EIRCOM LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

14th November

Monaghan United 1

CARL WILSON 40

Dundalk 2

DAVID CRAWLEY 7

ANTO REILLY 62

A gem of a goal from Anto Reilly made it eight wins from the last nine matches for a confident Dundalk against Monaghan in Gortakeegan today. It was a scrappy win in places but if Dundalk have serious hopes about promotion then these are the matches you can not afford to drop points in.

Dundalk were forced into a change from the side which defeated Kilkenny as Brian Morrisroe was out with an injury sustained in last Saturdays match. John Flanagan came into the side and a complete reshuffle of the midfield saw David Hoey move to the left, Paul Campbell to the right wing and Flanagan slotting in alongside Tom McNulty in the centre. Monaghan had not won in eight games but have been unlucky not to do so and in recent weeks have given Bray a fright. Andy Myler has scored 6 goals for Monaghan already this season so the Dundalk defence would have to be on their toes.

However Myler was a virtual spectator for the first 15 minutes as Dundalk completely dominated. Right from the outset the Monaghan rearguard looked shaky with the pace and trickery of Ward coming up against the physical Monaghan centre half James O' Callaghan. It only took 7 minutes for Dundalk to take the lead. Ward was fouled 20 yards out by O'Callaghan. Campbell and Crawley deliberated over the free kick but in the end it was the left back who stood up and curled a left foot beauty around the wall and into the top corner of the net. First blood Dundalk. After that the Whites had a spell in which they could and should have gone two or three ahead. Anto Reilly was the culprit for not ensuring this. A lovely break by Dundalk only minutes after the goal saw Ward out Reilly in the clear but he took too much time over the shot and although he cut inside the retreating Monagan defender the space for a shot had been narrowed and Van Boxtel advanced to make a short range stop. Reilly and Ward had more chances as the half went on. Wards occasional darting runs cut the Mons defence in half and when he again released Reilly after 20 minutes, the young striker again took too much time picking a spot and the chance was wasted. Monaghan made few advances into the Dundalk half but when they did they gave Dundalk a stern warning of what was to come when a dangerous 25 yard drive from Stephen Best went only inches wide.

The referee was not helping proceedings. I say it every week but this weeks ref was worse than last weeks, which seemed impossible at the time. His ineptness was all too evident as on many occasions the decision went in favour of the player who shouted first. Any hint of contact was outlawed and any sliding tackles punished. Basically, the referee wanted the game played like a non contact sport which is not exactly the preferred choice of First Division defenders. A dubious free kick awarded after 40 minutes was to give Monaghan an equaliser. Karl Wilson who had earlier hit two dangerous free kicks wide of the post got lucky this time when his shot deflected off the wall and sailed over John Connolly into the far corner of the net. At half time the score was 1-1. On the balance of play Dundalk should have been two or three-nil ahead but Dundalk's failure to kill off a game was again quite evident.The game was becoming quite bad tempered as well. An ugly skirmish in the Monaghan goalmouth saw Eddie Van Boxtel strike David Ward in the face. This angered Anto Reilly so much that he got involved with a Mons defender. All parties were lucky to escape with only yellow cards. The way the game was going it looked like a red card would inevitably follow but after half time the tension was not as evident.

Monaghan caused Dundalk some problems in the second half. Myler gave Gollogley a hard time but despite the Monaghan attacks becoming more frequent in the second period it was mainly the visitors who dominated the game for long spells. David Ward was emerging as the main threat to Monaghan and was creating chances right left and centre which sadly Dundalk could not convert. When one of the crosses was met by Hoey and then a fortuitous deflection off a Mons defender into the net past Van Boxtel a free kick to Monaghan was awarded. To this minute, no one is quite sure why. However a couple of potshots from Ward and Flanagan filled the void between the disallowed goal and the actual winner.

Dundalk were passing the ball about and when David Crawley won a brave header on the left hand side the ball eventually worked its way over to the far side where Paul Campbell laid it off to Anto Reilly who seemingly had nowhere to go. However he found some space and from 25 yards hit an absolute peach of a lob which dipped over Van Boxtel and in off the underside of the crossbar for an absolutely glorious goal. The irony is that as Reilly scored the goal Brian Honan was taking off his tracksuit to replace the player who had failed to really make an impact in the match. That goal secured Reilly another twenty minutes on the pitch.

After that David Ward produced some wonderful openings for Dundalk. His marker had to be substituted and his replacement didn't fare much better against him. John Flanagan controlled the midfield in the second half. Monaghan however got some dangerous crosses in but their final efforts were poor and didn't cause John Connolly much problems. Eddie Van Boxtel had to make more saves. However the ex-Dundalk netminder nearly gifted Anto Reilly a second goal when Ward forced him into a poor kickout but when the ball came to Reilly he sidefooted it over the bar from 25 yards. Honan came on to try and hold the ball up for Dundalk as Reilly could not do if effectively but when Honan was on the pitch the ball wasn't really in the Mons half as the hosts pressed forward for an equaliser. Despite John Connolly flapping at a cross in injury time there wasn't a Mons player on hand to capitalise. To be fair on the Dundalk defence, the reason so much pressure was put on them was because the referee gave some crazy free kicks in Monaghans favour in the dying seconds and this resulted in the ball being pelted into the Dundalk area but luckily nothing came of it.

In the end the whistle went while Dundalk were on an attack forward. It was a more than welcome three points for Dundalk. The large away support which far outnumbered the Monaghan fans went home happy. Monaghan certainly played better than their League position suggests but Dundalk deserved the three points which now leaves Dundalk behind only Longford on goal difference

Star performers for Dundalk were Flanagan and Ward. The former has certainly given Terry Eviston a selection headache for next week. The wingers, Hoey and Campbell played well sporadically while David Crawley and Noel Melvin were the best of the back four. Given time, the Ward-Reilly partnership could be a very fruitful one for Dundalk. Eviston and Ralph, both fine strikers themselves will teach Reilly more about his positional play and he can only improve from now on. Ward is quite brilliant in this Division with the ball at his feet.

Dundalk now move on to Cobh at home next week. Dundalk have now beaten every team in the Division apart from Longford who are now the only team ahead of us. If we keep picking up wins like this on the road then we are definitely on the right road.

DUNDALK FC

1 John Connolly 6

2 John Whyte 6

3 David Crawley 7

4 David Hoey 6

5 Padraig Gollogley 6

6 Noel Melvin 8

7 Tom McNulty 6

8 Paul Campbell 6

9 David Ward 8

10 Anto Reilly 7

11 John Flanagan 8

SUBS

12 Brian Honan 6 for Reilly

13 Paul Whelan

14 John Sharkey

15 Paddy Quinn

17 Michael Gahan