Lilywhites in need of outside investment to continue upward curve

Last Friday night, as the song Three Little Birds bellowed out over Oriel Park after Dundalk beat Shamrock Rovers 2-0, I had the strangest of feelings. I just felt that maybe everything is not going to be alright at Oriel Park.

On the field Stephen O'Donnell has been working wonders with his players. Off the field I have no doubt the owners are working hard to keep everything ticking over. But it's off the field where I have some serious doubt.

With no statements coming from the owners to the local media as to how things are faring, I can only assess what I see is happening. And to be honest I am worried.

Again, I am stressing I am not having a go at the owners. They had a serious job to do following the end of the Peak6 ownership two years ago. There may have been no club left but for Andy Connolly and Statsports.

Andy Connolly and Paul Browne saved the club in 2012 when it was on the edge of extinction. I just do not think the public knows how close this was to happening. Now two years into the new owners reign, there does appear to be a problem.

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The club reported a loss of €1 million last season. 12 months earlier they had a bank balance of €1.2 million in surplus. This to be fair was due to the fact that Peak6 had left this money there.

Stephen O'Donnell luckily was able to sign most of his existing team from last season on new contracts. But the team was short at least seven players that needed to be signed to give the team the strength needed to be a formidable force.

December came and went. Most of January came and went also and there was little news on new signings. Dundalk were linked to players from the League of Ireland. Nothing happened. Suddenly new players from the UK began to come in during February.

Still nothing from the League of Ireland market. Then there was news in late February and early March that Dundalk had signed three players from the UK on loan. The message was coming out that players from the League of Ireland market were beyond Dundalk's price range.

News that Nathan Shepherd had not been given a new contract also seemed a clear indication that something was not right. Why had the club not opted to give Nathan a new contract?

Stephen O'Donnell was asked about this weekly by reporters. I was the worst culprit as I just could not get my head around it. In the past few weeks, it seems clear to me that the reason is that Dundalk just simply did not have the finance to bankroll a new contract.

Fears within me grew even stronger when it became clear that Stephen O'Donnell would not be allowed to bring in any new players in the July window, unless he was able to unload existing players from his squad.

Daryl Horgan was linked to a return to the club a month ago in the July window. That now seems to be a complete non-runner. And it's understandable if the club has not got the money. Clubs simply cannot afford to spend money they do not have.

As the season got underway there was speculation that the Lilywhites were being linked to a merger with Hull City. It's my understanding that a deal was imminent. That may well be denied by the club.

In the greater scheme of things, it did not matter. As the story broke something was happening, the Hull owner made a statement about how he saw the deal working.

The Hull manager angered local fans when he spoke of Dundalk playing the Hull style and of the exchange of players with the Oriel Park club being used as a feeder for Hull City.

It was the manager's statement that seems to have scuppered the deal. The reaction locally was swift by fans, who expressed unhappiness at such a takeover. Dundalk always denied that they were ever close to a deal with Hull. But it only took 48 hours for Hull City to pull out of any deal.

They were surprised by the opposition of such a takeover. The withdrawal of Hull from the deal left Dundalk back to square one. The owners were understandably disappointed that the deal had collapsed as they needed new investors.

Instead, Hull City took over Shelbourne instead. It's understood they did not receive anything like the opposition to the proposed takeover of Dundalk. Hull had also shown interest in Drogheda United and St Pats also.

I have no doubt the Hull takeover would have happened at Oriel, had their manager corrected his earlier statement. It failed because supporters had visions of another Peak6 nightmare. And they got no comfort from statements by the Hull manager and chairman.

The owners of Dundalk have to take some responsibility for the Hull pull out, as they failed to communicate what was happening to the supporters. Once the story got out there, there should’ve been a statement from the club explaining to supporters what was going on.

The fears that Dundalk were not going to be a feeder club would have gone a long way to quelling the disquiet. They would also have needed to explain to Hull why supporters were so uneasy as a result of the previous experience of Peak6.

I'm sure Hull would have issued further statements explaining exactly what was happening. However, sadly they withdrew, and the rest is history.

The fact there was no unease among Shels supporters at the takeover by Hull sealed the deal. I'm sure the owners of Dundalk were bitterly disappointed at the collapse of the Hull deal. However, they must start to try and understand that they must communicate more regularly with supporters.

None of them bear them any il-will. Why should they?  The local media are only too willing to play its part also in helping to get the Dundalk FC’s message across. This they have not done. In the time they have been in power I have not been able to get a single interview from the chairman Sean O'Connor.

Instead, whenever he has wanted to communicate with fans, he has done so through the national media. That was twice. He has also spoken on the Dundalk FC YouTube channel.

All of this is fine. But the owners have got to communicate regularly about what is happening in the club. Instead, it's a wall of silence. This must stop. The owners must understand the local media are there to help build up the club.

They are an essential cog in its success wheel. One of the most important skills in management is communication. All I can see is silence.

The club is obviously in need of essential investment. It's clear for all to see. It needs additional investment. For the owners, running a club is a huge responsibility. They have been good. In their first season they were able to give Stephen the funding he needed. But this season is different.

O'Donnell has not been able to sign a single Irish player. As the window opened on Saturday the squad were two players down as their loan contracts expired. Johannes Yli-Koko's loan spell is up at the end of July. Will Dundalk lose him too?

Even with two players gone, the Dundalk manager was not able to say at his post-match press conference if he was yet able to take in any new players in their place. From what I hear in the wind the word is he will not be able to bring in any new players yet. Whether that situation changes, let us wait and see.

All League of Ireland clubs need the type of investment that Shelbourne and Drogheda United have recently obtained. Fans must understand that without it clubs will not advance. Instead, they will regress.

In theory the club could sell Nathan Shepperd in this transfer window, as they will get nothing for him when he leaves in November.

A few English clubs have shown a strong interest in the youngster. But I cannot see Dundalk letting Nathan go now, as he is vital for the Lilywhites interest for success in the remaining competitive games for the season.

To me, there is no doubt Dundalk does lack the financial strength in the market to buy. They must strive to get new investors in. It's easy for me to say.

No doubt Friday was a difficult day for the owners when they saw what Shelbourne had achieved with Hull City. But the supporters are not to blame either. The local media were all favourable to such a deal as far as I am aware.

The owners must learn from this and COMMUNICATE with the fans on a regular basis. Silence only allows the rumour mill to go into full swing. It also allows leaks to seep out.

The Rovers Game

Dundalk were just sensational on Friday night. In front of a crowd of over 3,100, they were always on the front foot. The Lilywhites were without Andy Boyle through injury. Hayden Muller came in as full back, with Archie Davis playing as a right winger.  Himself and Daniel Kelly were my men of the match.

Ryan O'Kane was left on the bench, along with Paul Doyle. Robbie McCourt and Hayden Muller were the two full backs. Darragh Leahy and Louie Annesley were the centre halves. Daniel Kelly and Davis were on the wings, while Greg Sloggett and Conor Malley were the two centre midfielders. Pat Hoban played up front. 

Dundalk dominated the first and second halves. They came close to scoring when Sean Hoare put the ball past his own keeper. He got back to clear the ball off the line. Sean Gannon had the ball in the net before the break, but it was ruled out for offside.

Rory Gaffney had a shot go narrowly wide of the post on 67 minutes. Louie Annesley had Oriel in raptures when he latched onto a quick pass from Keith Ward on 75 minutes.

Louie ran from inside his own half. As he approached the Rovers penalty area, he saw an opening. He fired a great shot to the net. 

Keith Ward was involved in the second goal minutes later. His free from the right into the box was headed home by Pat Hoban. Rovers' night was finished. Dundalk only had two shots on target. Both were goals. Rovers could not muster up even one.

Referee Paul McLaughlin booked four Dundalk players. He failed to book even one Rovers player, despite plenty of chances to do so.

Rovers manager Stephen Bradley says his team had chances, but did not take them. He said Dundalk got two chances and took them. But he says the game was really a poor quality one from both teams and added that Dundalk took their chances and deserved to win.

Post-Match Reactions

Bradley felt there were a lot of mistakes from both teams and again said it was a really poor game. There were misplaced passes and a lot of sloppiness from both teams. He says Rovers should not have lost, as they were experienced enough to win even when playing badly.

The Dubliner thought that Louie Annesley finished his goal well, but that it was very bad marking from his two centre halves.

Dundalk midfielder Daniel Kelly says he was over the moon with the performance. He says Rovers beat Dundalk last time at Oriel earlier in the season and that his team had a point to prove.

Daniel says Dundalk dominated Rovers for the entire game and the final result was 100 percent justified. They had set themselves up early in the week and knew what to do.

He says it was a superb all-round performance by Dundalk and he was full of praise for Archie Davis, who had to play on the right wing. But again, he emphasised that everybody knew what their jobs were.

He said there was fire in the bellies of all the Dundalk players. They just went at Rovers from the start. They never allowed them to settle. Dundalk, he says, were simply just the better side.

Daniel says the players are not going to let the win go to their heads. He says Dundalk must get ready to go again next Friday for the Bohemians game at Dalymount.

Dundalk's Rock of Gibraltar Louie Annesley felt that the Lilywhites had turned in a magnificent performance against Rovers. Louie accepted that they were totally dominant at the back and did not concede a goal.

He says they had prepared the setting up of the defence from early in the week and that it worked. His team knew the strength's Rovers had and dealt with them very well. He says that Dundalk had got exactly what they deserved and that he was really happy.

Annesley was full of praise for Archie Davis too, but he felt everybody was so good. Louie accepted he is getting stronger as he plays each game, following his recovery from a serious illness. He believed he can play much better.

He added he is still far off from where he wants to be. He says this will come with time, but he was happy with his overall performance last Friday night.

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Louie was impressed by Daniel Kelly’s role in the leadup to his goal. Keith Ward had set it up. Louie glided into the Rovers half. Daniel created an opening as a result of moving out, forcing a Rovers defender to follow him.

This allowed Louie a straight path at goal. He got to the edge of the box and fired an unstoppable shot to the net.

Dundalk's rock-hard defender says he is just buzzing with the goal. He says the goal gave him a great boost. This was added to by the skipper Pat Hoban getting the second goal five minutes later.

The Lilywhites are firing on all cylinders now. But the squad has been depleted by the loss of two on-loan players and an injury to Andy Boyle. He should be back in time for the Europa Conference qualifying game in Gibraltar on Thursday week.

Have a great week. Please remember to look after each other.