21st November
I for one will be very interested to hear the excuse for this defeat. To put this in perspective it means we have won just one out of 16 competitive games this season. A measly one. We have scored 9 goals in these 16 games. Of these 5 have came from set plays. So we have created 4 goals in 16 games. We have not yet scored this month . Yet most of our players are really trying hard. This leaves just one conclusion. This means there is only one problem. The running of the club. But no, Enda McGuill said this is only a problem, not a crisis. A problem is when you fail to win 3 or 4 matches in a row. If it were not for the UCD game we have failed to win 15 matches in a row. If it weren't Dundalk I'd laugh at how a once great club dwelling on past glories is being slowly dragged through the mud. It'll be interesting to see how this side matches up against St. Francis and Athlone because that's where we're headed, unless something very drastic happens.
They say the sign of a great team is one that can play bad and still get the points. Sligo aren't a great team. They won this match by pure determination and a little bit of adventure. I groaned when the team came out. No Michael Harte. It was to be David Crawley to move to left wing with Brady coming in at left back. Sinden continued up front with Campbell moving alongside. As someone remarked, McLaughlin is saying that Crawley is a better left winger than Michael Harte. Crawley duly had a stinker which can be put solely down to the manager for turning a good left back into a poor left winger. Players did try hard. Capper and Reddish performed well and Williams was not at fault for either goal. Campbell and Thew tried hard in the first half at least and Mick Doohan lost nothing in defeat. However Tom McNulty went missing for the 90 minutes. He must have sunk in the mud while Paul Doolin suffered for the 90 minutes. Kevin Brady struggled as well. The veterans are all clearly past their best days. Let us not forget these were glorious days. They, like McLaughlin will be remembered as National League greats but their time is gone. Ward came on and did alright alongside Sinden who looks outclassed at this level. He may improve in time.Something which we are running out of.
In the first half Dundalk had two notable chances. First though they had to withstand an early barrage of shots by Sligo. Hallows could have scored at least three times with headers while Jones was a menace. Sligo are no great shakes but pure determination carried them through. They always looked like scoring. As for Dundalk their best chance of the match came midway through the half. Good approach work outside the box saw a cross swung in by Reddish which went over everyone and found David Crawley on his own from 8 yards but he shot over. Would a natural attacking player have missed from there ? Would Michael Harte have missed from there ? We'll never know. Chance number two came 4 minutes from the break when Richard Sinden broke into the box but his shot was well saved by Boswell . A draw was a fair reflection of the play at half time but Dundalk had the better chances.
Sligo started the second half better and went ahead after 50 minutes when a corner was cleared by Dundalk to Steve Jones who fired an unstoppable volley past the helpless Williams. Now was the time to battle. Ward and Harte were brought on for Sinden and Brady. Harte flattered to deceive but Ward battled hard. However at 1-0 the game was over. Dundalk had a corner or two but never ever looked like scoring. Sligo squandered chance after chance and Reddish cleared off the line but despite a narrow margin we lacked urgency. Ironcially Dundalk only sprung to life after Sligo's second goal with three minutes to go. Hallows headed home after an excellent left wing cross. Dundalk lay siege to the Sligo goal after this. Which begs the question, why did Dundalk have to concede another for this to happen. A laughable situation if it wasn't so serious.
The show moves on to Pats at home on Thursday. Their attack could tear us apart. However Dundalk will try their hardest again and probably still lose. Which for a club of our stature is an absolute and utter disgrace.
A four way tie between Capper, Reddish, Williams and Doohan who all scored 6 out of 10 but none of whom stood head and shoulders above the others