Dundalk aim to clinch First Division crown at Oriel

Dundalk FC stand on the brink of glory, with the chance to lift the SSE Airtricity League First Division trophy at Oriel Park on Friday night—provided they claim all three points against Finn Harps (kick-off, 7:45pm).

No matter the outcome of second-placed Cobh Ramblers’ trip to Longford Town on the same evening, The Lilywhites, four points clear at the summit with just two games left to play, know that matching or bettering their rivals’ result will be enough to ensure the silverware is theirs by the final whistle.

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The road might have been eased last weekend but for a frustrating 1-1 draw away to bottom side Athlone Town; yet with Cobh toppling Bray Wanderers on the same night, the destiny of Ciaran Kilduff’s men was always destined to rest on their meeting with Finn Harps—a showdown now imbued with the promise of triumph.

“We were coming home anyway next week, but regardless, we wanted to be better than that,” remarked the Dundalk manager after the Athlone match.

“It was an absolutely terrible game. The conditions aren’t the reason we didn’t win, but the conditions were poor. We knew that, but we need to be better in the key moments.

“You would’ve probably taken this scenario with both hands 11 months ago; I definitely would’ve anyway. Obviously, tonight that hurts because we know in moments we can up it and play better, and they’re a team that have good attacking threats, but we let ourselves down in a key moment or two tonight, and we got punished.”

Athlone were a textbook example of a side intent on spoiling Dundalk’s celebrations, and Finn Harps, still holding a slim hope of reaching the playoffs, will offer no less resistance—just as Kilduff remembers when he was part of the Kildare County team beaten by The Lilywhites on a dramatic final night of the 2008 season.

“It’s funny, when Dundalk last won the First Division, I was playing for Kildare County against Dundalk that night, and I wanted to spoil the party, but we lost 6-1. It doesn’t matter if they want to spoil the party; if you do your job, you can push teams aside.

“That was kind of what I was hoping for tonight, but that’s not what we did, and we’re all accountable. We’ll do our stuff, we train tomorrow, and we get ourselves ready for the biggest game of the season next Friday.”

Finn Harps are one of only three teams to have defeated Dundalk in the First Division this season, having taken four points from The Lilywhites—drawing 1-1 at Oriel in April before clinching a 1-0 victory in June at Ballybofey.

Consequently, Kilduff will take nothing for granted against a side that has secured just a single win, back in 2021, across their last 16 competitive visits to Oriel.

“We have to learn from nights like tonight,” he said. “There was nothing taken for granted tonight. We prepared properly, we did everything we could to put ourselves in this position, but we were never becoming champions tonight. It was always, if it was ever going to happen, next Friday, and that’s still the case.”