We never do things the easy way. Coming into this game, I remember thinking that it had been a while since we really had a comphrehensive win in this type of League match. Sure, we beat Limerick 3-0 in the Cup, and hammered Francis and Drogheda, but against a mid table team like Cobh, we really fail to assert any kind of authority
We looked like doing that today in the first half, as we ran the ragged, and could have gone in three or four clear at the break. In the end, we had to settle for two nil ahead, but in the second half we nearly threw the game away and had to call on more last minute heroics from Martin Reilly, to stop the game turning into a disaster. Results elswhere have put us three points clear at the top, makes you wonder where we'd be if we hadn't dropped some silly points like we have
Two changes were made from the side that drew in a dour game with Limerick. Both wingers, O'Dowd and Mullen were dropped. Flanagan came in for O'Dowd, with Tommy Byrne coming in for Mullen
Within ten minutes Byrne had almost vindicated his selection ,with two long efforts wide of the post. He may have eventually tired in the second half, but Byrne offered more in an attacking sense on the wing than Mullen did and caused problems for Cobh. His cross also led to the second goal. The other change also reaped dividends on 18 minutes when Flanagan put Dundalk ahead. It should have been 1-0 already when Flanagan set up Reilly, but after taking it past the keeper he had ran wide and his shot hit the side netting. The pair were to combine on 18 minutes to put Dundalk ahead. It was a good team goal, with a pass from Ryan to Flanagan. Flanagan played a one two with Reilly, whose pass was perfectly weighted so Flanagan could run onto it and shoot past the Cobh keeper low into the bottom corner of the net. A good finish from a player with a point to prove.
Dundalk were playing some great football. Reilly had the chance to make it two, but the keeper got ahead of him again. Six minutes later he made no mistake. It was an easy header for him in the end, with the build up the most pleasing aspect. Hoey did well to make space for himself in midfield and lay the ball out to Crawley, who played a simple ball to Tommy Byrne. He looked up and hit in a good left footed cross which sailed onto the head of John Ryan whose cushioned header into the path of Martin Reilly, was turned in by the head of the on form goalscorer. The Cobh defence seemed to stop, and the goal was not met with the usual cheers, as everyone seemed bemused, but it was a perfectly good goal, the mere simplicity confusing everyone.
Up until half time, Dundalk were playing well, and the possibility of a three, four, maybe even five goal victory looked a possibility the way we were playing, with both Dunne and Hoey doing well in the middle. Both wingers getting into decent positions, and Ryan and Reilly working well up front, while at the back, Cobhs best player Willie Brutons' skill on the ball was causing problems, but Dundalk were still coping well
Then half time came, and things were completely different. After the break Dundalk fell asleep, the crowd went silent expecting nothing but an easy victory, and Cobh got more ball. Still Martin Reilly could have scored after half time when a mistake gave him the chance to lob Donegan but it was saved by the keeper who still looked ropey. The Cobh defence was still all over the place. The game was played at a sedate pace, but there was always the chance that if Cobh got one, they could well grab an equaliser and put the pressure on. Their manager made the wise decision to move Bruton up front where his pace would trouble our defence. On 67 minutes, an error by David Crawley let Cobh back in. Receiving the ball at the edge of the area, he tried to be too clever and Declan McGregor won the ball off him and progressed into the area. His shot across the goal was turned in by Willie Bruton. The ball may well have gone in anyway, and Bruton could have cost his side the goal had the linesman blew up for offside, but common sense prevailed and the goal was given, he may not have been offside anyway. Dundalk should have received a wake up call from this. Mullen came on for the tired Byrne, and the similarly tired Ryan, who like Reilly had been largely anonymous for the second half was replaced by Anto Reilly. There was always the danger Cobh would get in, and Bruton, the class act that he is wouldn't waste a second chance. As it transpired, Cobh got the goal on 82 minutes, the Dundalk defence was caught completely square as a good through ball put Bruton away between the central defenders. He calmly rounded Connolly and composed himself to shoot past Broughan who had got himself back on the goal line. Two all, and dejection around Oriel
Could Dundalk possibly be snatching a defeat from the jaws of victory like we did in St Colmans Park in December when it finished 3-2 to Cobh ? Well, it looked possible when Cobh won a free kick soon after, but Golden shot wildly over. Dundalk weren't getting forward, and after throwing the game away, looked like they would have to settle for another 2-2 with Cobh in Oriel. However, Cobh hadn't counted for the brilliance of Martin Reilly. Latching on to an innocuous looking ball forward in the 90th minute, Reilly used his pace to get away from his man and when it looked like he was going to shoot, he stopped and pulled the ball back past a Cobh defender. Someone in the crowd groaned loadly thinking he was being overelaborate but he knew what he was at. Anto Reilly was on the far post and it looked like he was going to try and pick him out, but with the keeper almost wrong footed Reilly shot right footed past the keeper on his near post to snatch an unlikely victory, another late goal for Dundalk.
When the world seemed to be falling around us, suddenly everything was looking up, and when the latest scores from elsewhere were called out by the Voice, with both Athlone and Monaghan behind, everything seemed to be going right again. The final whistle went, and suddenly, we were three points clear at the top of Division One.
It was hard to know what went wrong in the second half. It was just complacency in my opinion, as we were far superior in the first half, and in the last minute when Reilly had a run at them, the Cobh defence which has looked shaky everytime we played them this season, opened up quite easily. It is also hard to assess player performances and team changes, as in the first half everything was brilliant, in the second half the complete opposite.
We got away with it today, but the most important thing, all three points, are safely in the bag and we are now in a commanding position.We made mistakes, and got away with them in the end, thank God for Martin Reilly. With the next two League games against St Francis and Drogheda a real chance to open up a gap, we must not let complacency take its evil grip over the pysche of our players again. I hope the manager had a few words to them over the second half performance, on a day that proved, with some results elsewhere that nothing is certain. Apart of course, from the fact that Dundalk FC will never ever do things the easy way