Commentary Box: Dundalk rescue their Premier Division status out of nothing

The majority in the Showgrounds did not realise that the goal was enough to keep Dundalk in the Premier Division. For a short time I did not realise that Dundalk were now safe.

As referee Daniel Murphy blew his whistle, there was a deafening silence at the home of Sligo Rovers. The Dundalk players knew, as of course did the manager know that they were safe.

But as the Dundalk players went over to the supporters to thank them for coming to the game, there was no signs of anybody celebrating. The players had just served up a terrible display against a side that was already relegated.

When I realised Dundalk were safe, my mood changed immediately. I was not looking forward to the post-match interviews as I was sure I would be interviewing a very unhappy manager.

Now at least I knew he had achieved his main goal. That was to ensure Dundalk would not be relegated. Ciaran Kilduff was very frank and critical of most of his team.

He said the second half display was one of the worst he had ever seen. He has issued an ultimatum, giving his players notice that they had the last two games to prove they are good enough to stay with Dundalk.

I never saw Ciaran Kilduff as annoyed after a game in the two years he has been here as manager. But Ronan Teahan's goal ensured they were safe. All associated with the club do not have to worry how Drogheda or Waterford are doing in the remaining games.

Another priceless factor that has emerged from the result is that the club get 340,000 euro from UEFA for coming back into the Premier Division and staying there.

All clubs in the Premier Division that survive there get the same money. For Dundalk, the money is worth its weight in gold. It will go partly to manager Ciaran Killduff's budget as a help to rebuild his squad.

And it does need massive repair. The loss of Gbemi Arubi and Eoin Kenny had an even bigger influence on the team's implosion than I realised. Yes, Dundalk have been toothless up front since they left in the summer.

But there is more to it than that. These two were a huge blow to the team's morale and confidence. Dundalk went from knowing how to win overnight to learning how to lose very quickly.

On Saturday, Gbemi Arubi scored a goal from 40 yards to help Burton Albion earn a 2-2 draw. It was a sensational goal. It left their opposition, Peterborough, stunned.

Suddenly, when I saw what Gbemi had done, the memories started flooding back as to what this young man did for Dundalk. Gbemi could turn games on their head.

He could score a goal out of nothing. His goal against Cobh Ramblers in the fourth game the sides met last season ensured Dundalk would go on and get promotion.

Eoin Kenny had a great season last year. This season it improved even more. Memories of the game earlier this season against Bohemians in the league will stay forever with me, or for as long as I live.

Dundalk were magnificent on the night. But Kenny and Arbibi just outshone everybody that night. It's amazing that Dundalk failed to win again in the league until they beat Drogheda on their own patch.

By that stage Eoin and Gbemi had long since departed the scene. Ciaran Kilduff did bring in three players. Trevor Clarke has done very well. But he has been injured too often.

Igor Vasseinin was brought on loan from Shamrock Rovers to the club. The 18-year-old has really impressed. He returns to Rovers at the end of the season. He can not play against them in the last game.

So Friday night's game against Derry at the Brandywell will be his last game. Striker Cian Dillon has failed to make an impression. But the 20-year-old needs time to settle. He has been signed for another season, as far as I know.

That was part of the deal that brought him to Oriel. Dundalk have had huge problems at the back. When they would go ahead, they would almost constantly ensure they conceded an easy goal that threw away easy points.

This was a factor that they struggled with all season. They had 28 goals scored against them from set pieces over the entire season. This is shocking.

Yet Dundalk were in fourth place for most of the year. Despite only winning one league game in three months, they were only dislodged from that fourth spot in the past three weeks.

Dundalk staying in the Premier Division is a massive achievement. It's an achievement for Ciaran Kilduff and his coaching staff. It's an achievement for all the players.

And of course it's an achievement for the supporters who have followed this club through the good and the bad times. They are magnificent. It's an achievement by all players.

Each member of the squad have played their own part in helping Ciaran Kilduff t o achieve his stated goal of staying in the Premier Division.

The club have already got 12 players signed up. They will be looking for another 12, I would imagine. Tom Grivosti also joined Dundalk in the window. He has been a good help.

I feel very sorry for Conor Kearns. He came on loan at the start of the season. But he soon picked up an injury that would result in no more games at Oriel. He was out for the rest of the season.

The manager says the goalkeeper will be returning to Shelbourne in the coming weeks. Enda Minogue came in for Conor, and he would hold his place for the entire season.

I would imagine he will also be departing at the end of the year. Dundalk owe Enda a debt of gratitude in many ways. Last season he helped them get promotion.

This season he made a number of good saves that won Dundalk games. But Ciaran Kilduff persisting with him for the season just made the defence that little bit more vulnerable.

On Saturday I drove to Sligo in hope rather than in confidence. Yes, Sligo were already relegated. But they were no longer under any pressure. I feared Dundalk were not going to get what they needed to avoid getting sucked into the relegation quagmire.

I was wrong. They threw off their shackles and really gave Dundalk a right fright. But the club did achieve the point needed. The Oriel Park side did dominate the first half. They did have chances.

They forced 11 corners. But it was all for nothing as they just never looked like scoring. I thought Dundalk were poor in the first half as well as the second half.

Dundalk were out of the blocks at the start. They forced an early corner. There were two fouls on Mayowa and Ronan Teehan. That foul on Mayowa caused him to depart injured a short time later.

Sligo made a quick break out of defence. They tore the Dundalk midfield and defence asunder in a wonder move. A late great tackle from Aodh Dervin prevented Sligo from getting the opener.

Ronan Teahan was magnificent in the first half. His influence just got stronger and stronger. But it was Sligo who came closest to scoring. Kaiyne Woolery went clear in the Dundalk box.

Enda Minogue did not move to cover the shot. He decided to let it go. It was a huge gamble. Luckily for him, the ball was only inches away from going in.

Dundalk forced 8 corners in the first 17 minutes of the game. Mayowa's night was over when he went down on the ground, signalling that he could not continue. Igor Vasseinein replaced him.

Ronan Teahan was a constant threat to Sligo. They forced 10 corners in the first half. Three minutes into first-half injury time, Dundalk went close to opening their account.

Daryl Horgan put in a cross from the left. Keith Buckley had a shot that looked bound for the net. The goalkeeper, Liam Hughes, was beaten. Somehow Gareth McElroy got back to clear the ball off the line.

Sligo took the lead early in the second half. Sean Stewart pumped the ball into the Dundalk box. He easily beat Bobby Burns. Grivosti did not clear either.

The two Dundalk defenders were poor in this incident. But Enda Minogue also must take a share of the blame. He failed to cut out the cross which he should have got to.

It was that man Kaiyne Wolery again. he got his head to the ball. The ball went in off the underside of the crossbar. Dundalk were badly shaken. Trevor Clarke was replaced by Shane Tracey on 63 minutes, as was Aodh Dervin for Declan McDaid.

Leo Gaxha and Harry Groome replaced Keith Buckley and Cian Dillon. With 12 minutes remaining, Sligo were denied a certain penalty when Bobby Burns clearly pushed Luke Pearce in the back in the box.

Referee Daniel Murphy was right up with play. He waved the Sligo appeal for a penalty away. If they had got the penalty, the game would have been well and truly over. But the gods were looking down on Dundalk in Sligo on Saturday. Right on time.

Tom Grivosti played a long ball out of defence that caught Sligo totally on the hop. Declan MacDaid latched on to the ball in their box. He saw Ronan Teahan on the edge of he penalty area.

His pass to Teahan was perfect. Ronan seemed to mis-hit the ball, however. In the mud, it headed slowly for the Sligo goal.

Keeper Liam Hughes surely had it covered. Once again luck was on Dundalk's side. The goalkeeper let the ball go under his body. The ball just trickled slowly over the line.

It was as if the ghosts of Oriel Park just gave the ball an extra push and it crawled over the line. Sligo were devastated. Dundalk had rescued their Premier Division status out of nothing. But there were no celebrations.

The Dundalk team had not played well during the whole game. Some of the players headed for the dressing rooms at the final whistle. But Ciaran Kilduff ushered all of the players over to the supporters to thank them.

There was so much irony around the Showgrounds. Dundalk had just pulled off getting the point they needed. It got no recognition initially.

Dundalk were safe for another season. History will show Dundalk got the point they needed. It will not remember the Dundalk performance and the freak equaliser.

After the game, I entered the main media area seeking to speak to the Dundalk manager Ciaran Kilduff. He has just seen his side pull off the great escape. They no longer had to worry about the playoffs.

Ever the gentleman, Ciaran asked that he just get a few minutes to put his thoughts together. He needed them. But he was straight into an LOITV interview.

I think that interview was what he needed. He was able to speak openly about what he had seen unfold in the Showgrounds and had escaped a shock result.

The manager came over to me after doing his piece with the national media. He wanted to go back out on the pitch and go to the dugout and sit down and speak.

Ciaran knows how important the local media are and that his message will always get to the fans, who see and watch what he wants to say to them.

He agreed that the result was so important for the club. They no longer had to worry about being dragged into the spectacle of the playoffs.

"I think I have also learned something important in the past couple of weeks. I have seen where at times we have not been as good as we should be. We were way off the level tonight in the second half in that game, for example.

We did show great character at the end, with Ronan Tehan's vital equaliser at the death. We have achieved our objective. But the second half performance was just not good enough. I learned just how hard it has been.

There have been games where we have just not been good enough. If you are, anyway, dropping to the level we have shown in the past few weeks at times, we have been way off the required standard at times. We were in the second half tonight."

"Yet Ronan Teahan's goal was probably the most important we got all season. We have achieved our objective that was set at the start of the season. We are staying in the Premier Division.

But again, I have to say that the second half performance was just not good enough. We never looked like getting anything from the game because of the way we played in that second half. I just can not stand over anything in that game.

I kept looking over at our huge support on the far side of the pitch. I kept thinking. We need to do more. We need to be better for them. Those fans have been up and down in the First Division with me.

We have been in Kerry. We have been everywhere. We were playing against an already relegated team tonight. I just found that second-half performance was totally unacceptable.

To go behind, and then to look at some of the decision-making, and trying to play like that on a pitch like that in October. It was madness. It's not just about them. We are in this together. But some of the decision-making was just comical tonight."

"The positives for the club are that we spend another year as a Premier Division team. To come up and stay in the Premier Division is not easy. You saw what happened to Cork last season. They went up and down in one year.

Now it's great to see them back again for next year. But to go up to the Premier Division and stay up is so difficult. It's great what we did. But I cannot get any solace from that, after watching what I saw there in the second half tonight.

This club is way too good for that. The support is way too good for that. The quality in the club is also way too good.

It's mind-boggling stuff what has happened. I know we lost Mayowa early in the first half through injury. But we are out of excuses now. We need to be better."

"I accept that we did have players in that team who were carrying injuries tonight. When you are the newly promoted team, I accept that is all a factor and have to deal also with low budgets.

We had to push everything to the maximum as we could. I had Tyreke out there playing a full 90 minutes. He has been injured for the past two months. That is probably not the plan. I do not think Mayowa was carrying an injury.

But he did pick up an ankle injury early in the game. We have been pillaged by injuries this season. But we still had eleven players on the pitch tonight, just like Sligo. We still had players out there connected to the club.

I wanted to go clear in fifth tonight. I wanted a win tonight. I wanted a convincing performance. But that was far from convincing what we saw here tonight.

Some of those players have 13 days to convince me that they want to be here next season. I simply can't stand over what I saw tonight.

Anyone out there tonight, maybe with the exception of Ronan Teahan and Daryl have to convince me about them being here next season. We had 16 players out there tonight. I am not throwing them under the bus.

But I am furious with the players there tonight. I am also furious with myself. Yes, we are still a Premier Division Club. But we can do things a lot better."

"I most certainly am not as frustrated that I would walk away from the club. I love Dundalk FC. I love the club when we win and also when we lose. I love it when there is a way to lose. That was not the way to draw tonight. The first half was worthy of a win.

The second half was worthy of a defeat. We can not be so polar opposite. We can not be so high and so low. We have to play like a Premier Division side all the time. The first half we did. The second half we most certainly did not.

We have not been playing well. Every point we did get, we earned. You see that tonight. The last team promoted from the First Division had 27 points. We now have 42. We still have two games left.

You would wonder how we did so well looking at what we saw tonight. That is what is frustrating me. I am never going to come out here and tell you I am happy with that.

We have not played well the last couple of months. We will fix it. I do know what is wrong. Looking at that tonight, you would wonder how we have got as far as we have."

"We have to look at things. There is an awful lot of fixing needed to do with that team. You can not bullshit the fans. You cannot bullshit anybody. I am never going to come out here and tell you I am happy with that performance.

Quite the opposite. We were playing a relegated team and look at our performance. And we have not been playing well over the last couple of months. But I know how to fix it. And I will."

"I completely agree with you when you told Niall Newberry that it was impossible to see the difference between the team already relegated and the one that just needs a point to avoid the play-offs. I tend to get animated, if not emotional, over this.

I know I have helped guide the club to safety, which is what we all want. It's been a really tough year, and it was. That was really tough out there tonight. We come away with the point we needed. I suppose you take it and move on.

But there is no way I am going to accept what I saw tonight. There was a turning point for the club when we lost Vinnie Leonard to a club in the UK. We also lost Eoin Kenny and Gbemi Arubi.

The last game we won against Bohemians, we also lost Danny Mullen. We also lost Tyreke Wilson until tonight and JR.

So with the four we lost, and the three new signings in the window, I probably underestimated how long it was going to take to get the new players up to speed."

"I looked at it that these three wanted to hit the ground running when they came in. But it was always going to be difficult for them to settle in to settle quickly. I think I underestimated how long it was going to get the three new lads up to speed.

I underestimated that. The new players really need a pre-season. We are going to get a pre-season for 2027. Because, as you could see, the difference between the first half of the season and the second was like chalk and cheese.

I have 12 or 13 players signed for next season so far. We are still progressing. Some of them are young. players. But we are also going to be very strong and are progressing.

We need to a of a lot of things. I agree that we do need to improve in the goalkeeping area. We also need to improve defensively and in midfield.

We have also lost attacking players. The season is nearing an end. But there are things happening. We need to get this right. I know exactly what is needed."

"I had a meeting earlier this week with the powers that be. We are planning for next year, and there are things in the pipeline."

"We will need defenders. Of course. Without being disrespectful, we are probably going to have to take in a coach to help us in this area.

But listen, without getting too deep with you, a couple of my staff are not even full-time, and they have given a full-time commitment. I just can't go out and sign the very best players.

That's because of our financial situation. I could come out here and compartmentalise things with you. But there are probably still debts from the past that must be paid. Paying these debts is keeping the club alive."

"When I calm down later tonight, and I look at the league table, I realise I do not have to worry about a play-off. Look at Sligo. They have to play in Division One next season.

Thank God, that is not us. Other teams are already prepared for next season. But I have to call things to what they were. I am not happy. The last couple of months in relation to team performances.

And I am not happy with what I saw tonight. Conor Kearns will not be with us next season. He has been on loan. He will go back to Shelbourne.

He has another year with them. He is not fit. But if you look around the country, there are a lot of goalkeeping issues.

But look, it was not just the keeper there tonight who was responsible for the result or indeed the performance. The decision-making that was made out there on that pitch out there beggars belief.

The only silver lining for tonight was the fact that we got the point that guarantees we can not be sucked into the mess of battling against a playoff spot. But I cannot finish the season on that.

I want to finish it on a much more positive footing. It does not get any harder than going away to the Brandywell and finishing against Shamrock Rovers at home.

They may have to come to Oriel to win the league. When I calm down, I may be able to appreciate that. Now you mention it, our last home game on our return to the Premier Division should be a nice occasion.

If it's all to play for, I would of course have taken that at the start of the year. It would be great to have a say in a title decider."

"I am joking now. But in answer to your question of doing Stephen Kenny a favour if Pats are still in the title race, he did not do us any favours a few weeks ago when they came to Oriel. Sure, they put four past us.

On a serious point, we will go out and do our level best to get two wins in our last two games. I want to finish as high up the league table as we can. Remember, our currency is our supporters.

I looked across at them many times tonight. I see them at home as well. We have to go out and do our very best for them. On the pitch, we need to be much better. Tonight should have been a celebration.

But we stay a Premier Division club with all the money that goes with it. I will be able to appreciate that in the morning. It's not a good night for me, because of the performance you saw there out on the pitch."

But Dundalk have a special manager. He is one of the most forward-thinking I have seen. He is also a very decent man who you could have nothing but respect for.

It will be great to relax at the last two games of the season. But next season is the one where Dundalk must make a move forward. With the right resources, they can.

Have a great week. Please look after yourselves and each other. And remember to please be careful out there.