“We'll be leaving no stone unturned” - O'Donnell

Stephen O’Donnell accepted the pressure he is currently under as Dundalk FC head coach following their 1-0 loss at St Patrick’s Athletic – a third straight defeat which leaves them propping up the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division after four matches.

The Galwegian, having just entered his third season in charge of Dundalk, cut a disconsolate figure on Friday night as he departed the field at full-time in Inchicore.

A single point from a possible 12 equals Dundalk’s tally at the same stage of a tempestuous 2021 campaign, which saw them go through four different managers.

“It’s not about me,” said O’Donnell afterwards.
“You take a manager’s job, results don’t go your way, of course you’re going to be scrutinised, especially in today’s world, but I’m not interested in myself.

“Whatever happens, happens. I’m interested in getting our team functioning. I thought we played quite well tonight at different stages, but we need to be just cleaner throughout and stop giving rubbish away, and that’s precisely what we’re giving away all the time, rubbish goals.”

Dundalk were booed off the pitch after being hammered 5-0 to Sligo Rovers at Oriel Park last Monday night, but more than 200 supporters made the trip to Dublin just four days later, with O’Donnell in full acceptance of unrest amongst the fanbase in recent weeks.

“If you lose games, of course that’s the feeling that’s going to be amongst them, amongst supporters. I understand that. I don’t think there’s ever a question of our attitude, don’t think there’s a question of the player’s attitude tonight and how they went about it (against St Pats).

“It’s a confidence thing as well. You go a goal behind after the couple of defeats, players aren’t robots, that all adds in. We just need to stop just giving up such cheap goals.”

He later added: “You have to earn the support. I thought we had great support tonight, great reception after the game. It’s up to us basically. Results get supporters on side, get supporters enthusiastic, get supporters engaged, enthused by their team, and until we start producing results, we can’t have any complaints, so that’s the way I would see it.

“Obviously the result last Monday, I totally understand, I get it. There’s nothing I can say ultimately to the supporters that is going to get them engaged, only victories, only results, and that’s ultimately my remit as a manager. We’ll be leaving no stone unturned to achieve that.

“That’s the game, that’s the industry we’re in. Results keep fans happy. Poor results, fans aren’t happy. It’s that black and white and I totally understand that.”

Even though Bohemians sit three points ahead of The Lilywhites in the table, Declan Devine became the first managerial casualty of the season on Sunday afternoon.

O’Donnell says he has a good relationship with new Dundalk owner Brian Ainscough, but acknowledges that an improvement of form is needed to eradicate growing scrutiny.

“I have a very good relationship with the owner, but again, whatever happens to me, happens. I’m more concerned about tonight in regards where we go forward from here, in regards our team, in regards to personnel and just quelling them soft goals and then being slicker, being as slick as we can.”

The Dundalk head coach will be desperate to acquire three points when his team hosts Waterford, who sit third with seven points, at Oriel this Friday night (kick-off, 7.45pm).

“I don’t think you’re expected to beat any team in this league this season, to be honest. I don’t think the landscape’s like that. I think you have a couple at the top and then everyone else can beat each other and have every right to beat each other, so it’s a big game.

“Obviously we’ve lost our last three, but we had a good performance against Shamrock Rovers away. Today was a 50-50 game. I thought we shaded it from a general play point of view. We lose the game, though, and then in between, obviously you have the two really poor games.

“We know we need a win and we’ll train accordingly and look to get that win next week, but again, it’ll come down to fundamentals of the game and not giving up just really poor goals and that’s what we’re doing.”

The Lilywhites are in action again on Monday, March 18th against St Mochta’s in the quarter-finals of the PTSB Leinster Senior Cup at Porterstown Road in Clonsilla.

Meanwhile, the recently-postponed Premier Division fixture between Bohemians and Dundalk at Dalymount Park has been rescheduled to take place on Monday, April 15th.