O'Donnell confident Dundalk can clip Magpie's wings

Stephen O’Donnell has said that he has no injury worries going into the second leg of the first Qualifying round Europa Conference league game at Oriel against Gibraltarian side FCB Magpies on Thursday night.

Speaking to the media at Oriel Park on Monday afternoon, the Dundalk boss says he is confident his side can advance in the competition. The Dundalk boss says that his side did give up some control to the Magpies in the first leg.

He said Dundalk must not allow the Magpies any opportunity to create problems for the Dundalk defence.

O’Donnell says that his side must control the game from the start.

The Galway man says the Magpies were an unknown team to him until Dundalk played them last Thursday. This was because they have only recently made as many as 10 new signings and brought in a new manager.

O’Donnell says the biggest factor in the game was the heat. The pitch was also very long as well. He also says the long throw inns did cause some problems for Dundalk.

These have to be dealt with efficiently on Thursday. He says they now have a much better knowledge of the Magpies and the threat they carry too. Dundalk, he says, really prepared for the second leg this Monday. He says his side are fully prepared now, and that he is looking forward to the game on Thursday.

The manager says the heat last Thursday stopped Dundalk playing with high speed and momentum. This will be different on Thursday. The Dundalk boss says his side have built up a good home record over the last 18 months.

But he warned the game is going to have to be there to be won. He says Dundalk have to go out and get the job done which he says was to win.

Stephen O’Donnell says the Magpies will come to Oriel this week confident in the knowledge they had good chances last Thursday. He says Dundalk must be ready to guard against this. He says the tie is finely poised at 0-0.

He reiterated that it was a match his young side can win on Thursday. O’Donnell told me he was happy with passages from Dundalk’s play last Thursday. But he said his side should not have given the Magpies the chances they did have.

He was happy with the control Dundalk had in the first half. He says Dundalk did not start the second half off so well. The Magpies made great use of the long ball in the early stages of the second half.

He said their long throws caused problems and nearly resulted in a couple of goals. But he says his side did finish the last 15 minutes of the second half the stronger of the teams.

Stephen says he is delighted to be managing Dundalk in Europe. For his own side, he says it’s the first European experience most of the players have had. He agreed that Dundalk have conceded early goals in many games this season.

He says Dundalk  have come back to win the same games this season even though they gave an early goal away.

But he does not want to go a goal down early on Thursday.

O’Donnell says he made an educated guess as to how the Magpies would line out last week. He says he got it nearly 100 per cent right, Stephen says that the Magpies main striker did not play against Preston in a friendly two weeks ago. He was also not in their squad last Thursday.

He says Chipolina’s long throws did cause problems. He also agreed that no matter how you set your defence up, the up up  losing 3-2.

Stephen told me it was a huge week for the club. They have a must win European game on Thursday. On Sunday, they play Shamrock Rovers in the cup. He says once he gets the Magpies game out of the way, they will plan for Rovers.

But he says he wants his players to enjoy the European game. He says it was an exciting week with two really competitive games. The Dundalk manager says there was nothing really happening on bringing in new players at the moment.

He says that may change on Thursday depending on how the result goes. Dundalk would get €365,000 from UEFA should they qualify for the next round by beating the Magpies. O’Donnell says logic would tell you that a win on Thursday would strengthen his hand to get more players.

O’Donnell spoke about speculation of Daryl Horgan being linked with the club. He says Daryl was in an isolated situation given his links to the club and his family situation.

The manager says there was nothing immediate on that. He says dialogue was ongoing with him. He says he would see where that goes. The Dundalk manager says it will really be Daryl’s decision if he wants to return to Dundalk. O’Donnell says Horgan knows Dundalk’s situation. Stephen admitted that Dundalk would love to see him back. Stephen says Daryl would be a magnificent influence on the pitch and also in the dressing room.

Finishing his press conference,  the Dundalk manager says his side will approach the game by deciding what is the best way to get through. He says it’s all about performance on Thursday. He says that as the game goes on, then they can work out what is the best way to win the game.

He says that ideally his team will want to put in a great performance. With the European game having to be played to conclusion O’Donnell says his team have been practicing penalties.

He says the cup game on Sunday will also have to be concluded and may also go to penalties. He says they are also practicing spot kicks for this game as well.

Archie Davis

Dundalk full back Archie Davis says one of the reasons why he signed for Dundalk this season was because they were in Europe.

He says it’s fantastic to play on a European night and he was looking forward to Thursday. Archie says he has settled in well at Dundalk and that he loves playing in the League of Ireland.

I asked him if he did have a problem was there anybody he could talk to. in the club. I just asked as player welfare is so important. Drogheda United has a chaplain. Archie says he would have no problem talking to his fellow players or the management. He says he has great friends at the club who he could talk to.

The Dundalk full back is one of the finds of the season. Archie also played superbly as a wing back against Shamrock Rovers two weeks ago. He was immense. The young Dundalk player showed Stephen O’Donnell he has another option in his armoury if need be. He says it’s a huge week for the club.