EIRCOM LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

20th November

Dundalk 2

BRIAN MORRISROE 15

DAVID WARD 48

Cobh Ramblers 1

WILLIE BYRNE 54

The last time Dundalk played Cobh Ramblers, only two short months ago, the Lilywhites travelled to Cobh bottom of the table and facing a difficult task against a Cobh side who were early leaders in the race for promotion. Dundalk battled hard and took away all three points from Cobh on that sunny afternoon. That Sunday was the catalyst to Dundalk's current run of form. The uncertainties of football never cease to amaze and the fact that when Dundalk walked off the pitch last night after a 2-1 victory they had moved to the top of the table and eleven points clear of the Cork side is really hard to believe.

The only worrying aspect from last nights game seems to be the way that Dundalk let the other side come at them too much once they had established a two goal lead. Against Kilkenny with two goals under their belts Dundalk sat back to absorb the pressure. Kilkenny scored and it led to a nervous final quarter. The same happened last night when Dundalk went two up and let Cobh attack. When Cobh grabbed a fortuitous goal the home side faced a nervous last half hour.

Dundalk made one change from last Sundays side that won in Gortakeegan. The returning Brian Morrisroe was favoured to David Hoey on the left side of midfield. Morrisroe has disappointed at times since joining Dundalk but his ability is unquestionable. Therefore dropping him would not make logical sense as he was the only natural winger in the side last night. It only took fifteen minutes for the Dubliner to repay Terry Evistons faith. A throw from Cobh in their own half was poorly controlled by the Cobh left winger and John Whyte nipped in to fire the ball across the penalty area. Morrisroe picked it up just outside the box and curled a delightful left foot shot around the stranded Donegan in the Cobh goal. Another vital early goal for Dundalk which set them up for the rest of the match. It was a goal worthy of any arena.

The second should have come before half time. Although the pacy Paul Coughlan gave occasional problems to Dundalk ; Cobh never looked like scoring and if another goal was to come before half time it always looked like Dundalk would be the team to get it. Anto Reilly was kept quiet for most of the game but he must have thought he was heading for his third goal in three games when his deflected shot looped over John Donegan only minutes after the Morrisroe strike. However with the ball dipping in under the crossbar Donegan somehow got back to tip the ball over the crossbar. It was a wonderful save. However wonderful would be an apt description of the Dundalk play leading up a John Flanagan header against the stanchion. The confident hosts sprayed the ball about with ease and the amount of passes must have been well into double figures before Paul Campbell crossed brilliantly onto the head of the onrushing Flanagan whose header from 14 yards had the keeper stranded but hit the top of the post. David Ward also had a good chance later in the half when Campbell put him through but he just couldn't create the opening for a shot. Ward was the better and more lively of the front pair in an opening half dominated stylishly by Dundalk.

It even looked like becoming a rout three minutes into the second half. Paul Campbell put Anto Reilly clear down the right wing. The striker hooked his cross into the box. However the attempted clearance by a Cobh defender was woeful and fell straight to David Ward who composed himself and fired clinically past John Donegan. It was at this point that complacency set in. Dundalk faded out of the game for five minutes and conceded an innocuous looking free kick 35 yards out. Willie Byrne unleashed a piledriver into the net but the way in which it seemingly wrongfooted Connolly was bizarre. Was it goalkeeping error or had it taken a cruel deflection ? It didn't matter, Cobh had got a goal back and the surprise gave them a lift and they came at Dundalk after that. However like in recent weeks Dundalk looked comfortable at the back and while Cobh began to win some ball in midfield they couldn't get behind the Lilywhites' back four with Melvin and Gollogley again very impressive.

Chances were few and far between thereafter. Reilly faded quickly out of the game and was replaced by Honan. Cobh also rung the changes but although they won some free kicks they had no chances of note. Ward got kicked around the place anytime he got near the ball. His touches were clever and his contribution cannot be faulted because he was kicked out of the game on many occasions. Morrisroe was quite good on the left wing, while Campbell is not just a natural right winger but with Flanagan so impressive in the centre again alongside McNulty it is hard to see the situation changing. The last ten minutes passed out without any major incident. Flanagan hit a half chance just wide but compared to the flair of the first half the second half was quite drab. The only incident worth noting was David Hoey replacing Tom McNulty for the last five minutes.

Dundalk held out until the final whistle and another three points can be added to the total. That makes 10 wins this season out of 15 games. The encouraging aspect of this game was another early goal and another inspired first half performance, the downside a poor second half display which was more down to complacency than anything else. However whether you win 5-0 or 2-1 at the end of the day the reward is still the same and Dundalk took the three points to move top of the table. Our fate is now in our own hands.

DUNDALK FC

1 John Connolly 6

2 John Whyte 7

3 David Crawley 7

4 John Flanagan 8

5 Padraig Gollogley 7

6 Noel Melvin 7

7 Tom McNulty 7

8 Paul Campbell 7

9 David Ward 7

10 Anto Reilly 6

11 Brian Morrisroe 7

SUBS

13 Brian Honan 6 for Reilly

12 David Hoey 6 for McNulty

John Sharkey

Derek Delaney