4th September
Dundalk must regroup and try something new after this game because they were completely embarassed by an understrength Pats team at Richmond Park last night. The contrast in styles between the two teams was amazing with Pats playing the ball on the ground with plenty of running off the ball and Eddie Gormley prepared to play football with the ball in the middle of the field and with Trevor Molloy and Martin Reilly menacing on the wings. Sometimes Pats tried to play the ball out of defence and on occasions it cost them but two of thier goals came from passing it and moving forward from the back.
On the other hand Dundalk were just hacking it anywhere. The days when hit'n'hope brought success are gone especially with the quality defenders there are around. Pats Stephen McGuinness was outstanding and to think he will probably not be in the team when Hawkins and Lynch come back it just goes to show the awesome strength in the Pats squad. Our midfield pairing of Thew and Melvin is disastrous. Thew who battles is the most negative player I think I ever seen. Sure he tried one or two long balls that nearly paid off but around ten times last night his first touch brought him away from goal and his next pass went to a Dundalk defender so they could aimlessly whack the ball in any direction. Melvin on the other hand made the occasional foray into the Pats half and his shot after 10 minutes was saved by Trevor Wood. Realistically the contribution of Thew and Melvin was dwarfed by that of Gormley and Osam . Withnell once again tried hard. He ran all day it's just in front of goal he never looks like he'll score. Withnell was in the action when midway in the first half he flicked it past two defenders and when he was about to shoot he was thwarted by an excellent tackle by Stephen McGuinness.
The first goal was not far away. Dundalk looked like their tactics would hold on top half time before a 25 yard free kick Dundalk was blocked by the wall. The ball came to McGuinness and while Dundalk raced backwards he confidently strode out of defence and gave the ball to Trevor Crolly he gave it Martin Reilly and after a poor clearance by the Dundalk defence the ball fell to Eddie Gormley whose shot from 25 yards out hit both posts and went into the net. A fine break and a fine shot which gave Williams no chance but when it came from a Dundalk free kick and subsequently a poor defensive clearance which gave it to Gormley it was careless from Dundalk.
After half time Dundalk started to get back into the game more but it was all long ball, some headers fell for Dundalk and some didn't . David Ward had a chance which he shot wide after a Withnell header fell his way.for the second goal Pats made a mockery of the Dundalk offside trap when eddie Gormley flicked a free kick over the Dundalk defence and David Crawley played Trevor Molloy onside. Molloy was on his own in the 18 yard box and his low shot once again beat Williams. With the score at 2-0 Dundalk heads dropped but it never looked like they would score one, let alone two. Yet on 61 minutes Dundalk got back into it when a speculative 25 yard shot by Peter Withnell stunned the crowd and hit the back of the net. If Withnell was to score it was going to be with a long shot because his earlier chance when he was through an goal was half volleyed over the bar. Mick Doohan also went close with a looping header that went narrowly over. This gave Dundalk renewed hope but Pats third was a killer. Reilly was through on goal but took a touch too many and he took the ball towards the near touchline where he was given time and space to find Trevor Molloy whose shot deflected off Ian Gilzean and past Steve Williams. This should not have been given because Gilzean was in an offside position but the goal was given. Worryingly for Dundalk they had already lost Ray Campbell to injury and he was replaced by Shane Reddish while Withnell injured himself soon after and was replaced by Chris Hammon. Hammon when he got the ball shot on sight and none of his shots tested Trevor Wood .
Dundalk's tactics for the second half after Campbell went off were embarassing. They moved Reddish to right back and McNulty joined Thew and Melvin in centre midfield. This left Dundalk with no right winger with Hoey on the left wing. When this was noticed Hoey moved to the right wing leaving no left winger and farcicallly then Hoey moved back again to the left wing. This left Dundalk no option but to bypass midfield and hammer the ball forward with no success.
The game ended 3-1 . Our tactics are deplorable. No ideas at all. What must Brian Byrne have thought in the stand. He had spurned the chance to join Pats by staying with Dundalk. The score tonight was 3-1 but realistically these two sides are worlds apart.
Given the fact our defence and midfiled are terribel it had to go to a striker and with David Ward trying hard with no success it goes to Peter Withnell who scored and gave the usual 110%.