dignam put the Belfield club in front, but two Gbemi Arubi penalties and an Eoin Kenny goal left Dundalk 3-1 in front with 19 minutes remaining. Jake Doyle pulled a goal back for UCD, with 15 minutes remaining.

Dundalk held out for a good win. The referee played nine minutes injury time. Eoin Kenny's goal was his seventh in his last seven games for Dundalk.

Sean Spaight went close early on, that forced the UCD keeper Dara Kavanagh into a great save. It was Dundalk again, with Vinny Leonard going close with a great strike. Declan McDaid was on fire.

He forced Daire Kavanagh into an excellent save again. Gbemi Arubi also tried to unlock the UCD team again. But once more, Dara Kavanagh took off a great save. Against the run of play, UCD were in front.

Adam Verdon put Michael McCullough away on the right. He put Louis Dignam in the clear. From an acute angle, he shot past Peter Cherrie. The Dundalk defence were caught on the hop.

But Peter Cherrie should have stopped the shot. After the game, Peter fully accepted that he was responsible and should have prevented the shot from going in.

The UCD keeper was a star. He took off great saves from good Arubi, Dervin and Paraschiv efforts. Dundalk were level on 37 minutes when Louis Dignam, the UCD goalscorer, was adjudged to have fouled Declan McDaid in the box.

This came after McDaid put in a marvellous one-two passing game with Arubi. Before the penalty. At first, I was sure it was a penalty. But UCD protested so strongly that I then had doubts.

Looking back at the replays, it was no penalty. UCD were robbed. Gbemi Arubi stood tall for Dundalk and fired the penalty into the left-hand corner of the net. Amazingly, Daryl Horgan appeared on the Dundalk team for the start of the second half.

He was an inspiration. Dundalk pushed forward from the off, looking for a lead goal. They got it from a stone wall penalty. Declan McDaid was pushed in the back in front of the referee.

At first, Horgan went to take the penalty. But Arubi wanted to take it as he had got the first penalty. He made no mistake driving the ball past Daryl Kavanagh.

Dundalk were 3-1 up on 71 minutes, when Daryl Horgan's throw-in saw TJ Wilson get down the right. His cross found Eoin Kenny in the box. He drove the ball to the net to put Dundak two goals clear.

Four minutes later, UCD pulled a goal back. Jake Doyle headed home past Cherrie in the box. This came from a free on the right. It was no more than UCD deserved. The last 15 minutes of the game had the Dundalk fans really sweating.

The referee played nine minutes injury time. Both teams had their chances going right into injury time. In the end, Dundalk got the points to keep themselves six points clear at the top with three games remaining.

A win in Athlone next Friday and a draw against Finn Harps at Oriel the following Friday will see Dundalk winning the First Division title.
The other substitutions Dundalk made were Rohan Vaughan for Declan McDaid on 71 minutes and Shane Tracey for Sean Spaight also on 71 minutes.

Eoin Kenny was replaced by Luke Mulligan deep into injury time. Ciaran Kilduff told me he was very happy with the result.

"UCD were the most consistent team on current form in the First Division going into tonight's games. Over the four games played between the teams, we have taken 10 points out of a possible 12.

"Tonight was a massive win for us.UCD may have got a first goal we could have prevented. I will have to look back over it to see what exactly happened.

"But it was the response we gave that really pleased me after losing last week and feeling everything is going against us. To dig in and come back was great. Gbemi's two penalties were excellent.

"To say that Gbemi is just 20, we had a sixteen year old at left back. We had a 17 year old centre half and an eighteen year old in centre midfield. Tonight, these young players became men.

"I was interested to see who was going to take the second penalty. Daryl was not on the pitch for the first. But when we got the second penalty, he was Daryl went over to collect the ball. But he threw it to Gbemi as he indicated he wanted to take it.

"When you score the first, naturally, Daryl was very quick to hand the ball over. I would have backed both of them to take the penalty.

"They are both massive players for us. It was a great response to going one nil down. The only disappointment was to concede a second goal to a set piece.

"If you want a little bit of scouting, watch UCD's set pieces. They scored the exact same goal from the same set piece last week against Kerry. We were very wary of the danger they pose from the set pieces.

"But when the free kick came, many of the lads were so tired. This was because they had not been training as a result of the injuries they had acquired the week before. Conor O'Keeffe was an absolute warrior for us as centre half tonight.

"He missed the game last week. He should not have been playing tonight. I do not know how he has been putting himself out there. He really has been struggling since early in the season.

"He has gone to some special place so often for us this season, even though he has had the injury. I know it's very difficult to explain. We needed him in the centre of the defence.

"We needed him to push himself tonight, and he did just that. It was just a testament to his character. At one stage, UCD were straight in on goal in the penalty area.

"Conor was the only Dundalk player between him and a certain goal. If he had fouled, he would have been sent off as he was the last man back. But instead he put in a great tackle and managed to steer the ball to safety.

"There were so many injured players out there tonight. It's just a matter of trying to get them through to the night of the game. We were without Daryl, Aodh and Conor last week. We needed everyone out there.

"And that is especially our younger players. There was nothing won or lost tonight. But we all feel much better tonight than we did after the Longford game last week. We have to take lessons from that game.

"We may have just three games left. But we are in a great position. We would not swap that with anybody else. There is still a lot of work to be done.

"I could go through the whole squad and list how much all my players have given me in our games this season. Tonight, to see the young players stand up in the pressure was amazing.

"The reception the younger players got from the supporters was fantastic. Young Sean Spaight got some reception when he came off. That is massive for his career. Eoin Kenny is another who got some reception.

"There are people thinking I am managing the team I played for in the Kenny and Perth era. We are nowhere near that. We are a First Division team right now. These players are helping us to battle our way out of it.

"I remember you interviewing me in the pre-season. We just wanted to be competitive. But we have done so well this season. But we must still keep things in perspective. From Daryl to Aodh to Sean Spaight, they are delivering.

"But again, I stress nothing has yet been achieved. ''It will not be easy in Athlone next Friday. We are back to the same thing again. We were in the Midlands last week and lost to Longford. We will have to do everything right against Athlone.

"It's hard, because teams who come up against Dundalk have a freedom to have a right go at us. We saw that in Longford last week.

"Athlone will put up a good battle against us, as Longford did. And rightfully they should. It's simple, though. We will have to be at our best."

I thought the words of the manager hit the nail on the head. I am sure that off the field, Dundalk are working very hard on their application for the Premier Division licence.

They would be doing this anyway, even if they were staying in the First Division next year. When the FAI make their announcements on the licensing, usually all clubs in the Premier and First Division are issued with a Premier licence.

The First Division clubs, although having a Premier licence, will remain in their division because they did not win promotion on the field.
If Dundalk are promoted as First Division champions, the FAI will look at their Premier Division application. They will look at each of the clubs licensing applications.

This is a hugely important process for the sake of soccer nationally as it ensures, as far as it possible, that the Premier clubs are financially sound and will be able to compete in the Premier Division next year.

The same goes for the First Division Clubs. The FAI want to ensure all clubs will safely get through the following season from a financial and structural point of view. Confirmation of the issuing of licences normally comes sometime in December.

I remember one season under John Gill when Dundalk beat Waterford in the playoffs. To qualify for the play offs Dundalk had to beat Finn Harps in the last game of the league in the First Division.

The game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch in Ballybofey. The FAI wanted the game to go ahead on the Sunday, which it did. Dundalk got the result and headed to the playoffs. They won over the two legs against Waterford.

But Dundalk celebrations soon turned to despair when it became apparent that, as a result of a participation agreement with all the clubs in the Premier and First Divisions, the FAI were reorganising the Divisions.

Under the deal, the FAI looked at how many games clubs had won and lost over a period of around five years. Sadly, Dundalk's winning record was not great as it was in the era under examination.

This covered when Dundalk were managed by Trevor Anderson. Thus, Dundalk were denied promotion. Waterford remained in the Premier Division, and Galway, who finished third in Division One, were promoted ahead of Dundalk.

There was outrage among Dundalk supporters. But the FAI were legally correct as Dundalk had signed the deal.

Why the promotion relegation game involving Dundalk with Waterford went ahead still defies logic. This most certainly will not happen this year.

There was a scout from Luton Town at the game on Friday night. Sean Spaight impressed him a lot as did Vinny Leonard. He also has a strong interest in Luke Mulligan.

There will be a lot of clubs chasing all three. Dundalk must insist the players go on a minimum of one million euro if they are going to Europe or the UK.

In fact, it should be two million euro. They should be going for seven figure sums, not six figure sums. The FAI should introduce that stipulation.

These foreign clubs are signing League of Ireland players for a steal. This must be clamped on. Sean Keogh should have gone to Brighton for a seven figure sum.

I was amazed it was a six figure sum. To be fair to Dundalk, I hope that the add ons will bring the value of the transfer fee to a seven figure amount.

Anyway, four points from the next two games away to Athlone Town and home to Harps will seal promotion for Dundalk. Cobh is the last game away. We don't want to be going to Cobh on the last day looking for a result.

It was the first Anniversary of the tragic death of a great Dundalk fan during the week, Maxi Mark Kavanagh. His death hit every facet of Dundalk as a town and the football club.

It came at a time of extreme pressure on Maxi's beloved club as it was looking as if it would cease trading. The fact that there was a deadline imposed as to when the club might fold would certainly not have helped Maxi either.

That said, if the club has to issue a deadline for its very existence if under serious financial pressure, then it must do so. Maxi was outside Oriel the day the news came that the club was not going to fold.

Sadly, a few days later, Maxi died in the most tragic of circumstances. It was nobody's fault Maxi had passed. But it should never have come to this.

His death seriously highlighted the severe lack of mental health support services there are in the country. I do not think much has changed in this respect. Have a safe week. Please look after each other. And be very careful out there.