29th October
Oh yes. The long uphill battle against relegation for Dundalk got the kick start it needed tonight after a 2-0 win over UCD. Lets get one thing clear though. This one win does not cover up the cracks of the last 12 performances. It does not suggest either that the current squad will keep us up. Improvements must be made and I'm sure Jim knows that. This UCD team is poor without Sherlock in my opinion.
Those are issues for tomorrow. Tonight we must enjoy the win. A win that we deserved over the 90 minutes. Dundalk in their latest team selection lined out with Doohan and Melvin at centre back. Brady moved to left back with Crawley back to an unfamiliar left wing position. Soupy moved back up front with Ward. Peter Withnell was out with a head injury and David Hoey is facing a spell in hospital with jaundice. Dundalk played with Tom McNulty on the right wing but he spent most of his time in the centre. In the second half Campbell played a drifting role with Ward on his own up front. Lee Thew seemed to have lost weight in the past 6 days. He had a good game. Maybe being dropped against Waterford gave him the kick up the backside he needed. The most pleasing thing for me was that he made his presence felt in the UCD half . Thew has a long way to go before he has proven himself to the fans. At this stage all he's doing is trying to make us forget his bad play so far this season.
The game was very boring in the first half. Chances were few and far between but the one that mattered came on 25 minutes. Shane Reddish had a shot deflected wide. From the resulting David Crawley corner, Lee Thew headed home. Thew's first goal for Dundalk. UCD had their chances. Aidan Lynch hit the wrong side of the post with a low shot and Steve Williams saved brilliantly from Mick O Byrne. David Ward could have made it two after a fine run by Ray Campbell but could not get his foot to Soupy's low cross.
Shane Reddish stole the show in the second half with a man of the match performance. Reddish, who has had a stop start season to date looks to have been practising his free kicks in training. His 25 yarder early in the second half brought the best out of Barry Ryan in the UCD goal. David Ward was suffering on his own up front. He was being pushed off the ball by the physical UCD defence. IF Withnell had been playing he could have scored a couple because the balls Dundalk were knocking forward were more suited to his style of play. Dundalk had half chances but seemed content on sitting back and holding on to the lead. However Dundalk broke well and with 20 minutes left Ray Campbell was fouled 30 yards out. Shane Reddish stood up again and let fly with a cracking shot. It was on target again and heading straight for the keeper but Ryan let it slip through his fingers and the ball dropped into the net. With 10 minutes + injury time left Dundalk could not sit back and relax but UCD had no more to offer. The whistle went and Dundalk had won. Hurrah.
This was a good win. Doohan and Melvin look the right pairing at the back while Kevin Brady did alright at full back. But let's not forget there's a long way to go and from now until the end of the season we'll be depending on other teams results as well as our own if Dundalk are going to remain a Premier Division club next season.
Soupy was excellent tonight. Melvin and Doohan were solid at the back and Lee Thew and Tom McNulty had good games. However the award goes to Shane Reddish. Dundalk had no right winger so the Englishman who had never scored for Dundalk before had to help the attack as well as defend. He did it with aplomb and showed he can strike a ball as well, culminating with a goal. Well done Shane.