O’Donnell may be aggrieved but recruitment questions needed to be asked

A weakened Dundalk team came away with a valuable point against Shelbourne last Friday night when they got a leveller 10 minutes from time. But this was a game they should have won, as they dominated for long spells.

Add to that they played against a Shelbourne team who played with 10 men for 84 minutes of the game, after Shane Farrell was sent off in an incident with Keith Ward just after Dundalk had been awarded a penalty 10 minutes into the game.

The Lilywhites missed their third penalty of the season as Robbie Benson saw his effort well saved by Shels keeper Conor Kearns. This game saw two penalties, one red card, a host of yellow cards, along with a booking for Damien Duff.

But despite all the thrills and spills this game may have had, it now means Dundalk have won only three games this season. They’ve played 11 league games so far.

They have drawn four and lost four.
Last Friday night was their 6th competitive game without a win, including the defeat to Shelbourne in the Leinster Senior Cup. They have also drawn their last two games.

Dundalk had three changes in the side from the one that drew with Derry City. Johannes Yi-Koko, Rayhaan Tulloch and Alfie Lewis came into the team. Robbie McCourt was out injured, along with Greg Sloggett as well as Andy Boyle.

Stephen O'Donnell had to name a team without the suspended Wasiri Williams, who was in the first 11 against Derry City. He was sent off in that game. 

The subs bench was unrecognisable as the injuries reared their head again. Pat Hoban, Paul Doyle and Ryan O'Kane were the only outfield players one could recognise.

The other subs were Sean Bannon, Craig Moore, Jake Howe and Eoin Kenny. Peter Cherrie and Mark Byrne were the two sub keepers. Nathan Shepperd was Dundalk's keeper. Robbie Benson and Archie Davies were the two full backs.

The two centre halves were Hayden Muller and Darragh Leahy. The five midfielders were Keith Ward, Johannes Yi-Koko, Conor Malley, Rayhaan Tulloch and Alfie Lewis.

Up front was John Martin.
I thought Nathan Shepperd, Archie Davis, Darragh Leahy, Alfie Lewis, Keith Ward and Tulloch all played superbly. Robbie Benson did well as a full back. Alfie Lewis was my man of the match.

Manager Stephen O'Donnell had no option but to reshape his team completely from previous weeks, due largely to the mounting injuries. But it was a team that did lack a lot of penetration up front for large parts of the game.

I came away from Tolka Park very disappointed that Dundalk could not secure three points against a 10-man team. Instead, they went behind to a penalty. Jack Moylan converted on 56 minutes.

In the first half you could see Dundalk had the extra man advantage. In the second half, that advantage was gone as Shelbourne bravely took the game to the Lilywhites.

Tulloch had a great game and with just eight minutes remaining his shot gave Conor Kearns no chance. Dundalk and were unlucky not to get a second. But it would have been an awful injustice in some ways had Dundalk not come away with something.

Recruitment Talks
I say it time and time again, Stephen O'Donnell is a top-class manager. But his pre-season signings have not set the world on fire. I have heard other members of the media say this as well.

It's been asked among the media who was in charge of recruitment at Oriel. That is why I brought the matter up with Stephen O'Donnell after the game and queried this subject.

The Galwegian said that he brings the players in. But he asked why the question was posed. I said it had appeared in a media article that some of the players brought in during pre-season were disappointing.

Rightfully Stephen O'Donnell was annoyed with me. But I was only asking a question that has been raised among some of the media. It has also been spoken about by supporters.

I in no way meant the question to be offensive to the Dundalk boss. And as it clearly annoyed the manager, I apologize. As other members of the media will not ask the manager the question, but still talk about it, I felt it was only right to ask him directly.

Stephen asked me would I agree with what was being said that some of the new players had been disappointing this season.

I said some were disappointing. He asked me who. I responded by saying that the four players he had brought in on loan deals could have played better.

I also said that the four players signed by the club could have been better as well.

O’Donnell said that he would not agree with me. He felt that the issue was that there are so many players learning on the job at the one time and that individually you can see all the new players have their talents, given their age profile.

He offered to go through the names of the players if I wanted. When I said that I did not blame Stephen at all for what had happened in regards to recruitment, he was clearly annoyed again.

He wanted to make it clear that it was his call when it came to recruitment.

I asked him about Brian Gartland's involvement. He said that Brian Gartland was involved and obviously other people were too involved too. But Stephen says emphatically, it is his say that matters in the end.

I then asked him about the former Dundalk FC academy player Emmanuel Adegboyega. The Dundalk manager claimed the club wanted him to stay.

I said that all he was offered by Dundalk was the minimum legally required wage. Stephen said he was not going to get into figures. Again, he reiterated the club wanted him to stay.

Stephen said he took massive umbrage about what had been said about the new players. He said all the players are going in together and if people cannot see their individual talent and their age profile, then there is no hope. He felt it was such an easy argument for doubters to make.

I can understand the manager's anger at the questions I asked. But I was only asking what had been had been said what other members of the media had to me in private conversation. 

But the question of the new players has been raised a lot locally. Dundalk Chairman Sean O'Connor did say that he sat down with Stephen O'Donnell in November and agreed to sign four identified new players. I find it staggering that both had agreed on the four as early as November.

However, Sean O'Connor has confirmed this, so of course it's true. Stephen had to wait very late in the day to bring in his four on loan players. I think it's awful that he had to wait that long.

Why were Dundalk not able to sign four more players rather than bring so many players in on loan?

The Shels Game
It's the injuries that have devastated the Dundalk team. It was great to see Louie Annesley training on the Tolka Park Pitch on Friday night.

Cameron Elliott also looks to be on the way back as he was training with Louie in Tolka.

Pat Hoban went through another 35 minutes on Friday night. Greg Sloggett's injury was not as bad as first thought last weekend.

But he will not be back for some time. Andy Boyle looks set to be missing for some time through injury also.

Alfie Lewis had a great game on Friday night. Sadly, he was injured again. Paul Doyle was still recovering from and injury too and he ended up playing centre half when he replaced Alfie Lewis.

Dundalk dominated the first half. But they could not score. The penalty came 10 minutes into the game when Tulloch was bundled over in the box by Andrew Quinn.

Shane Farell got involved in an incident with Keith Ward during the awarding of the penalty and got a straight red card.

Archie Davies had a great game and always had the Shels back four on the run with his darting runs down the right channel. 

Shels levelled on 54 minutes when Jack Moylan got a cross in from the right. Tulloch needlessly fouled Evan Caffrey in the box.

Jack Moylan smashed home the penalty. Nathan Shepperd pulled off a number of fine saves.
Robbie Benson had an effort come back off the Shels post.

Eventually Dundalk got the equaliser with 10 minutes remaining. His unstoppable shot from the left-hand edge of the box ended up in the net.

Dundalk were very unlucky not to score at the death. But in the end a draw was a fair result.

Bank Holiday Fixtures
Next up for Dundalk is a home game against Drogheda United on Friday night at Oriel. On the Bank Holiday Monday Dundalk travel away to UCD at Belfield in Dublin.

These games are huge ones for Stephen O'Donnell. The local Derby against Drogheda will be very tough. Drogheda have been going very well this season.

A draw or defeat for Dundalk would be a massive blow in the club's bid to climb away from the danger zone.

Yes, it's early in the season, but the Lilywhites have now got into the habit of not being able to win games. They simply must beat Drogheda. Unfortunately, the Drogs are a tough side to break down. Let's hope Dundalk can get the win.

Next Monday Dundalk travel to Belfield to take on UCD. The Dublin side are bottom of the table and are odds on to go down. But they drew with Dundalk in Oriel at the start of the season.

Last season they beat Dundalk in Belfield and also drew with them. A win here would be massive. If they can win both of their weekend games coming up, Stephen O'Donnell's side will certainly be answering their critics.

I hope they do. They can, but it will be very difficult given the huge injury list the club have at the moment.

Hasty Documentary
Last Thursday Dundalk fans were at last able to see the documentary on the late Jimmy Hasty. 

Called The One-armed Wonder: the extraordinary story of Jimmy Hasty, it was greeted as a huge success around the country after being shown on Virgin Media 2.

There was also a special launch of the documentary at the Omniplex cinema in Dundalk.

There were around 100 invited guests at the event including John Murphy, Francie Callan and Tootsie McKeown.

All three were on the famous 1962-63 league winning side and were also on that famous team that beat FC Zurich away from home in the European Cup.

The producer of the documentary Richard Millway says he was bowled over by the response the documentary has received. He also said it will be aired on BT Sport next month and RTE too.

It’s also to be shown across the United States and Australia.

Jimmy's two sons were at the launch along with some of his grandchildren. After the documentary showing at the Omniplex, I spoke to the late Jimmy's youngest son Paul.

He was only two and a half years of age when his father was shot dead.

He says the documentary on his late dad was a hard watch. But he says it was very good.

Paul exclaimed that it was great to see the recognition his late father got through the documentary.

He says his mum was in a daze for a couple of years after Jimmy was shot dead. She took himself and his older brother Martin to London and Birmingham, where they had family, after Jimmy died. Hasty noted how hard it all was for his mum.

As Paul grew up, he started to hear all the football stories about Jimmy. His dad was very well known around Belfast. He said in later years he started coming to Dundalk and heard about him in the town too.

He says he never heard a bad word said about his Dad, except how tough he was as a tackler in football.

Paul says Jimmy was well liked in the community and was a totally innocent man.

As he grew older he got to understand what happened to his dad. But he said that he was an innocent victim and always asked why his dad was murdered.

He still asks questions about the murder. But he explained he does not know if the family will ever get answers.

The Young Hasty son says it is shocking that the people who murdered his father were never brought to justice. He says there is belief that his dad was set up.

The murderers had a getaway area after Jimmy's murder and there was apparently evidence missing from the scene.

Paul stated a pair of gloves were missing and a car that was parked around the corner disappeared too.

Paul says the family were told in later years that the people who murdered Jimmy were British Army agents and they were helped to escape from the scene by the army. Paul described that what happened to his dad was collusion between certain members of  the security forces and the paramilitaries. Pure and simple.

He said it was collusion, not an illusion that happened to his dad and this happened in many murders in Belfast and throughout the north.

Paul says that many innocent victims lost their lives at the hands of so-called paramilitaries who were fighting for freedom and they were getting away with it.

He thinks it was a disgrace that the British government were now trying to slam the door on the families of victims who were behind the murders of their own people.

His mother is now nearly 85. He says he wants to get some sort of justice for his mum before she passes on. He stressed that justice in the fight for Jimmy Hasty will go on.

Hasty also spoke about how Jim Malone is every bit as much a legend of Dundalk as his own father.

He says he took the risk in signing his dad, who had only one arm. Paul says in no time people changed their mind about Dundalk signing a one-armed player.

He wished Jim was there in the Omniplex along with his dad. He noted that Jim died on the 11th October, the same as Jimmy and also George Larmour's brother and Father. George comforted Jimmy as he died on a Belfast street in October 1974.

George's brother was shot dead on 11th October 1988 while his dad died on 11th October 1989 and then Jim Malone passed away on 11th October 1996. Paul says the 11th October is just too much of a coincidence to believe.

George Larmour coming forward 33 years after Jimmy died and telling his mum he was with him as he passed away, gave his mother so much peace according to Paul. He revealed that his mother thought Jimmy was died alone. The fact this wasn’t the case brought her some peace.

Paul confirmed that his mother has already seen the documentary. He said it brought everything back and that she had a few shaky weeks, but she is glad she saw it.

Hasty says the documentary has made him proud. He says he was really glad the documentary happened and added that he could not believe it when he got the phone call about the documentary.
He revealed how it had to be put off during covid, as his mother's brother and sister died during the pandemic.

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