Dundalk club owners miss great opportunity to speak to the fans

Dundalk's new players would have learned a lot the Malone Cup game at Weaver's Park in Drogheda.

Manager Stephen O'Donnell could have opted to have the game played in Oriel. But wisely he chose Drogheda's home venue as he wanted the new players in the squad to see what playing in a typical League of Ireland ground was like. And I'm sure they did.

Hayden Muller slotted into the central defender's position alongside Andy Boyle. He had an outstanding game. Archie Davis, another new signing, was fine at full back.

O'Donnell put Louis Annesley in at full back as well. He did nothing wrong and would have been happy with his night's work. Conor Malley played a forward role in behind Pat Hoban. I thought he did good too.

The game finished scoreless and went to penalties. Drogheda won it on penalties via sudden death. Both sides scored all five. Drogheda got the sixth.

Louis Annesley saw his penalty saved by Drogheda sub keeper Andrew Wogan. The Ardee Community School student did well to get down to the Gibraltar man's effort to save.

It was the ninth time Drogheda won the Malone cup on penalties and the second year in a row they won the competition.

It was great to see Greg Sloggett returning from injury, although he did already feature in the behind closed doors game against Cork City in Dublin the previous week.

Darragh Leahy came on as a sub midway through the second half. Robbie Benson also was a sub in the second half. Both players were making their first appearances of the preseason. It was very welcome to see both players return.

Robbie McCourt will be out for at least another five weeks as he recovers from a hernia operation. Daniel Kelly was set to resume training soon. But it could be another month before the young midfielder is ready to resume playing with the first team. 

The game was played in front of an official attendance of 1200 people. The competition is proving to be of great value for both teams. This was a no holds barred, very competitive clash.

Dundalk had three players booked. But it was a game where I thought referee Neil Doyle failed to stamp his authority on and at times, he seemed in danger of a losing control of it.

Stephen O'Donnell will have learned a lot about his new team on Friday. Centre half Andy Boyle was beaten for pace on a number of occasions. I would be concerned about this, as it is a key area that Dundalk must dominate to ensure they do not give away many goals.

The defence in general conceded too many last year following the departure of Mark Connolly at the end of July last season. They have to tighten up this area big time or they will be punished severely by other teams.

Nathan Shepperd was not in the squad on Friday night. He returns to the team in tonight's pre-season friendly against Wexford at Oriel.

On the overall balance of play Drogheda were unlucky not to win the game within the 90 minutes, Daryl Rooney and Fredrick Draper came closest for them in the first half.

Rooney had two good chances. His second came just before the break. A poor clearance from Peter Cherrie gave Rooney a great opportunity, But his strong effort produced a top class save from Cherrie who was in good form.

Dundalk's best effort came as early as six minutes when young Ryan O'Kane got a cross in from the left. Pat Hoban and John Martin had chances to put the ball away but failed.

Hoban once again shone for Dundalk. He had the Drogheda defence under pressure many times throughout the night. He headed narrowly wide early in the second half. Hoban looks to be very fit. The effort and energy he puts into all his games was there for all to see.

Robbie Benson did a great job at midfield when he came on midway through the second half. He worked out a training ground manoeuvre via free well on the edge of the Drogheda box with ten minutes remaining.

Instead of going for goal he caught the Drogheda defence flat footed when he slipped it to the right. The Drogheda defence was caught cold. A good effort was frantically cleared out of the Drogheda defence. It came back to Benson, whose effort seemed to skim the crossbar.

Pat Hoban, Cameron Elliott, Conor Malley, Robbie Benson and Alfie Lewis were all on target from the spot kicks for Dundalk in the shootout. But Louis Annesley saw his weak shot comfortably saved by Drogheda youngster Andrew Wogan.

It was great to see Robbie Benson and Darragh Leahy return from injury. But with Daniel Kelly being about five weeks away from a return I am concerned. John Mountney could also be out for some time through injury.

If UCD manager Andy Meyler was in the crowd on Friday, then he would have come away with a good sense of confidence. His team play Dundalk at Oriel in the opening league game of the season.

He would not have seen any many Dundalk players who stood out who would merit more than a rating of six on the night. But there were a few. It's far too early in the year to judge this Dundalk team.

But the winds of destiny seem to be pointing that this Dundalk side will be hovering mid table in the coming season and will be a great deal of points behind Derry City and Shamrock Rovers by the end of the season.

New Investment

Last Wednesday night, one of Dundalk's main sponsors, Blackstone Motors, held a preview of the season ahead at their premises on the Farmer's Road close to the DKIT Sports Centre.

It was a successful event and included a series of interviews by LOITV's Oisin Langan with new players, club captain Pat Hoban, manager Stepehen O'Donnell and the Club's Chief Operating Officer Martin Connolly.

Apart from talking about what land's on his desk on a daily basis, Martin Connolly spoke about recent news about possible new investors being interested in the club. He stressed that it was no secret that potential investors had wanted to speak to the club.  

He said the club had continued to speak to them over the last 10 to 12 months. Martin confirmed the situation was just a carry on from there. 

The COO noted the club is continuing to talk to potential investors and see what interest was there, but they were nowhere near any decision on this issue. He also said that whatever happens of it, it will be for the benefit of the football club.

Martin Connolly revealed that the club are about to release an extensive survey among supporters as to what they wanted to see in their club.

One question was would you want a stadium suitable for the Group stages of Europe or one that was suitable for League of Ireland. The answers were almost split 50-50.

It's interesting about what Martin had to say about talks continuing with potential investors. I understand that talks are continuing with the championship club that were heavily linked with investing a few weeks ago.

Chairman of the club Sean O'Connor was emphatic a week and a half ago that the club is not for sale. This is obviously so. But what if the Championship club make the owners of Dundalk an offer they can't turn down? Everything has a price. All clubs are potentially up for sale if the price is right.

It's a pity the owners did not speak at this Preview Night. For one, they could have outlined their plans for a new stadium and how they would lobby politicians to get the necessary funding.

This was once again a chance for the owners to give supporters a clear idea as to the directions the owners are taking the club. I was very disappointed that this was not done.

In conclusion it's my understanding the championship club interested in Dundalk may be quite close to investing here. Does that mean buying out Andy Connolly and Stats Sports? You would imagine so.

However, maybe the club may be coming in as part investors. That would not make sense to me. Surely a championship club coming to invest would want to take over.

Conor Malley catches the eye for Dundalk FC in Pre Season

Dundalk FC end their pre-season preparations with win over Wexford

Stephen O’Donnell

Stephen O'Donnell told the meeting at Blackstone Motors of the marvellous achievement his team had in qualifying for Europe last season. He said when he came into Oriel in December 2021, there was no squad and no players.

The Galwegian still managed to put together a good squad which qualified for Europe. He said people should not underestimate the achievement given that he had nothing when he came in.

He said Dundalk were used to doing doubles and getting into the group stages of European competitions. But just getting into Europe this season was magnificent. 

The manager felt they were looking forward to the new season. He says he has freshened up the squad with his new signings and that they have a new age profile. He has young, hungry players and this can only be a positive factor.

Stephen exclaimed how likes to bring in young players who are aiming for higher things and who would like to use the club as a platform to further their ambition.

The manager says he likes to get players of good pedigree and that he does not start the season with specific goals. But he wants to drum into his players that they are as good as any other player. He also feels like they must take each week as it comes.

The former midfielder thinks it's important too for the team to realise they are not good enough to overlook any team. He points that out in every training session. Again, he says he takes each training session and each game as it comes.

He says that when it comes to this they would see where they go. O'Donnell says you cannot predict for injuries and that nobody could have seen they would be without 10 players for the cup game against Waterford last season. 

Stephen says he enjoys pre-season. He says it's great to see the progress each member of the squad was making. He loves to see the tempo of training build up and how much more each can do as they get fitter.

The manager knows Dundalk is a unique town He sells the club by saying it is a football mad town. The town ensures that players and coaches really feel that they are at a unique football club. Stephen says it’s a great place to play your football. 

Pat Hoban

Pat Hoban told the supporters at the season launch that the road to recovery for him was long and difficult at times. He picked an injury with three months left to go last season.

He said that doing all the rehab stuff to get the calf strong again was massive, as well as dealing with all of the pain that went along with it. Pat explained that he had trapped fluid in the calf. He says it was very tough watching games from the sideline and not being involved.

The Dundalk skipper says he hopes he can remain injury free this season. Asked how much it would mean to beat Joey Donnelly's all-time goal scoring record, Pat said it meant everything to him.

This is because it gives him the chance for him to create a bit of history at a massive football club. Pat says he only thought about Joey's record when he gradually approached the number of goals scored. He stressed he won't let it pressurize him in games this season,

Hoban stated he would like to set a target for new players coming into the club in the future.

Squad News

Stephen O'Donnell told the media recently that he is still looking to bring in two players on loan. He has until the end of February to achieve this.

With the good news that Daniel Kelly is to begin training came the news that Dundalk are waiting on a second opinion regarding John Mountney's knee injury. It's hard to know what to think what this means for John.

All Dundalk supporters will be hoping that the second opinion is positive and that he will be able to resume his playing career with Dundalk sooner rather than later.

Final Thoughts

The soccer world was rocked by the news that the brother of Derry City manager Ruaidhri Higgins had died at the age of 45. Ruaidhri's brother was married and had a number of children.

To Kevin's wife and children, I would wish to extend my deepest sympathies. I would of course also wish to extend my sympathies to Ruaidhri and his extended family.

Speaking to DundalkFC.com, Stephen O'Donnell sent his condolences to his former Dundalk teammate and good friend Ruaidhri. Stephen says he was only talking to his own mother earlier on Friday.

He said who cares about football when you get a call like Ruaidhri had got that day, telling him that his brother had died. Stephen said he is obviously very close to Ruaidhri, and his parents Danny and Mary.

Stephen met Kevin a few times. He added that he is heartbroken for all of them. The Dundalk boss added that it puts everything into perspective.

Have a great week. Please be careful out there and remember to look after each other.