Kilduff “Absolutely gutted” after Dundalk draw

Ciaran Kilduff was left heartbroken as Dundalk FC relinquished two precious points in agonising fashion, conceding a 92nd-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Treaty United at Oriel Park in the SSE Airtricity League First Division.

In a scrappy encounter largely bereft of rhythm or sustained quality, The Lilywhites appeared to have secured the victory when Harry Groome netted his second goal in as many matches, with just four minutes remaining.

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Yet once again, they were undone in the dying moments—this time by Mark Walsh’s dramatic stoppage-time strike for the visitors.

It marked a painful déjà vu for Dundalk, the third occasion this season they’ve led Treaty heading into the final minutes, only to be denied by late equalisers each time.

“I’m absolutely gutted,” a disappointed Kilduff told The Democrat afterwards. “We’re finding it hard here to get that opening goal, and that’s three times against Treaty that we’ve got ahead of them—twice here and once down there—and succumbed to a late heartbreak. We have to learn from it, but it’s a tough one to take tonight.

“It definitely hurts. I didn’t see that one coming tonight. Obviously, we were prepared for it, but I thought once we got the goal and the way the game was, I didn’t see it.

“They’re good at what they do. They put the ball in the box and put it in the net, so credit to them, they got their point, but we feel like we dropped two.”

With Conor O’Keeffe sidelined through injury and both Sean Keogh and Mayowa Animasahun serving one-match suspensions for the clash against Treaty, Dundalk were forced to field a youthful and inexperienced backline.

The Lilywhites’ defence featured Luke Mulligan, Vinnie Leonard, Sean McHale, and Shane Tracey—an ensemble with an average age of just 18, underscoring the depth of the club’s reliance on emerging talent.

“If you look at the age profile of that back four, I’d say that’s the youngest in Dundalk’s history—it has to be,” added Kilduff. “But we don’t want them to use that as a pass. They’re playing for what we consider and feel is the best club in the country.

“We’re trying to win the game, but it’s slipped through our hands tonight, so it hurts. They’re hurting like men, and we don’t treat them like kids because we don’t get that luxury.”

On the goal conceded in stoppage time, Kilduff reflected: “We always speak about it, and especially when it’s happened before. We’ve had the ball in their corner, we didn’t stay in the corner, we came back ourselves and caused ourselves a headache and coughed up on edge of the box, didn’t defend the cross, and left too much space in the box.

“There’s a lot to dissect in that. We wanted the game to get a little bit chaotic and crazy to try and get that goal to open the game somewhat. We got the goal, and then we tried to flip back, and it was hard.

“We had players on the pitch that were probably not set up for that system, but we all have to put our hands up and go: we should have kept the ball in the corner, we should have cleared our box, and we should have won the game.”

Not for the first time this season, the Dundalk manager stood visibly exasperated on the touchline, his frustration clear in response to several of the officials’ decisions throughout the night.

“I felt it was really poor,” he lamented. “In fairness, the fourth official was understanding, but it was some really strange decisions at times, and it ruined any flow or momentum in the game for both teams, and there was a lot of frustration around it.

“It’s not the reason we didn’t win or lose the game, but it didn’t make it a brilliant game either, and you’re looking for better. That was our feelings tonight.”