EIRCOM LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

25th February

St Francis 0

Dundalk 2

DAVID CRAWLEY [PEN] 22

ANTO REILLY 89

Once again, it wasn't stylish but its another three points and at the end of the day thats what it comes down to. St Francis didn't really have many notable goalscoring opportunities but still had enough possession to worry Dundalk at times, before Anto Reilly secured the points with his third of the season a minute from time.

Dundalk made one change from the side which defeated Home Farm in Oriel last Saturday. David Ward was suspended for this encounter so in came Paddy Quinn at the right side of midfield.

The first half was devoid of much goalmouth action and the best early chance came for Dundalk after good work by Paddy Quinn in front of the watching Brian Kerr gave David Hoey a chance but he fired over from outside the box. Hoey and Flanagan again worked hard for the side with Hoey in particular having a good first half. When the opening goal came on 22 minutes however it came somewhat out of the blue, even though Dundalk looked the most likely winners at this early stage. It came when Paddy Quinn put a free kick into the area from 25 yards out where Mark Reid was adjudged to have been fouled by Francis defender Glenn Smart. A lot of people missed the incident but Smart was clearly tugging Reids jersey in the eyes of those who saw it. David Crawley stood up and calmly slotted it home with his left foot past Gareth Sutton to score his second penalty this season. There were half chances at either end during the half. Brian Morrisroe who was otherwise anonymous did fire wide with his left foot just inside the area while Quinn was proving to be very dangerous in an unfamiliar role. At the back the Lilywhites weren't really tested with Noel Melvin putting in a good performance and John Whyte the pick of the back four in the first half.

The second half, after a slow start almost dramatically burst into life minutes after the restart when Paddy Quinn went on a brilliant run past three St Francis defenders and into the penalty area but his left footed effort went agonisingly wide of the post. Mark Reid also had a great chance when he showed great skill inside the area to make space for a shot but he didn't get to the ball before the Francis defender, this illustrated his lack of match fitness and even though he had to retire from the game ten minutes later to be replaced by Anto Reilly he is definitely going to make an impact over the rest of the season. Tony Izzi wasn't having the best of nights, he again showed when given the ball to his feet that he has good control and a good touch but too often the physical nature of the game saw him lose out in some challenges. It was not all his fault however, as some of the balls given to a player his size were making the task very difficult for him.

Worryingly, St Francis started to get more of the ball and were pushing forward in numbers. They had a spell of 5 minutes when Dundalk couldn't get the ball off them but they were passing the ball sideways rather than forwards and weren't making any great impact in the penalty area where Melvin and Whelan had little problems. John Connolly was rarely called into action to make any saves of note, the closest Francis came was with some speculative long shots which in truth never really threatened.

Derek Thornton replaced Morrisroe with time running out but he failed to make an impression in his time on the pitch. With ten minutes to go, Dundalk had weathered whatever attack that Francis had been mounting and the visitors controlled the closing ten minutes. The second goal belatedly came on 88 minutes. Paddy Quinn who was Dundalk's best midfielder, and arguably best player on the night found room in the Francis half to slot the ball through to Anto Reilly who tapped home his second attempt after Sutton had blocked his first effort from 12 yards.

Quinn may have done enough on the night to feature in some of Brian Kerrs squads in the future and he can be happy with his performance. Elsewhere, Melvin and Whyte were solid and Whelan had a quietly effective game. This game was poor fare at best on a wonderful playing surface that is a credit to St Francis. Dundalk came to Baldonnel to grind out the victory and in that regard were successful, remember that Bray and Kilkenny have both dropped points here this season.

Hopefully the co-ops plans to really advertise next Saturdays game against Limerick will be successful and there will be a good crowd and good atmosphere for the game. While Longford and Bray hopefully take points off each other, Dundalk can continue picking up these wins and set themselves up for consecutive games against Longford and Kilkenny in the month of March

DUNDALK FC

1 John Connolly 6

2 John Whyte 7

3 David Crawley 7

4 David Hoey 7

5 Paul Whelan 7

6 Noel Melvin 7

7 John Flanagan 6

8 Paddy Quinn 8

9 Mark Reid 6

10 Tony Izzi 6

11 Brian Morrisroe 5

SUBS

15 Anto Reilly 6 for Reid

14 Derek Thornton 5 for Morrisroe