O'Donnell believes Hoops in a false position ahead of Dundalk clash

Stephen O’Donnell believes Shamrock Rovers are in a false position ahead of their visit to Dundalk FC in the SSE Airtricity League this coming Friday night (kick-off, 7.45pm).

The Hoops are third-bottom in the table after failing to win in any of their opening six league fixtures, but O’Donnell fully expects the defending champions to improve in the coming months, insisting they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

“Their squad tells you that,” elaborated the Dundalk head coach. “Their players, their success tells you that. They’ve drawn five and lost one, so they’ve not lost many games. And a lot of the games they drew, they were obviously the more dominant team in all of the games really.

“So we know the quality they can carry. They’ve won the last three leagues, they have a really big squad and a big depth of talent. So we know it’s going to be a really, really difficult game. Their start to the season doesn’t change that. We also know when we play to our ability, that we’re very good and very competitive as well.

“The bottom line is Shamrock Rovers ain’t going to be far off it, come the end of the season. I’d still have them bang there as one of the favourites if not the favourite from a depth point of view and a quality point of view.”

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Although Rovers defeated Dundalk twice at Tallaght Stadium last season, The Lilywhites did take four points off The Hoops at Oriel Park, drawing 0-0 just over a year ago, before Robbie Benson’s late goal secured a memorable 1-0 win for O’Donnell’s side last June.

“We’re third in the league. We came in the top three last season, and I think we’re further forward now. We’re a better team now than we were last season, so we’re looking forward to it.

"We know when we’re at it and mentally really sharp, we can be a match and more than a match for anyone. But we also know if we’re not, we can succumb to anyone as we’ve shown.”

The Lilywhites come into Friday’s match at Oriel hoping to extend their unbeaten run in the league to five matches, but despite an impressive run of form which has seen them win three of their last four, O’Donnell has remained coy on his own side’s aspirations.

“I’ve never projected finishes,” he claimed. “Like, we were bang there in July time (last season). I hear a lot about different club’s injuries and the narrative seems to be a little different this season.

“Certain teams have injuries and everyone’s pointing towards their injuries. But yet I don’t think when our season was derailed a little bit last year, mid-season, there was no mention really of the injuries that we had to so many talismans.

“You can’t predict. We could be there, we might not be there. We could get five of our key players injured, out for three or four months, which we did. So then obviously our face changes, our identity changes, our quality changes.

“So you can’t predict, I just know if we play to our potential and we get into a rhythm, we’ll be a match for most teams. Look, we could have a great season and not win the league, but still have a really good season from a performance aspect and an individual performance aspect.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s why it’s a brilliant game and everyone rocks up every week to see what’s going to happen.”

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Despite receiving a red card in last Friday night’s 4-0 Leinster Senior Cup defeat to Shelbourne at Oriel, Hayden Muller will serve no suspension in the League of Ireland.

However, The Lilywhites are again without Louie Annesley (illness) for the visit of Shamrock Rovers, while Daniel Kelly (hamstring) and Paul Doyle (knee) are doubts.

“Louie, he got a bad infection, so it’s going to take him a little bit of time to recuperate. We’ll wait as long as we need to wait for Louie, but he’ll be on the right path now, and again he’ll be a big addition.

“His last game, he was exceptional against St Pats, so we’re looking forward to having him back. Obviously your immune system and your body, when you’ve had an infection like that, it’s going to take you a little while to get back up to speed to be fit to play matches.”