Dundalk show fight, grit and determination to beat Rovers

Dundalk upset all the odds when they beat champions Shamrock Rovers by one goal to nil from the boot of John Mountney a minute into injury time at Oriel last Friday night.

It brought to an end a week of massive upheaval following the departure of Brian Gartland eight days ago and also manager Noel King's exit for medical reasons three days later.

The loss of Noel King left first team coach Liam Burns with the job of preparing his side for the visit of Shamrock Rovers to Oriel. The fight, grit and determination in this Dundalk side was there for all to see for the 2,230 crowd who attended the game as Dundalk just never gave up.

Nobody can say that they did not deserve the win as they battled for every ball, which Rovers did not. Liam Burns may have caught Rovers on the hop when he reshaped his team from the formation that they have been playing in recent weeks. The coach went with three at the back in Andy Boyle, Mayowa and Zak Johnson.

Archie Davies played at right wing back and JohnMountney played as a left wing back.This positioning of Mountney was the key. It gave the Dundalk skipper the freedom to move into keyroles.

It allowed him to meet Hayden Muller's late cross and score the vital goal. Dundalk were top class in defence throughout the games as they completely stymied the front two of the champions.

Paul Doyle and Zak Bradshaw were excellent at centre midfield. Paul Doyle particularly excelled in a way he has not done so for quite a while. Daryl Horgan was once again on fire on the left wing.

Zak Bradshaw had one of his best games of the season for Dundalk. Jamie Gullan ran himself until he was about to drop, his performance was so good. But Cameron Elliott was once again a huge disappointment.

Dundalk would be much better to replace him with Sam Durrant or Ryan O'Kane up front. Both would have a much better chance of scoring than Elliott would.

Liam Burns is facing suspension for Friday's game against Galway after picking up another yellow card. If a new manager is not inplace, then the Head of the Academy Dave Mackey looks set to take over.

I am sure that Dundalk will want to have a new boss in place by then. Former Pat's boss Jon Daly has emerged as one of the favourites to get the job.

I am sure that owner Brian Ainscough will this time consult CEO Peter Halpin about who will be the new boss at Oriel. I can not see him go on the same solo run that he did when he gave the job to Noel King.

It's so sad that Noel has had to leave his job after only 25 days because of medical reasons. There was a nice tribute from the crowd for Noel wishing thim and his family the very best going into the future.

The game did not kick off until 8.15, half an hour later than expected. The Rovers team bus arrived on time at Oriel. But four of their players missed it and the kit man did not arrive until near enough a quarter to eight.

The reason was because of the huge traffic delays around the M50 following a fatal road crash earlier in the day, when a man lost his life.

There were four hour traffic delays in parts of the roads out of Dublin. Rovers manager Stephen Bradley did not offer the traffic disruption to his side being beaten. That says a lot to his credit. I am sure that it did play its part.

I remember another time when a team arrived late at Oriel for a League game. It was on the last day of the 1992/93 season. Bohemians, Cork City and Shelbourne were still in the frame to win the League.

Bohemians were due to play their game in Oriel Parkwith a 3.30 kick off. Bohs just needed a point to win the title.They were three points clear of their rivals still in the hunt for the title a Dundalk win and the other two teams winning would mean Bohs, Cork City and Shelbourne would be involved in a three team play off.

A draw would have given Bohs the title. In those days goal difference did not decide who was champions if two or three teams finished at the top with the same points.

For Bohemians it turned out to be a disastrous day. The team coach broke down just outside Dublin. As a result the kick-off was delayed 48 minutes. As supporters filed into the ground, rumours flooded Oriel that the bus delay was a deliberate ploy by Bohs to have the game start late so they would know exactly what to do as the Shelbourne and Cork City games would be over.

However, when it became clear that the game was going to start late, League officials said the other clubs could start their fixtures later, if they wanted. As well as that the League of Ireland offered Dundalk the points.

But the club refused them. There was talk on the ground that Bohs would face a heavy fine and a deduction of points at any rate. But the great Tom McNulty spared the League any blushes when he scored the winning goal against Bohemians into the Town End goals.

The league was decided in a three way play off. Apart from losing the match a group of Bohs fans had a fight among themselves at the back of the Town End goals.

At the end of the game Bohs manager Eamonn Gregg would not shake the hand of Dundalk boss Turlough O'Connor as he ran down the tunnel and into the dressing room. The game had been delayed by 50 minutes in total. It proved to be a very costly day for Bohs as they went onto lose the playoffs allowing Cork City to become 1993 champions.

Rovers went into Friday's game on an awful run of form. They had won just one of their last six games. Dundalk had only won one game all season and were six points adrift of the play off spot. They ended the night just three points of that spot after Galway got two late injury time goals to beat Drogheda by three goals to two.

It seemed like the old days for a while at Oriel as the old stadium rocked, urging Dundalk forward to have a go at the Hoops Andy Boyle, Daryl Horgan, and John Mountney were immense as they brought back glimmers of the Kenny era.

They went close on 6 minutes when Zak Bradshaw had an effort saved by Leon Pohls. Rovers should have been in front on 6 minutes when Aaron Greene played Johnny Kenny in with a great through ball. But Kenny fluffed his lines and shot wide with an empty goal beckoning.

Dundalk hit back six minutes later when Daryl Horgan found Cameron Elliott with an excellent cross. The Dundalk striker should have scored. He half heartedly jumped for the ball. He could and should have met it with his head. He did not put in enough effort.

The Dundalk defence was again found wanting on 17 minutes when Cameron Grant set up Johnny Kenny six yards out from goal. But once again Kenny shot weakly at Dundalk keeper Ross Munro.

Paul Doyle did go close for Dundalk with a 25 yard effort that was narrowly wide. Doyle was unlucky again 8 minutes into the second half when his 20 yard effort was narrowly wide.

Rovers came close with 20 minutes left when Graham Burke shot over from close range. But the vital winner came on 90 minutes when Hayden Muller got in a great cross from the right.

Sam Durrant tried a bicycle kick at the cross. Luckily he failed to connect. Mountney met the ball with a thunderbolt effort that wrestled in the bottom left hand corner of the net.

The famous Oriel roar rang out that could be heard at the Friary Church. The message was that Dundalk were in front. Dundalk ran down the five minutes of injury time and held on to win only their second game of the season.

Both were in Oriel. It was a night when maybe Dundalk may have turned a corner. John Mountney scored his first goal at Oriel in 5 years. You would have thought Dundalk had won the league such were the scenes of utter jubilation.

The bench emptied as all the players and coaches danced around the pitch in joy. It was as if a huge cloud of pressure had been lifted from the team and in Oriel in general. It was also a sixth clean sheet in a row for Dundalk.

Acting manager Liam Burns says it was a massive 3 points. "But we need to build on it. It was probably the best we played all year. The commitment was so good and to come away with the win was fantastic.

"Obviously we had to change our shape with key players being out for tonight's game. The boys executed the change so well. Obviously there have been problems outside of the dressing room. But the squad agreed to focus on themselves and what has been happening inside the dressing room.

"We knew we had no control on whatever was going on outside the dressing room. We go again against Galway next Friday.

They have had a great four goals to two win over Drogheda tonight. They beat us here earlier in the league and of course hammered us in the cup. I'm confident that we can get a good result in Eamonn Deacy park next Friday.

"At the end of the day the league table does not lie.We are bottom and we are going to have to battle very hard to get out of the mess we are in.

"But we can do it. We have the players that are good enough to lift us away from the danger zone. But we are not under any illusions. We are still at the bottom. Let us be realistic. We still have only got three points. Those points will be parked. The boys recover over the next two days and then we go again preparing for Galway".

Liam then said he just wanted to send out his thoughts and prayers to Noel King and the family from himself and the players. "We want Noel to get better. Health takes precedence over everything elsea person does. Over the four weeks that he was here one could see how much knowledge that Noel had of soccer. Where there are negatives there are also positives and let us hope that the medical people get it early.

"We can not control what happens. We can control what's on the pitch and that's it. There is a queue out the door of people who want to manage this football club. It's a wonderful soccer town people should be putting their applications in.”

When asked if Liam himself would be interested in the managerial job he emphatically said no.”No, becoming a manager would not be for me. I would not have the desire to become a manager. We need a manager who is going to put structures in place at the club.

"He is not going to manage the team. He is going to manage the club. Being a manager is not an easy job. There is the football side and there is the human side".

Liam says he has enjoyed managing the team over a number of games. But the sooner we get somebody in the better. Liam has proved to be an inspirational manager. To beat the champions in your own backyard is a fantastic achievement.

Liam will be a massive asset to the next manager whoever that is. Team captain John Mountney was delighted with the result. He was an inspiration. ''We know that if we can get a few wins then we can climb up that table very quickly. For the goal I was playing leftwing back.

"Zak Johnson was encouraging me to get in the box just as we were on the attack. Hayden Muller put in a perfect cross. I was in the right place and right time.

"I struck the ball from the edge of the box. It went sweetly into the bottom left hand corner of the net. It was a killer blow for Rovers and we beat them and collected the three points.

"It is five years since I last scored at Oriel. I have literally been out for nearly three years with serious achilles tendon injuries in both parts of my body.

"It took enormous work and dedication to get myself fit again. It was night's like this that were the spur that encouraged me to work as hard as I could, to get back to first team football".

Daryl Horgan was once again in good form for Dundalk. He seems to get younger all the time "I think we played really well. In particular I was delighted for John getting the winner and the manner in which he got it.

"It was a huge moment for us to see our left back winger getting into their area and scoring. It was just fantastic.The whole team performance was really good and really solid. For long spells of the game we looked and were the better team.

"Tonight we took our chances and did not give away silly goals. We have been doing this a lot of the time in games throughout the season so far. We have to get used to not conceding goals which we did not do tonight. It's a great confidence booster heading into the Galway game.

"We just have to take each game as it comes. Obviously Galway got a very good win in Drogheda tonight. Next week's game will be a very tough one at Eamonn Deacy Park, as they are flying at the moment.

"We are going to have the same level of intensity and strength as we showed against Shamrock Rovers, if we are to get anything from the Galway game.

"We can't be looking at the defeat of Drogheda and Sligo too much. We have got to look after and just concentrate on ourselves. We must just take each game as it comes. If we look after ourselves, then we will get ourselves out of the trouble we are in at the moment.

"We know that we are in a relegation dog fight and we must play as we did tonight in each game to come if we are to get out of this relegation mess.

"At times football is a horrible industry. We are sad to see Noel King leave because of medical reasons. I know he was very excited at becoming the new Dundalk manager.

“I think that he said it was a dream job or words to that effect. It's sad for him that he had to walk away from that so early into his tenure.

"As footballers we have got to get on with things. Liam Burns has been simply fantastic this week. He has been doing about 14 different jobs in the past week.

"The performance from Dundalk was really good tonight. We had great solidity at the back. Midfield was good as were the strikers. Ross Munro was also very good in goals.

"There was a real togetherness drilled into us all week. That really helped tonight. We kept at it all during the game looking for the goal that would win the game.

"With time running out, many would think we would have just let the clock run down and be happy with the point. But no. We continued to press high and crowd their penalty area. Then came the winning goal.

“Rovers were in the ascendancy near the end. But it says so much for the lads that we could press so many bodies high up the pitch even at that critical time.

"We did so well to get the cross into the box for the goal. It found John on the left hand edge of the penalty area and he made no mistake drilling the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net".

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley says he was disappointed at losing the game the way they did. He felt Rovers should have been good enough to collect the points. Stephen also gave his opinion on Stephen Kenny returning to the league as manager of St Pat's.

“It's a great boost to see him back in the league. It will be interesting to see how it goes. We will see how it goes as time passes.

"But Stephen has a good track record of success on the domestic front in Ireland. Stephen is a good manager. It is of course good for the league. Overall it is very positive to see him back in the League of Ireland".

Have a good week and please look after each other.