Kilduff to take stock after guiding Dundalk back to Premier Division

Ciaran Kilduff was elated as his Dundalk FC side sealed promotion from the SSE Airtricity League First Division at the first attempt, yet he admits he must pause to consider his future after a testing debut season in charge.

The Dundalk manager was visibly emotional at the final whistle, as his team’s 3-0 victory over Finn Harps confirmed their return to the Premier Division with a game to spare.

Despite the considerable demands of this season, Kilduff foresees even greater challenges ahead and has stated that he will carefully reflect on his role, remaining at Oriel Park only if he is confident he can genuinely drive the club forward.

“I’ll take stock at the end of the season before we go again,” admitted the Kildare native. “It is important to get a bit of downtime as well and reassess. It’s been a tough job, it’s very hard, even geographically for me as well, so I have a few things just to consider when the season comes to an end and take stock of.

“I do have to have some discussions as well at home. There is stuff that I need to sort out, and I plan to (stay on). I think we’re at the start of something here, but there’s probably a little bit of work to be done.

“I do plan on it, of course. I’m very happy here, but as I said, I have a young family at home, and I have to discuss with my wife because the toll is obviously going to be more next year, even more than it was this year.”

He added: “It’s a privilege to manage this club, but my thing about doing any job is I’ll only do it if I can do it right. I wouldn’t want to sell the club short or myself short by trying to do something that, if I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t. I knew I could do it this year, and to this point, it’s been brilliant, and I hope to be back again next year.”

In his maiden season as a manager in the men’s League of Ireland, Kilduff has steered Dundalk back to the Premier Division at the first attempt—a remarkable achievement, particularly considering that when he assumed the reins last November, the club had no certainty of securing the licence required to compete in the First Division.

“From Daryl (Horgan), to Aodh (Dervin), to Mayowa (Animasahun), the last thing they did was get relegated before the season, so it wasn’t like I was coming into a confident lot. It’s nothing to do with me, it’s the character of those lads. They wanted to stay, they were men on a mission, and they made my job easy because they’re just such an honest leadership group.

“There’s no point in me lying, it was not an easy job. I don’t care when anyone says, oh, you’re Dundalk; it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in management.

“I knew it’d be tough; I didn’t know it’d be that tough, but it’s testament to the people in the background, John (Temple), Chris (Clinton), even Peter Halpin and all who got the game of football on to start, and then it was over to me and the staff.”

Though The Lilywhites have progressed ahead of schedule on the pitch, financial strains continue to loom over the club off it, and their return to the Premier Division next season is certain to bring a very different kind of challenge.

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“It might suit us a bit better,” remarked Kilduff when asked about the prospect of a relegation battle next season. “This year, if you look at even what Cobh did, the points tally they accrued is really high for a First Division team. In previous years, it would’ve been enough, and testament to them for their great run.

“Mick (McDermott) is probably the most experienced manager in that division, and he wasn’t going there to come second; he was coming there to try and win it. UCD were second last year. We saw them here last week—they’re a brilliant team.

“There wasn’t much in this, and we utilised and got everything we could out of it, but there’s a big job to be done here going forward. Not saying we’re going up too soon or anything like that, but it’s only a year ago when we had a deadline and we were looking very, very bleak.

“Here we are a year later, looking like we’re coming back. We’re not back just yet, but we’re back in the league we want to be playing in.”