Dundalk's hopes of making it into Europe next season remain on life support

Dundalk's hopes of making it into Europe next season remain on life support. But the 2-0 win over Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds last Friday night have renewed their outside hopes of making it into the Europa Conference League next season.

Stephen O'Donnell's side cut fourth place Bohemians lead on them to just three points. The two teams clash in Oriel next Friday night. A win would see Dundalk go level with the Dalymount Park side.

A 1-0 win for Dundalk next Friday would leave them with the same goals scored as Bohs . Both teams have a goal difference of plus 11. The win would put Dundalk ahead of Bohs.

But Shelbourne are still very much in the hunt for fourth spot. They are two points clear of Dundalk in fifth place.
A slip up by Bohemians next weekend and the Tolka Park side picking up four points from their last two games should see them over the line for hopes of the European spot.

Bohemians can book their place in Europe by winning their next two league games.

They meet Pat's in the cup final and even if they lose, fourth place in the league would springboard them into Europe.
Shelbourne would take full advantage of a Bohemians defeat next week and  jump into fourth place with a win over already relegated UCD.

In reality Shelbourne  need just four points, were Bohs beaten by Dundalk to get the fourth place spot.
Shelbourne meet Drogheda United in the last game of the season. A win by Drogheda here could send Dundalk into fourth place were  everything else to go to plan. Even so, Pat's must win the cup to allow a fourth place side into Europe next season.

I find it unlikely that everything will fall into place for Dundalk. But hope springs eternal and football is a funny old game.
How ironic would it be if Drogheda were to beat Shelbourne in the final game of the season and Pat's win the cup. That could send their most bitter rivals into Europe.

Dundalk's win on Friday was just their sixth away victory of the season. They have also scored just 16 goals away from home. It really is a terrible record.

The win does however mean that they have one better than they had away from home last season. But when looking back at the season gone by, had Dundalk beaten UCD at home in the first league game of the season and had beaten Cork City away earlier in the season they would be in a very strong position for the European place.

Friday's game was played in front of a crowd of 1,753. It was a very good crowd for Sligo considering there was really nothing at stake for them and the fact that Dundalk brought 50 loyal supporters with them.

There would have been more support there but for Storm Babet that lashed the country for much of last week.
The forecast for the Dundalk area was not good nor was it, for any kind of travel on Friday.

Most of the country was affected. Amazingly no rain fell in Sligo. The pitch was in immaculate condition. This helped Dundalk to get their win.

Sligo were greatly weakened, when Robbie Burton was sent off for a second bookable offence.
The players were getting narky towards each other. That quickly ended when Paul McLaughlin gave Burton a yellow card on 48 minutes and a second less than a minute later.

Stephen O'Donnell made six changes to the team beaten by Shelbourne at Tolka Park in their last game 14 days since they last played.

In came Andy Boyle, Louie Annesley, Senan Mullen, Cameron Elliott, Hayden Muller and   Ryan O'Kane.
Darren Brownlie, Johannes Yli-Kokko, Paul Doyle, Sam Durrant, Daniel Kelly  and  Pat Hoban were dropped from the last game.

After the game I asked Stephen O'Donnell where Yli-Kokko and John Martin were as they were not on the subs bench.
It emerged that Johannes Yli-Kokko had returned to his Finnish club HJK Helsinki as he has a bone injury and will miss the last two games of the season.

John Martin was missing as he had picked up a back  injury since his last game, two weeks previously.
It was great to see academy player Senan Mullen make his first start for Dundalk.
He played in the engine room in the heart of midfield.

Two weeks ago he made his Republic of Ireland under 19 debut against Scotland. The following Saturday he started for Ireland in their 3-0 win over the Faroe Islands.

Senan has a great future ahead of him. Hopefully he will be with Dundalk next season. But such is the competition for quality players, they may well find it difficult to hold on to them.

Robbie Benson was terrific at midfield up to the time he had to go off injured shortly before half time.
Robbie has been hit by a spate of injuries in the past two seasons.

But when I asked Stephen O'Donnell after the game would he feature for Dundalk next season it was an emphatic yes from the boss.

I was really glad to hear this as Robbie has a huge amount to contribute to the panel. Robbie was replaced by Conor  Malley.
Nathan Shepperd had a good night in goals. He took off two terrific saves that kept Sligo at bay, even though their threat level was not really as sharp as it should have been.

Whether he remains at Oriel is still in the lap of the gods.
Stephen O'Donnell remains in the dark whether or not he can get a contract offer that will keep the former Welsh under 21 international at Oriel.

If Dundalk can hold on to Shepperd it would send out a serious message to their opponents that the club are intent on building a return to the top of the pile in Irish soccer.

If he leaves it will show a continuation of the decline of the club as a powerhouse of Irish football.
Archie Davis had a good night for Dundalk also. His run down the right and cross into the box sealed the game for Dundalk as Sam Durrant got on the end of it to seal the game with two minutes remaining.

Hayden Muller did well at left back and did not put a foot wrong.
Andy Boyle and Louie Annesley returned to their central defenders role having both been out for weeks with injury.
Boyle was really self assured. He is the gentle giant of Dundalk FC.

Louie Annesley has been plagued with illness and injury for most of the season.
He played for Gibraltar in their two recent European Championship games. One was last week against Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland team.

Annesley had a good game against Sligo and formed a good partnership with Andy Boyle. 
Ryan O'Kane started his first game for Dundalk since 11th August.

He appeared in his usual position on Friday. He tormented the Sligo defence for most of the night. He should have started a lot more games in recent times instead of only entering games when they were half over. He should be playing every week.
Daryl Horgan played on the wing where he should be every game. He nearly scored for Dundalk very early in the game, before putting them in front on 19 minutes.

He was set up by young Cameron Elliott. Horgan slid the ball under the legs of Sligo keeper Conor Walsh for Dundalk's first goal.

He had to go off in the second half after feeling unwell. But he had done another good job for Dundalk as he set them on their way for their second victory at The Showgrounds this season. 

Daniel Kelly replaced Daryl Horgan after 70 minutes. Daniel could well be another player leaving Dundalk this season as he is out of contract.

He met Derry City manager Ruaidhri Higgins for talks about moving to the Brandywell next season.
Daniel is also being chased by Bohemians and a number of other clubs.

The Derry manager has a habit of signing Dundalk players. He has signed five players already over the past three seasons.
The good news is that Daniel has yet to sign any pre contract deal.

Stephen O'Donnell again told me after the game on Friday night he wants the Dubliner to stay at Oriel. 
Greg Sloggett is another player out of contract in a few weeks time. Again he is attracting interest from clubs.
Dundalk may well struggle to hold on to him. He was restored to his normal midfield role on Friday having played at centre half for the past three weeks.

Cameron Elliott made a rare start for Dundalk on Friday. He created Dundalk's opening goal and did cause problems throughout the night for the home side. 

The Dundalk defence were caught out coming up to half time when Archie Davis headed back across his own goal. Niall Morahan's shot was bound for the net.

Greg Sloggett did so well to put in a brave block to prevent the ball from going in.
The only other  time that really troubled the Dundalk defence, was when Nathan Shepperd pulled off the save of the night from a thundering effort from a Sligo striker.

Stephen O'Donnell made his final substitutions of the night when he brought in Sam Durrant, Paul Doyle and Pat Hoban for Cameron Elliott, Ryan O'Kane and Senan Mullen with nine minutes remaining.
The move gave Dundalk a  fresh impetus to get a second goal.

Sam Durrant has been getting into the Dundalk side ahead of Ryan O'Kane of late.
He repaid his manager's faith in him with two minutes remaining when he killed the game off shooting home from six yards out.

So the win at least maintains an outside hope of Dundalk getting into Europe. I think it's just too late.
Still the results at the weekend will guarantee Dundalk a bumper crowd at Oriel next Friday night when they must beat Bohemians to keep their hopes alive.

Earlier in the season Dundalk blew two vital points at home against Bohs when they let a two nil lead slip and allowed Bohs in for two late goals for a share of the spoils.

Had Dundalk won that game and beaten UCD in the opening game of the season at Oriel they would be possibly getting their cases packed for next summer for more adventures in Europe.

Dundalk also blew a two one lead against Bohemians at Dalymount when they conceded two late goals for Bohs take all three.

After the game I walked out onto The Showgrounds pitch with Stephen O'Donnell. The Dundalk boss takes his post match media duties seriously and is usually out quickly to do whatever interviews that need to be done.
O'Donnell said that Dundalk were very good defensively. They looked good going forward and he says they took their chances.

Correctly he said it was a good night's work overall.
O'Donnell is a good manager. But he has been badly restricted at times this season by situations beyond his control.
He was hit badly this season by the lateness with which he was able to put his squad together.
The owners must step up now this week and get rid of all the uncertainties over the players the manager wants to either sign or keep.

If they let Nathan Shepperd walk out of Oriel to join another team there will be great disquiet among supporters. And that goes for other key players.

The manager was delighted with all his players. He spoke about each one and was full of praise.
He said that young Senan Mullen was exceptional. His praise for his young midfielder could not have been high enough.
The manager said not winning games away from home has been the main reason why Dundalk have struggled this season.
He says their home form has seen them lose only four games at Oriel in two years. They lost one last season and three this season.

It's quite clear that Dundalk have yet to get down to concentrating on their plans for next year's squad.
O'Donnell says the club are looking at plans but while the club are still in contention for Europe there are distractions for looking ahead to next season. I find this hard to follow as they should be planning ahead now and a long time before that.
Need I say more when two weeks ago O'Donnell accepted that Dundalk's challenge for Europe was at an end when they were beaten by Shelbourne.

Yes, the weekend results threw them a lifeline. But their hopes for Europe were gone two weeks ago. The serious talking should have begun more than two weeks ago. It has yet to.
The manager confirmed to me on Friday night he has yet to speak to the owners about plans for next season. Again I say ,this is not O'Donnell's  fault, it is the owners.

He says he is hoping they will sit down this week and look at the situation. I was alarmed when the manager said the club were not close to doing any deals with out of contract players. It's not O'Donnell's fault.
I asked O'Donnell how often he is in contact with the owners. I pointed out to him that they do not seem to be willing to speak to local media.

O'Donnell says he does speak to the owners. When asked if it is with all three directors, he said there is communication for sure.

However, the manager confirmed he has not spoken to the owners about his budget for next season.
The manager confirmed that he will be keeping Robbie Benson for next season.

He is also hopeful of keeping John Mountney who has been out injured again for most of the season as he was last year.
Sam Durrant, the scorer of the second goal, is one that Stephen O'Donnell wants to keep.

He is not attached to any club. Durrant is a young player who signed in the summer on a short term contract.
He wants to stay at Oriel as well. He was very happy at getting the second goal.

He said he needs more tap ins like he got on Friday, adding that it was a great ball from Archie Davis that set him up.
Sam wants to get more goals over the next two games. Sam says that even though he was only on the pitch for a few minutes he was itching to get a goal.

He said it was a good open game and that he was glad that he took the opportunity when it came.
Sam says he is very happy at Dundalk. He says the players are great to be around.

The manager has been very helpful to him. The staff have been great as well. He wants to be at Oriel next season also.
Sam  wants to progress as a player. He was emphatic when he said that he felt that Dundalk and Oriel was the place to do that.

Sam says the team will be back at Oriel next Friday and they know what they have to do and that they will get the win.
Dundalk skipper Andy Boyle says the win was a good victory and a very good night's work.

Andy said it has been very hard to pinpoint why Dundalk's away form has been so poor this season.
He believes  it was great to get the win on Friday. They had spoken about the fact that they had not done well on the road this season after the Shelbourne game.

He said they looked for a reaction for the Sligo game and they had got it. He says the team defended well against Sligo and showed good aggression.

He also emphasised  they showed the desire to win.
Andy says that Daryl Horgan had shown great class on the pitch and had also taken his goal very well.

The captain was also full of praise for Nathan Shepperd. He said at one stage Sligo were in for a certain goal when Dundalk led 1-0. Andy says Nathan took off a top class save to keep Dundalk ahead and keep their faint European hopes alive.
It is vital that Nathan stays at the club next season. Andy said he was the wrong person to be asking about Nathan staying. But he says everybody wants Nathan to stay. Nathan is hugely important to the team both on and off the pitch.
Andy spoke of his own battle against injury this season. He says that to sustain two muscle injuries in one season was very unfortunate.

The popular Dundalk skipper is hopeful that this is now all behind him.
Boyle knows outside the team they have been questioned over the poor results they have produced this season. He says this questioning has been one hundred percent right. He says that the team and players are showing great resolve to put this right.

Andy agreed with the question that the club should  get their plans for next year's squad into action as soon as possible.
He said it was above his pay grade to be answering this question. But even so he said he agreed with Stephen O'Donnell that they get next season's squad sorted sooner rather than later.

Death of Sir Bobby Charlton
Finally, the world of sport was greatly saddened with the death of Sir Bobby Charlton the great Manchester United stalwart.
Bobby, a brother of former Republic of Ireland manager Jack Chartlton, was 86.
He survived the Munich air disaster, when 23 of the clubs' players,supporters, press and  officials died in a plane crash on 6th February 1958.

Bobby went on to play with the great United team of 1966-67 that included the great George Best and Denis Law. Bobby was the last of the survivors of the Munich air disaster to pass away.
He led England to a World cup in 1966. Bobby played with Waterford for a short time two years after he retired from Manchester United in 1973.

Ironically he led United to European cup glory in 1968.
United came to Lansdowne road for a pre-season game against Waterford in August 1968 where they proudly displayed the European trophy to the crowd.

I was at this game and I will never forget the emotion that engulfed the stadium.
Bobby was manager of Preston North End from 1973 to 1975.
He took his team to Oriel Park on 1st August 1975. I will never forget that day as the Miami Showband massacre took place the night before the game.

The murders were carried out by the notorious loyalist Glenanne gang. They were stopped by a fake security forces checkpoint outside Banbridge on the Belfast road. 
Bobby Charlton's Preston North End were in Dundalk the day after. They were given a reception at the Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk.

Bobby was given a special presentation by then Dundalk FC chairman, the late Jim Malone.
Bobby left Preston early in the 1975 season. He had joined the club in 1973. His visit to Dundalk will never be forgotten.
I later had the pleasure of meeting Bobby at a Premiership game against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in the late 1990's.
I was able to chat with Bobby about his long association and successes in football.

I remember getting his autograph at the end of our chat. I will treasure that for as long as I live.
It's amazing that Sir Bobby would have died in the Munich crash but for the fact that he was pulled to safety by another United player Harry Gregg who was Irish and came from the North.

Have a safe week. Next up for Dundalk is the home game against Bohemians at Oriel Park.