Lilywhites in danger of slipping down the table if transfer policies continue

Dundalk are in danger of getting involved in the fight to avoid a place in the dreaded promotion/relegation play offs, after serving up a truly awful performance  against 10 man League Champions Shamrock Rovers at the Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.

It was the sides third defeat in four games and also meant they have only been able to get one point out of a possible 12. They did at least put things right on Monday night they got a win over UCD along with Pat Hoban becoming the club's record goalscorer.

Back to last week's game. The gulf in class between Rovers and Dundalk was there for all to see. Yet again Dundalk failed to take advantage of their opponents being down to 10 men, after Ronan Finn was sent off for a foul on Rayhaan Tulloch four minutes into the second half.

At that stage the Hoops were in front from an Arron Greene goal on 34 minutes. The fact that they were down to 10 men meant little as Rovers continued to pile the pressure on the Oriel Park men. Looking at the game one would never have guessed that Stephen Bradley's side were down to 10.

Dundalk made five changes to the team that were beaten by Pat's last Friday week. Andy Boyle and Greg Sloggett played their first game since April 16th. It was a surprise to see them back in the team so soon. Tulloch also started along with Daniel Kelly and Darragh Leahy.

Dundalk boss Stephen O'Donnell dropped Ryan O'Kane, John Martin, Wasiri Williams and John Martin to the bench, while Robbie McCourt missed the game through injury.  Since his arrival last July, the former Sligo Rovers player has been out injured far more than he has been able to play.

Dundalk have failed to beat a team who was down to 10 men in three games out of five this season. This is a shocking statistic and surely shows how bad things are at Oriel at the moment.

The club’s decline this season has been fairly rapid. The team is weaker than last season and without doubt, things have taken a step backwards on the pitch rather than remaining static or moving forward. Especially in the past five weeks.

Despite disagreeing with me totally in an interview I did with Stephen O'Donnell some time ago, the recruitment has not been great this season. I feel vindicated now. I take no pleasure in saying this. But Dundalk just do not seem to be clicking.

They have played poorly at times. Going into last night's game against UCD, Dundalk were eight points off the relegation play-off spot, with Cork City also having a game in hand. Dundalk's decline in form seems to have seen an upsurge in Cork City's performances.

They won their last two games going into last night's games when they beat Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda United in two recent games. Cork also have a game in hand on Dundalk. Next Friday the two clash on Leeside in a very important game at Turner's Cross.

Now some people may think I'm way off the mark and that there is no way Dundalk could end up in the playoffs. Maybe they are right. Well, I have seen it all before. What is happening to Dundalk now reminds me a lot how they slipped down the table in the late 90's and were relegated.

It also reminds me of times they ended in the playoffs and survived. But if the Lilywhites end up in the playoffs, they will more than likely face Waterford. This first Division team could beat the present Dundalk team. That I have no doubt of at all.

Now none of this might happen. Dundalk could steady things and stabilise themselves on the field. But right now it's hard to see that happening. Add in the distraction of Europe and this could drag Dundalk even further down the table.

Off the field, Dundalk must move to strengthen the team in the July window. They can bring in League of Ireland and Irish League players. But make no mistake, those that think Dundalk are too good a club to end up in the play offs are very wrong.

St Dominics and Shamrocks FC play out game of the season contender

Former Dundalk Sporting Director secures huge job in Northern Irish Premiership

Recruitment Policy

After the game against Pats last Friday week, Stephen O'Donnell says he went shopping in the UK market because Dundalk cannot compete with leading League of Ireland clubs for what is available on the domestic market.

But surely O'Donnell is talking about the top players. There are plenty of talented footballers Dundalk could have gone for on the domestic market and in the Irish League. They did not have to wait for British clubs to decide in January who they wanted or who they were prepared loan out.

The Dundalk boss says that he recruited the players from the UK. This was his answer to me after the Shelbourne game in Tolka Park some time ago. To his credit Stephen always shows great loyalty to his players.

He knocked on the head that Brian Gartland may have been responsible for some of the recruitments. He has been full of praise for the current owners for the way they have supported him in everything he has wanted.

By saying this the manager is basically taking full responsibility for the shaping of his squad and the signings as well. He has defended the signings he made. I have to disagree with some.

Well he needs to move quickly to sign Irish players who know what the league of Ireland is about or the Irish league too. All he needs to do is give them a contract until November.

I was amazed that Robbie McCourt was given a contract for a year and a half last July, especially as he has missed so much of the period through injury. Robbie has come back into the side in recent games.

However, he picked up an injury in training on Thursday night which will leave him out for some time. Robbie did very well in the recent games he played. But now out with injury, one wonders how much more he will contribute to Dundalk's season.

The club did pay a sizable transfer fee for Robbie to Sligo Rovers in League of Ireland terms. They have not got the value they should have got from him.

Emmanuel Adegboyega would have stayed at Dundalk were the terms right in January. Instead, he walked up the road to Drogheda and signed for not a whole lot more than it would have cost Dundalk to keep him.

The failure to give Nathan Shepperd a two-year contract at the start of the season means he will walk at the end of the season, with the club getting nothing for him.

There were enough seasoned players from the League of Ireland around in January who would have ensured Dundalk would not be in the mess they are in now. And I am not talking about being involved in play-offs . I am talking about securing themselves in a safe mid table position.

When Jim McLaughlin became manager way back in 1974, Dundalk were paying out good money on some UK players who were simply not good enough.

He ended the policy of spending much of the time looking for players in the UK and of also flying in players in for a game and allowing them to fly out again after the games were over. The policy worked as Dundalk won the league against all the odds in 1976.

Personally, I do not blame the Dundalk manager for the entire mess the club finds itself in now. The owners must take their own share of the responsibility for the mess as well. It's how to get out of this situation the club is in that's important. The month of July will be crucial in allowing Dundalk to strengthen the team.

The Rovers Game

Shamrock Rovers were excellent against Dundalk. They took the game to the Oriel Park men right from the off. Rovers could have played the game at a higher tempo, but they did not need to. The intensity shown by Rovers was outstanding when they were down to 10 men.

Even when down a player, the Hoops were still creating most of the chances, bar maybe the last 10 minutes when Dundalk were denied a stonewall penalty and Keith Ward went close.

Rovers Rory Gaffney brought out a level that was above most others on the pitch. He helped set up the first goal and set up the second. When Rovers went down to 10 men, they were clearly the better side. They always looked as though they were going to score again and that they did.

Last week Dundalk struggled against Pats when the Inchicore side went down to 10 men. It was 1-1 at the time, but Pat's went on to win the game. The Lilywhites lacked intensity on Friday night. They also lacked a lot of quality going forward as well.

Passes were either over or under hit. They lacked a real cutting edge in front of goal too. Amazingly, Dundalk have only scored seven goals away from home in the league this season. From Friday night's performance, one could see why.

Dundalk had really poor play down the left for the second goal scored by Rovers. Malley's play allowed Gafney to break away. Dundalk did not have enough bodies back. They were unbalanced, as it was a Dundalk midfielder who tried to block Aaron Greene's shot on the line.

Greene's touch was top class. He was able to get the bigger angle which allowed him to wrap his foot around the ball and shoot home. That goal came on 62 minutes.

Dundalk did have chances. But it was really only late in the game. Dundalk never really peppered the Rovers goal with efforts, even though they were without first team keeper Alan Mannus.

Archie Davis did get good crosses down the right. Other than that, it just did not happen for them. Gaffney was allowed to wander all over the pitch. He fed off Rovers’ target man Greene so well. 

Make no mistake, were it not for Nathan Shepperd Dundalk would have been beaten by a much higher score. Archie Davis missed a great chance early on. He headed into the ground from a corner.

Rovers were ruthless when it mattered. Shepperd saved superbly with efforts from Jack Byrne, Greene and Poome. Rovers got their deserved lead 11 minutes from the break.

Ronan Finn fired in a low hard ball at the near post. Aaron Greene connected from two yards out. it clipped Shepherd's leg and ended up in the back of the net. 

Three minutes into the second half Rovers were down to 10 when Ronan Finn, who was their last man back, took Tulloch down on the edge of the box. Finn got a straight red card.

Rovers won the game on 63 minutes. Rory Gaffney combined superbly with Greene. Gaffney set him free with a great cross. Greene's finish was top class.

Dundalk did put Rovers under late pressure. Keith Ward blazed over. Daniel Cleary cleared off the Rovers line in another effort. Dundalk should have had a penalty in the dying minutes when Gary O'Neill nudged Tulloch to the ground. Appeals were waved away. But the late Dundalk pressure lacked conviction as did most of their play in the entire game.

Dundalk FC drawn to play Shamrock Rovers in the FAI Cup

Pat Hoban becomes club's all time leading goal scorer as Dundalk defeat UCD

Stephen O’Donnell

Manager Stepehen O'Donnell says Dundalk seem to be the ones that lose their composure when they went down to 10 men for seven or eight minutes after the incident. He says it cost his side. O'Donnell says that when teams go down to 10, ultimately Dundalk have just not been good enough.

And as he said last week, the Dundalk boss admitted that his side have been giving away really poor goals. He said that this problem must be arrested soon. There can be no excuses for this truly terrible performance. Nor did the manager attempt to use one.

Rovers squad was decimated by suspensions and injuries last Friday. They had no Richie Towell, Sean Hoare, Johnny Kenny and Neil Farrugia. They were also without the injured Dylan Watts and their vastly experienced keeper Alan Manus. They also had others missing as well.

Thus, Dundalk were simply just not good enough to get even a point, against a Shamrock Rovers side who were very much weakened and played with 10 men for most of the second half. This was a Rovers team that just brushed Dundalk aside.

The difference in the gulf in class between the 2 clubs is vast. It's widened considerably this season. Last season Dundalk beat Rovers at Oriel in the league and drew with them as well.  This season Rovers hammered Dundalk 4-0 in one game at Oriel and on Friday night beat them 2-0 with 10 men at Tallaght.

The club faces a huge battle this season to avoid getting drawn into the play off zone. It will take all their resources. They are the weakest Dundalk side I have seen since the Jim Magilton side of 2021.

Women’s Team

There was great news recently when it was announced that Dundalk would be entering a women's senior team in the national League within the next three years. This is a massive boost for the game. It's the fastest growing sport in Ireland.

Dundalk have got their women’s’ under 17 and 19 teams.  It was revealed that there are 2,000 girls now playing football in Louth schools, along with those who play club football with Dundalk.

This is huge. With the Irish Senior women's team playing in the World cup in Australia in June it's great to see the game developing throughout Irish society.

The sponsorship by the Dundalk Credit Union of Women's football in Dundalk FC has been widely welcomed. It's a guarantee that the financial support is there to help the already massive expansion of Women's football.

It will not be that long before Dundalk are taking on the country's top senior women's clubs. It can only be another very welcome development in local sport. Have a great week. Look after yourselves and remember to be careful out there.