The Commentary Box: It was a poor performance from Dundalk against Derry

Larry Wyse was adjudged to have been fouled in the box in that momentous game, early on. John Cleary stepped up and scored from the spot. It was the only goal of the game.

Ask any Dundalk player if it was a penalty and they will accept that it was not. Bring time forward to last Sunday. Dundalk had led early on in the cup quarter-final at the Brandywell.

Derry levelled for City when a Michael Duffy free came off the shoulder of Patrick McClean and went into the net. But Derry then went ahead with a goal that came from a shocking decision by referee Paul McLaughlin.

Ronan Teahan was adjudged to have handled the ball as he was on the ground in the penalty area. Play backs of the incident clearly show that Teahan had not handled the ball.

I watched the referee before the penalty was taken. He went behind the goals to the left. He stood on the line and signalled for Michael Duffy to take the penalty. That he duly did. He fired the ball to the roof of the net, and Derry were ahead in the game.

It was a sickening goal to have to concede. It should never have happened. Paul McLaughlin is a top referee. To make a mistake like this is unforgivable. In my book. Why is it that all season refereeing has been so bad?

Well, on Sunday Paul McLaughlin made a very bad mistake that allowed Derry to edge ahead and win the game.Dundalk dominated the first 15 minutes.

But it was business as usual, not long after Dundalk got the lead goal. I was just waiting for the defence to concede a goal and it duly did. A free into the box caught them out completely. Michael Duffy floated a free into the box.

The Dundalk defence froze. Patrick McLean went for a ball he should never have got near. The ball bounced off his shoulder and edged past Minogue. This was yet another set piece.

The manager will have to strengthen his defence massively if he wants to challenge next season. The current defence is just not good enough. Ciaran Kilduff must know this.The keeper was poor for the first goal.

He could not be faulted for the second goal. Enda was most definitely at fault for the fourth goal. He could and should have done better overall. It was all over when Derry got their fourth goal.

I've said before that Conor Kearns is not the answer for the position of number one keeper next season. I saw him play in the three games he lined out for Dundalk this season.

My heart went out to Conor when he picked up that awful injury. But he did not impress me in the Malone Cup game against Drogheda in February. He failed to come for a ball for a corner that Drogheda got.

The Boynesiders capitalised on the Kearns mistake and scored. A week later he was at fault for a goal that Derry scored in the Brandywell. Ciaran Kilduff's young side should have won the game.

As a result of the mistake by Kearns, Derry levelled. Then Derry went ahead. But Dundalk came back to get a great equaliser.I am sure that Dundalk will get a new keeper for next season.

But there was a question raised by a supporter if Dundalk will have the money to sign new players.The answer is: I am not sure. There are some players in that Dundalk team who are of First Division quality.

They are not good enough for the Premier Division. The manager will have to be ruthless when it comes to strengthening this team. He will be.

Ciaran Kilduff is a top manager and has earned the respect of all the soccer world in Ireland by the way he has revived this Dundalk team. He has led them from Division One to the Premier Division.

He has kept them in the Premier Division. But the manager will need a lot of financial backing if Dundalk are to avoid struggling in the Premier Division. The club needs new investment big time. It needs a massive cash injection.

If Ciaran Kilduff cannot get some of that, then Dundalk will be in trouble.To have won only one game of their last nine league games is not good enough. The fact that they had to sell off top striker Gbemi Arubi and Eoin Kenny was a huge loss.

Their departure played a huge role in the nosedive in Dundalk's form over the last two months. They have been very lucky as well that the standard at the foot of the table is so bad.

In other seasons, Dundalk would have been dragged right down to fight for their lives in the relegation abyss.The club I would hope have told the manager what the situation will be fine for finance for next season.

If the manager does not get the backing he needs, I would be afraid he would walk. His services are very much in demand among a number of clubs. He is very happy in Oriel. He loves Dundalk. But that's all well and good.

The manager must look after himself as well. He must be sure that he will be given whatever he wants.It's easy for me to write all of this. But I realise it's very difficult to put into action.

To get additional investment can not be easy for the current executive or board directors to get. But they will have to. Dundalk are weak, playing-wise, at the moment given a number of circumstances.

This is especially so with the loss of Arubi and Kenny. Dundalk can regroup. Hopefully they will.The board is chaired by Alan Farrelly. He has two other brothers accompanying him on the board.

Joe McGuinness is the club CEO. Chris Clinton is the club owner and chairman. The heads of operations at Oriel are Nita Williams and Bernard Freeman. The secretary of the club is Padraig McGowan.

It is only for the club owner, Chris Clinton, that the club has been able to survive. Chris has been able to keep the wolves away from the door. But this man I am sure would be only too happy to have further investors in the club.

He has assembled a good board of directors. These directors need have a difficult job. I would not have it for anything. There are a number of others on the board as well. The Trust have representation among others.

I would like to see Chris Clinton and Alan Farrelly meet the supporters and try to paint a path for them as to where they see the club going. Are the executive, along with the owner, happy with the finance they got from the transfer of Leonard, Arubi and Kenny?

And are they also happy that money from future transfers of these players and other add ons will help the club?One person who is always there to help the club is Peter Halpin. He is a former CEO at the club.

But his advice has been massive at times, which has helped the club when the going was getting tough over the past two seasons. I hope that Dundalk continue to tap into Peter's expertise.

If he could get a new investor, anybody can.Manager Ciaran Kilduff made five changes from the team that beat Drogheda last week. Minogue. Burns. Mayowa. Dervin. Horgan. Dillon. Teahan. Tracey. Cornwall, McDaid, Vassenein.

Enda Minogue was making his 46th appearance for Dundalk. Dundalk took the lead on 12 minutes. A corner from Robbie Burns found an unmarked Shane Tracey. He shot to the net. It was nothing other than Dundalk deserved.

They played very much high up the pitch. They had a strong swirling wind in their favour. They were pressing too high. Derry equalised not long after Tracey scored. Duffy placed a free into the box.

Minogue never came for the ball. But the defence itself was in tatters. In a freak goal, the ball came off the shoulder of Patrick Mc Clean and crashed to the net.The Dundalk challenge suddenly disappeared.

Bobby Burns had a lot to deal with on the left with the threat of McClean and Fleming. Then came the lead goal for Derry. Ronan Teahan was on the ground after slipping when the ball was adjudged to have been handled.

As I said, I watched Paul McLoughlin when he gave the penalty. He without doubt had the look of a person who realised he had made a mistake. Teahan never handled the ball. It was a massive mistake.

It also ensured Dundalk's exit from the cup. Duffy stepped up and crashed the ball home.It emerged that Mayowa had to bear some responsibility for Derry's first goal, when he stopped tracking McClean as he thought the Derry player was offside.

He was wrong as Cornwall was playing McClean onside.Dundalk made early substitutions that revived their challenge. Gaxha replaced Dillon. McDaid was replaced by Clarke, and Dervin came off for Buckley.

It was unfortunate that Dundalk lost as Daryl Horgan was making his 249th appearance for the club. Michael Duffy's penalty was the fifth time he had scored against Dundalk for Derry since he left Oriel.

JR Wilson came on for Rob Cornwall on 65 minutes. It was the first time JR was lining out for Dundalk after picking up a terrible injury 7 weeks ago. Harry Groome replaced Tracey on 72 minutes.

Gaxha was put in the clear for a goal. As in Drogheda, his finish was disappointing.Derry killed the game off as a contest on 79 minutes. Dos Santos was put in the clear by Michael Duffy.

His effort came off the head of Groome and crashed to the net. It was a Groome OG. How the rest of the media gave it as nothing other than an og defies all logic.Michael Duffy got Derry's fourth goal minutes later.

The defending was atrocious once more. Dos Santos nearly got a fifth goal for Derry when his long-range shot found Minogue way off his line. His effort was wide. Minogue was as far as the halfway line again at another time.

This time the ball came to him. For one moment he seemed to think he was on his goal line. He leaned down to gather the ball. I could not believe my eyes. Thankfully he remembered and cleared the ball well.

Trevor Clarke nearly got a second goal for Dundalk. His effort came back off the Derry crossbar. Minutes later, Dundalk got their second goal. It came two minutes into injury time. Clarke again got a cross in from the right.

Gaxha shot home. That was the end of the action as the game finished 4-2.It was a poor performance from Dundalk. The defence has conceded 50 goals in the 32 competitive games they have played, combining the FAI Cup and the League this season.

The last time Dundalk conceded four goals against Derry was when the Brandywell side beat Dundalk four-nil in March 2024. Then Stephen O'Donnell managed a Dundalk side for the last time.

He was sacked by Dundalk after that game.Ciaran Kilduff has been hit with so many injuries this season. That,t and the loss of key players transferred to the UK, are the reasons why Dundalk have been in a bad slump the past nine games.

But this was a game in which Derry were very poor. Had Dundalk been on their game, they could have won the match on Sunday. The bad refereeing decision also cost Dundalk dearly. Had Dundalk won, they would have been in the semi-finals.

They did not deserve to win on Sunday. But neither did Derry. They were terrible.But the fact remains that had Dundalk won, they would have been in the last four of a competition that guarantees Europa League football.

Winning the cup offers teams a great chance to earn a lot of cash, if they are good enough to advance. But that's for another day for debate.Yes, Derry got revenge on Dundalk for that Larry Wyse penalty decision in the 1988 FAI Cup final.

They have waited 48 years for the karma of that decision to come back against Dundalk. And revenge they certainly got. They must travel to Eamonn Deacy Park in Galway for the cup semi-final.

Bohemians must play Waterford in the other cup semi-final at Dalymount. I think Galway will beat Derry. Waterford will be formidable opposition for Bohs. The Dublin side are favourites.

I think they will just about edge it. I was hoping Waterford would have got the home draw.Dundalk are in Waterford next Friday when they take on the form team. Waterford are pulling clear of the relegation and play off zone.

Their boss Graham Coughlan should get manager of the year. He has done an unbelievable job since he came in. Waterford were nine points behind the second-from-bottom side when their new manager came in.

He has been unreal since then. Last week I mentioned that the 10-team league in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland was too small. It means the league had become confined to a small number of teams.

It means 16 Dublin derbies, which becomes so boring as the season progresses. Dublin clubs dominate the Premier Division. It can result in them having a stranglehold on Irish soccer.

The 10-team league has also seen four Louth Derbies. Nobody can have any complaints about these, as they have served up some very exciting football. But the 10-team league ensures that a newly promoted team has little chance of staying there.

They are vulnerable from the start, as they try to face a new Division which has progressed into a highly competitive competition. The difference in the skill and professionalism between teams in the top flight and the First Division is as different as night and day.

Dundalk are the first team in at least four seasons who were newly promoted and who managed to stay up. What Ciaran Kilduff achieved in Drogheda last week was huge.

Their win over their Louth Neighbours ensured they would be remaining in the Premier Division. The fact that they have managed to stay up also guarantees they get the reward of 370,000 euro from UEFA for staying in the Premier Division.

Had they been relegated, Dundalk would have only got 70,000 euro. This would have been because they would have failed to stay in the Division and hold on to their Premier Division status in less than a year. For this alone, staying up was so important.

The 370,000 they get for Premier Division status is key in helping Dundalk in their planning for next season. A ten-team league fails to give many of the newly promoted teams a chance of staying up. Clubs need to be given an even chance to survive.

They also need the money that the Premier Division can offer, which allows clubs to strengthen for the top flight. To be relegated just after coming back up can do irreparable damage to a club.

And it seems to be the teams from outside of Dublin who are being hit by the dark clouds of relegation, even before a ball is kicked in the new season. Clubs need as much help they can get that will give them an equal chance of competing in the top flight.

A ten-team league does not allow this. At least if it's a 12 team league, it means that 10 teams survive; another may survive through the play-offs. They are not condemned to the dark dungeons of the First Division immediately.

They are given a fighting chance. Last week, the chairman of Sligo Rovers, Tommy Higgins, called on the League of Ireland to explore the idea of a 12-team league.

He also looked for the league to split near the end of the season, where the top six would fight it out for Europe and the league. And the bottom six would fight it out against finishing in the bottom two and the dreaded relegation.

It does happen in many leagues. In the north, the top six split away from the bottom six. The teams then can have an interesting battle on their hands at both ends of the table.

And most importantly, there is a very competitive edge to the end of the season. The battle for the European spots can draw huge crowds, as can the battle to avoid relegation in the bottom six.

The Scottish Premier Division also splits towards the end of the season.The idea of splitting the league was tried before in the League of Ireland.

But the administrators got it wrong by splitting the league too soon. In the early 1990's the split happened after just two rounds in the league. This was crazy.

Clubs who were well clear of the bottom two and who had no chance of being relegated were condemned to a boring, mundane season for the rest of the year.

I remember when Dundalk were condemned to the bottom 6 in the Premier Division in one season. This was in the early 1990's. Dundalk had to beat Monaghan in the last game before the split to ensure they finished the season in the top six league.

It also would have kept their season very much alive. But Monaghan caused a massive shock, which condemned Dundalk to the bottom six. Their season was over in January.

They had too many points, which ensured they would not be caught for relegation. But they had nothing to play for after the split. Crowds declined at Oriel in the last ten weeks of the season as there was nothing at stake.

If you made the top six, it was exciting.If you made the bottom six and were in no danger of being caught up in a relegation scrap, then there was nothing to play for the last four months of the season.

But the Sligo chairman, whose club is bottom of the Premier Division, wants a 12-team league. Some thought the call was convenient for Sligo given they look odds on them to go down.

But any moves to a change in the league structure would not happen until next season. There is no way we can have a change to the structure of the league this season.

And remember that as and from season 27 next March, there will be promotion from the new Division 2 and relegation from Division One.

The 12-team league in the Premier Division would offer the teams in the Premier Division some protection against the new moves in the lower divisions.The Sligo chairman said that clubs currently have no battle it out to get into the top half of the league.

Then there is the battle for Europe and one against relegation. He says the idea of a 12-team league with a split happening into top and bottom sides will happen.

Interestingly, Galway boss John Caulfield is keen on a 12-team league.The Sligo chairman has acknowledged the pros and cons of a 12-team league. He recognises that a 10-team Premier Division has contributed to full-time soccer and a stronger league.

But the Sligo chairman is adamant that the 12-team idea will strengthen teams and ensure the extra clubs can go full time.The Sligo boss is adamant he wants to see a split league before the end of the season. It happened twice in the 1990's.

There would just be five games played by teams in the top and bottom half. Sligo are adamant it could lead to great excitement for the soccer public.

The Sligo chairman believes that right now there was a risk of the season going flat if they are out of the cup and not competing for Europe or are involved in a relegation scrap.

The new 12-team league would ensure there will be more games played against as well. Thus extra revenue will be brought into the clubs.But the idea from the Sligo chairman does have flaws.

A 12 team league here has always resulted in the teams just playing three games against each other. One of the teams will have an advantage of playing two home games and one away in the season against particular teams.

The 12-team league will not return unless this is addressed. I believe that the teams must play against each other 4 times in the season. This will mean that there will be two home games and two away games for all teams.

No team will have the advantage of having an extra home game, as has persisted before. It would mean 44 games in the new 12-team league. That's a lot. But they are playing 36 games in the league as is. I do not see the extra games as being too big a problem.

Teams in the Premier Division are all supposed to have strong panels to ensure they can last the pace of the season.Cork City were promoted on Friday night six games ahead of the finish of the season.

They have been promoted and relegated for the past two seasons. The Leesiders will be hoping that they can stay in the Premier Division next season. It was a disaster for the club to come straight back down last season.

The 12 team league would give them a chance. On Friday night, the issue of the 12-team league proposal was discussed on Virgin Media Sport. The idea was given backing by the panel.

One panellist said that with the new second division bringing in promotion next season, and with relegation happening in the First Division, a 12 team Premier Division would be a good move.

But he also was right when he said that the First Division needs more protection. Relegated teams from the First Division could go out of football altogether.

The panellist added that he wants more money injected into this division so that teams here can be strengthened and allowed to develop.He is 100 per cent correct.

To me, the First Division is like a club being sentenced to the bowels of hell. It's meant that the country's third-largest city has seen their League of Ireland club spend over 30 years there.

Limerick were promoted briefly around 2012 for three seasons. But they were relegated again and have never returned. Indeed, the club Limerick FC went out of football at senior level.

They were replaced by another Limerick club, Treaty United. Treaty have always been a strong women's team. They briefly agreed to take on a men's team as well to avoid Limerick having no senior male team.

Limerick should have a team that is always at the top of Irish male soccer. That's given it's the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland. There is a huge interest in soccer there.

If a club can get organised in the right way, there is no reason why a team from there could not be a major force in Irish soccer.

Athlone Town is another club that has not been any help by being in the First Division. They have been in that division since 1995, barring one season since then that they got Premier Division football.

It's a shame Athlone have been left in the doldrums. They have been a very successful club in their day. Former Dundalk manager Turlough O'Connor brought them huge success.

I remember Dundalk and Athlone competing strongly for the league one season. Jim McLaughlin was boss at Oriel. Athlone went on to win the league. The midlanders also gave Inter Milan a huge fright in the European Cup when the sides met at St Mel's Park.

That is Athlone's old stadium. They now play at Lissywollen. It is a fantastic stadium for a First Division Club. It's a much better ground than Oriel Park. And many others in the Premier Division.

Have a great week. Look after yourselves. And please remember to be careful out there.