15th October
It's a funny old game. It's a cruel game more like after last night's debacle at Oriel Park. It was a game that stretched the Dundalk players on the pitch to the best they could do and they lost. Let's be fair, Shels deserved to win. They could leave out O Flaherty, Baker and had Geogeghan injured which showed that the gap between these teams in strength was more than the 4 point gap before last night's game. The only cruel thing was that they scored 4 minutes into injury time when it looked like Dundalk were going to hold on for a well deserved point even though we needed a win
Dundalk played with 4 players out of position. Campbell played up front, Crawley at left wing and McNulty at left back with David Hoey switching to right wing. Dundalk's midfield on the night were poor with Crawley the best of the four. Thew and Doolin did not venture into the oppositions box once. On a night when David Ward was on his own up front for most of the match that is a disgrace. That game showed how much we need box to box midfielders. Since Thew and Doolin are new signings though the chances of them being dropped are less than slim, unless we get a new manager. David Hoey failed to make an impression and suffered the indignity of being replaced by a right back - Sean Murphy. David Ward failed to venture into the box often and for a striker that is laughable especially when his strike partner Campbell was suppling every cross, doing David Hoey's job in the process. Campbell ventured unconsciously into midfield on occasions leaving Ward completely lost up front. For an 18 year old it's too much of a task. He needs an experienced striker beside him. Noel Melvin performed brilliantly at centre half for Dundalk while Kevin Brady did Ok. Shane Reddish and Tom McNulty got through the game intact but didn't have memorable games.
As for the action. Well, on 23 minutes a Crawley shot from a free kick was blocked and it fell to Tom McNulty whose glorious left wing cross was headed home by little Ray Campbell. His first and probably last headed goal ever. Shels missed some glaring chances in the half . One miss was ridiculous with two players missing from 6 yards.
In the second half Dundalk were always under the cosh . Baker could have scored with a curling shot. Morley came close as did Scully. Eventually after 65 minutes of heroic defending Dundalk finally crumbled. Tony McCarthy's knock down was guided home by Tony Sheridan. From there on in Shels dominated. James Keddy had a cross cleared off the line by Brady, Dessie Baker could have scored, Fenlon came close and Scully was a threat. Then on 90 minutes Steve Williams saved from point blank from a Shels attacker. Surely Dundalk had resisted the Shelbourne pressure. Amazingly Dundalk could have won when a Shels player gave the ball to Campbell in a crowded area. He had nowhere to go and squared it to Ward but his shot was blocked down. As we waited for the whistle Shels pumped one more long ball into the box which was cleared but only as far as Pat Fenlon whose sweet volley flew past Williams. Dundalk heads sank and surely at that moment the realisation struck McLaughlin that we are in deep deep trouble. There was no more time to play. Tommy Connolly complained about injury time . Maybe, but realistically Shels should have scored earlier and maybe if Dundalk had drawn McLaughlin and Connolly would have decided the current squad is satisfactory. It's not though and I've said it before and I'll say it again. We need to buy now. The cost of a players wage will be a lot less than the financial loss of relegation and unless something drastic happens we'll be going down, after all we're nearly a third of a way into the season.
Campbell played well out of position and would have won only for a good performance by natural centre half Noel Melvin. Steve Williams played well. I would have been a lot more enthusiastic about the Man Of the Match award if we had have held on.