EIRCOM LEAGUE CUP

29th August

Dundalk 0

Longford 1

KEITH O CONNOR 99

After extra time
Attendance 200

Dundalk have experienced many great days in the past. Look at the history pages on this site if you are not familiar with these triumphs. I wasn't around for most of those but I am aware of the respect these teams have amongst Dundalk fans. Names roll off the tongues of these fans. Kehoe , Lawlor, Keely all wore the white shirt with pride. After watching this performance today I am sure that most of the players on the pitch are not fit to wear the shirt. Honestly, I don't really think they care anyway.

Despite the loss last week the manner in which Dundalk dominated the game had most fans in optimistic mood, surely it was only a matter of time before things fell the right way for Dundalk. Brian Morris-Roe and Mark Reid were to miss out through injury though. Tom McNulty was dropped as Noel Melvin moved into midfield to allow Paul Whelan back into defence. Gavin Moore and David Ward started up front in place of Reid and Morris-Roe.

Despite having an early chance when a Harte cross was headed low and goalwards by Melvin but well saved by Stephen O Brien the first half was poor fare, both sides lacking any creativity, with a couple of bizarre decisions by the referee adding to the spectacle or lack of it. Dundalk did have a few more chances in the half, a Crawley free kick well held by O Brien, a ball nearly fell lose to Hoey but was cleared away. Longford looked more dangerous on the break as the half wore on as a frustrated Terry Eviston kicked waterbottles around the dugout area with anger. Dundalk players displayed an awful first touch and some worse shooting during the half, you half expected a lot of the shots to come down with snow on the ball. The ball left the ground around six times during the half.

At the start of the second half Dundalk had their best chance when Hoey broke through almost from the tip, took it past three players, left himself with only the keeper to beat but shot straight at O Brien. Once again Dundalk had tossed away a great opportunity, more water bottles received a lashing around the Dundalk dugout. Gavin Moore had a free header from a corner but headed over, Hoey was put through but pace found him out. Ward was moved to the right wing as Sharkey was replaced by Martin who went up front. Martin forced some corners, Dundalk wasted them, Longford looked dangerous on the break. Padraig Staunton was very impressive at the back for Dundalk however Longford looked more and more likely to score as the half wore on. Dundalk had some nice passing periods around the halfway line and the Longford defence again left wide spaces for Dundalk to not pass the ball into. The game went into extra time with Dundalk having one last chance when Martin won the ball after a mix up between Longford defender and keeper however with a wall of players around him he had his fierce shot blocked.

Extra time was nothing to write home about either. Longford got the decisive goal on 99 minutes when Murphy came too far for a cross and ended up fisting the ball into the air and onto the head of Longford striker Keith O Connor who headed home. Murphy made one mistake in this match, as he did in the St Francis match and both cost Dundalk goals. He is a good keeper but is nearly too eager to come out for crosses, if he was told to hold back a bit then Dundalk would not have lost this game, well not in extra time anyhow. Dundalk had started extra time without Paul Whelan who injured himself trying to tackle the Longford keeper, Melvin dropped back to defence with McNulty moving into midfield. Peter Finn also replaced Michael Harte during this period.

Dundalk had one good chance in the second half of extra time but after some passing about Moore was left clean through but turned back instead and wasted the chance. Moore is on one month trial, he better look for somewhere else to play in September, unless Terry sees something we don't.

So there it is, another defeat. A poor game, hence the shorter than usual summary of chances but it showed that there are major problems in the Dundalk team

Whyte and Crawley are good full backs, not too blame for the defeat and don't deserve to be branded with the tag as awful like the rest of the team. Staunton had another fine game, Whelan looked unfit before his injury. Melvin is not an asset in midfield. Sharkey made no impression and was often pushed off the ball with ease. Harte makes too many mistakes, a player of fine ability but little sense. McNulty and Finn looked lost when they came on. Hoey ran himself into the ground for the first fifteen minutes in each half and disappeared for the other thirty , not quite sure if he is fully match fit yet. He tries for ever though, attitude can't be faulted. In fact he is nearly too enthusiastic at times.

As for the spineless attack of Ward and Moore well what can one say about the most obvious contenders for the most disinterested strikeforce ever to play football anywhere. Ward has plenty of talent but doesn't seem like he wants to use it. He was absolutely awful up front and worse when moved back to midfield. He is still not physically strong enough to stand up to the challenge of National League football. Ward deserves a spell in the reserves where he might come up against Gavin Moore in the future, with Moore hopefully playing for another team. Moore was not confident in front of goal, lacks pace and doesn't seem bothered either way. Martin came on but after showing promise in normal time he faded alarmingly in extra time.

Poor Terry looked truly shocked at the end of the game, lets hope he gave the Dundalk players a good talking to after the match. It may only be the League Cup and Cork may have lost to Rockmount today and Pats are also out so we are in esteemed company but you look for performances on a day like this, you look for commitment. Dundalk really lacked that, they looked like a very poor side. The season is not over, there is plenty of time to turn things around but not with the current bunch of Dundalk players. I know we're on a small budget so we'll have to release players to bring in new ones, there were plenty of people out there today playing their way out of Oriel Park with their bad performances.

Tom McNulty when told of the budget Dundalk would be working on for the new season said that Dundalk were giving the new manager peanuts to spend and if you offer peanuts you only attract monkeys. . No blame should be directed at Terry. He's doing the best he can but the players aren't responding. Dundalk directors who got the club into this situation in the first place were seen laughing and joking outside the ground, whats funny about the current situation, for Dundalk fans anyway ?

As September begins and the new season fanfare wears off you now start to get into the nitty gritty of League encounters week after week, however in the marathon race that is the battle for promotion Dundalk have been left in the blocks. They now have to get rid of the deadwood in the side, drop the players who so clearly aren't putting it in and get players in who want to play for Dundalk FC. Maybe, just maybe we have a chance of turning things around if we do that. Over to you Terry .

DUNDALK FC

1 Brendan Murphy 5

2 John Whyte 6

3 David Crawley 6

4 Padraig Staunton 8

5 Paul Whelan 5

6 Noel Melvin 4

7 John Sharkey 4

8 David Hoey 5

9 Gavin Moore 1

10 David Ward 1

11 Michael Harte 3

SUBS

13 David Martin 5 for Sharkey

12 Tom McNulty 5 for Whelan

14 Peter Finn 4 for Harte