The Commentary Box: I am not faulting the referee for Dundalk's defeat to Shels

Dundalk crashed to their second defeat in a row last Friday night, after a 2-1 defeat to Shelbourne in Oriel Park. The game was marred by some of the worst refereeing I have seen in Oriel for many a long day.

It culminated in a second yellow card for Ciaran Kilduff and his first sending off in his managerial career. It was a disgraceful decision by referee Paul Norton.

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Whoever his assessor was, I would love to see how he graded the referee's performance. Make no mistake, I am not faulting the referee for Dundalk's defeat.

They simply were not good enough. But he did destroy the game as a contest by constantly making poor decisions and holding up the game. The standard of refereeing seems to have dramatically worsened since Dundalk returned to the Premier Division.

I never saw any of this in the First Division last season. But the standard seems to have worsened since Dundalk were last in the Premier Division.

There was controversy involving referees in other games on Friday night in the Premier Division.

Bohemians player Pat Hickey grabbed the ball in his hands and ran a short space with it. He was given a yellow card. hickey should have been red-carded.

The game was in Dalymount, where Bohs were held to a one-all draw by ten-man Derry, who did have a man sent off.

And in Drogheda, Sligo had appeals for a penalty ignored, when the ball hit the underarm of Edwun Agabaje in the box. To be honest, on review, I think a penalty would have been very harsh in this case.

Goals from Daniel Kelly on 11 minutes and Kerr McInroy seven minutes after the break gave Shelbourne the Win. Daryl Horgan did get a goal from the penalty spot a minute from the end of normal time.

There was a grandstand finish as Dundalk went looking for the equaliser. It never came. But after eight minutes of injury time, Dundalk were denied a stone wall penalty when Declan McDaid was clearly dragged down in the box.

He was held down by a Shelbourne player. Again, referee Paul Norton made a terrible decision and ignored the penalty appeals, as did his assistants.

I have graded my opinion on the performances of the Dundalk players out of ten. Again, they had to line out without Norwich City-bound Vinnie Leonard. Vinnie will be joining the Championship team in the middle of next month.

He has been recovering from a serious virus to his leg. Despite the Dundalk management team having hopes that Vinnie will return in a few weeks, time is running out.

I would be very surprised to see him play again for Dundalk. He is badly missing in the centre of the defence. Conor O'Keeffe was also missing from the team again. He has a head injury.

Dundalk are right to take no chances with him. He had a bad head injury last season, which kept him out for ten weeks.

Dundalk made two changes to the team that were beaten by Sligo last Friday. Aodh Dervin returned to centre midfield.JR Wilson also returned. Robert Burns dropped to the bench. Declan McDaid also dropped to the bench.

Team with performance ratings. Goals Enda Minogue 5. JR Wilson 5. Harvey Warren 5. Replaced by Rob Cornwall at half time 5. Mayowa 7. Tyreke Wilson 7. Aodh Dervin 7. Keith Buckley 5.

Replaced by Bobby Burns at half time 5. Eoin Kenny 6 replaced by Declan McDaid at half time 7, Ronan Teahan 5 replaced by Harry Groome on 73 minutes 7. Daryl Horgan 7. Gbemi Arubi 5. 

The Dundalk defence was poor and, as in Sligo were responsible for one if not the two goals conceded.

What's really worrying is that for the second week in a row, Dundalk conceded very sloppy goals early in the first half and also early in the second half. That killed them. Sean Spaight should have been brought on as a full-back or centre-half.

The Republic of Ireland under 17 international has shone in any first team football he has got with Dundalk this season. There is something lacking in this Dundalk defence.

The manager needs to sort it soon. Shane Tracey was not used either. He should have been. Luke Mulligan was on the bench, also. He is a very talented player. Yes, he has been out through injury. He is a midfielder. He is only 17.

But he is a good, strong player. The manager built his team last season on the back of playing young players. He has a relatively young team anyway. But I am confident that the three young players I have mentioned will also be a help.

The sending off of Ciaran Kilduff was simply a disgrace. Ciaran is one of the most level-headed and calm managers I have ever seen in charge of Dundalk. Yes, he may have made a request to the referee during the game.

He should never have been booked. But the second yellow and sending off was a disgrace. There was a second ball on the pitch at the end of the game.

Because of this, Kilduff was booked again and sent off. The ball had come from the Dundalk dugout.

The referee booked the manager, as the rule seemingly says they are responsible for ensuring a second ball does not encroach on the pitch. I had no idea Ciaran had been given a second yellow card until his post-match press conference.

Even members of the Dublin media had not picked up that he was sent off after the game. I have never heard of such a rule. It makes a joke of the game needs to be changed as soon as possible.

We have all seen two balls on the pitch during a game. The FAI should change this rule immediately. It's farcical. The manager said that there were some disgraceful decisions made in the game.

He revealed he got sent off after the game. His first yellow card was for asking the referee to get a hold of the game. He did not curse.

Ciaran said that the second yellow was for a loose ball coming onto the pitch after the referee blew the game up as being over.

Kilduff said that if he is accountable for the second ball being on the pitch, then they are the rules. The Dundalk boss felt the game was out of control from start to finish.

The Dundalk boss criticised how  Shelbourne got away with the time wasting they did use. Kilduff was 100 per cent right. Once Shelbourne got their second goal early in the second half, their one aim was to just waste time and run down the clock.

I have to say they did it in a very skilful way. I have never seen such time wasting in my life. And they got away with it.

Yes, there were nine minutes injury time. But even with the injury time, the referee failed to take any action against the Dublin side for doing what they were doing.

Shelbourne's lead goal came on 11 minutes when Kerr McInroy set Daniel Kelly up at the far post. He tapped home to the net. The Dundalk defence was all over the place.

Goalkeeper Enda Minogue was in limbo land. But the whole defence has to take responsibility for conceding such a soft goal. It was terrible.

On at least two other occasions, it was clear for all to see how slow the Dundalk defence was at failing to cut out Shelbourne balls into the penalty area.

In any case, Shelbourne could have been three up at the break had they taken their chances.

The manager told the media he was not one to criticise officials. But he felt that Dundalk should have had a free before Shelbourne got their corner for the first goal.

Tensions overheated on 25 minutes when Mayowa and Sean Boyd went for a ball. Looking back at the video, it's clear to me that Mayowa was very lucky not to get a straight red card.

The Shelbourne dug out were infuriated. Players from both teams confronted each other. Again, another crazy rule. Because the referee could not decide to book in the fracas, the two captains were booked.

Daryl Horgan and Paddy Barrett were booked. A coach from the Shelbourne bench was also sent off. At times, the Shelbourne bench looked out of control. The referee should have sent more than one off from early on. That would have sorted that out.

Instead, he let it get out of control. The second goal should never happened. A Dundalk player was fouled, and Shelbourne were given the free. Paddy Barrett took it on the edge of the box eight minutes into the second half.

Sam Bone headed the ball on. McInroy slotted the ball to the net. Gbemi Arubi went into the game with a foot injury. He missed a sitter shortly after the Shelbourne second goal. He headed over with the goal at his mercy.

Arubi missed another great chance with nine minutes remaining, once more heading over from close range. Dundalk got a goal back when a Shelbourne player handled in the box.

Daryl Horgan had no problems scoring from the spot. Aodh Dervin had a shot blocked in the box. Bobby Burns had a volley saved by the Shelbourn keeper.Speel.

Right at the end of injury time, Declan McDail was clearly fouled. There was no penalty given. It was just another in a night of dreadful refereeing. 

Dundalk had four efforts on target the entire night. They had four off target. They had 66 per cent of the possession and five corner kicks. There were 3,300 people in attendance. Shelbourne fans bought up the entire away allocation.

Ciaran Kilduff was not happy at the way the two Shelbourne goals were conceded. "Yes, we did not guard our box from either a corner or free kick. There were individual errors.

But some of the decisions leading to those errors, as I said already, were not correct. There were parts of our defending tonight that were not at the level that we wanted.

But the game just never got going. It was stop, start all night. It is worrying that for the second week in a row that there were problems at the back. We are up at the highest level in the country now.

Those momentary mistakes can cost you. Look, we were not disgraced in any way tonight. There are one or two areas that I am not happy with.

"One area of concern we spoke about at halftime was that we only had one effort on target for the entire first half. That little bit of quality has to be evident in and around the box, if you are going to score."

"I suggested to the manager that although Mayowa played well at the heart of the defence, there were problems. I asked him if he had not considered playing Sean Spaight. He said that Sean is only 17 and is cutting his teeth a little bit as well.

"But Sean is one that definitely will be coming in for consideration for our next game. Of course, I am going to have to look at bringing Luke Mulligan into the first team.

"But he has been out through injury all season. He is only back. Luke has not played since the end of last season. In relation to the goalkeeping position, it is too soon to be making any decision bringing Peter in for Enda.

"Tonight is our first defeat in the league at Oriel this season. I am not used to it. It's the first time in a long time we have lost two league games in a row with that group.

"They are still a great group. We are in a league with some top teams. Two weeks ago, I did say to you that, on the laws of averages, we would hit a bad spell like any team. I did not want to jinx it. On the whole, the group have done very well so far this season."

The Dundalk assistant manager, Ken Kiernan, said it was a really disappointing night.

"I think that we started a bit flat. Conceding the set piece and not picking up things in the box is just not like us. The lads have been very good at dealing with set pieces this season.

"We were expecting to be better with the moments in which we conceded. It was lapses in concentration that hurt us tonight. In the first half, we were second best to every ball tonight. I would agree with you.

"But in the second half, we made the changes, and we created a lot of chances. Gbemi has has two good headers. Enda did not have one save to make in the second half.

"We addressed the problems in both midfield and at the back with our substitutions at halftime. Bobby was very good in the second half when he came on.

"I thought Aodh was exceptional throughout the game. We just did not have enough quality in the final third. We just did not stretch them enough. Look, it's difficult.

"We came up against a team with a lot of quality tonight. The two goals we conceded were two moments in a lack of concentration in the game.

"We have to go back and review the lack of concentration for the goals we gave away in Sligo last week and again here against Shelbourne tonight. The manager made the changes at halftime.

"He got a reaction. We created more chances and were better in the final third in the second half. But yes, we will have to review it.

"On the injury front, Conor O'Keeffe is back running. He will be back into contact training in a short space of time. He is obviously on the return as well.

"I do think that Danny Mullen is not far away from returning from injury. He is a top striker. He will be welcome back. Even in terms of training, his presence is fantastic to have around. Vinnie is back running.

"We are hopeful he will be back soon. I was only chatting to him earlier on this evening. He is feeling really good. Luke Mulligan is only back into contact training.

"Sean Spaight is only 17. He has played full back for us. All of the players are knocking on the door. We will be reviewing things."

Dundalk played bottom side Waterford in a critical game at the RSC yesterday. Dundalk really needed to get a result from that. I hope they get the win. Waterford sacked their manager, Jon Daly, on Saturday.

I just hope it did not get a positive reaction from Waterford. Dundalk play Bohemians on Friday night at Oriel. Dundalk badly need the win. Stephen O'Donnell returns to Oriel as assistant manager of the Dublin side.

Have a great week. Look after yourself and each other. And please, be careful out there.