Handed his full competitive debut for the club, Tiarnàn Mulvenna couldn’t have impressed manager John Gill more, as he scored a double for Dundalk in their 3-0 win over Monaghan United in the sides’ League Cup First Round tie at Oriel Park. The exciting youngster grabbed a goal in either half with two superb finishes, and afterwards, Mulvenna was clearly pleased with his night’s work.
 
“We did well,” the 19-year-old admitted. “It’s just a completely changed team from the last day. All of us are fighting for places now, and everybody wants in so early in the season. We all want a game, so everybody’s just working hard, and that performance obviously showed.
 
“I was very happy. I just went out, I’m fighting for a place now, so I just wanted to go out and show everybody what I could do; and I told everybody that I can score. He gave me my opportunity and I did it, so hopefully I can take it from here now.
 
“I said at the start of the season that we have a far better squad this year than any other season - I’ve been here since 2006. The strength in depth then with the few youths - they’ve got to the semi-finals of the All-Ireland - with Shane Greene coming in, Donal (Greene) was on the bench and Conor Gorman who wasn’t registered in time, so there’s a few. There’s me, Shane (Grimes) and Stef (McKevitt) as well. There’s young players there, and he’s not afraid to use us if he wants.”