Dundalk FC :: News

30 MAY 2008: “It’s only three points - there’s nothing won here today…the way we’ve got the three points, that can galvanise a team in ways, and we’re all delighted in there” - Shiels

Dundalk returned to the top of the First Division standings on Thursday night following a stirring 3-2 win over Sporting Fingal at Oriel Park, and key to that victory was central midfielder, dundalkfc.com Man of the Match, Paul Shiels. The 28-year-old was returning to the team after a three-week absence, and he put in a wonderful all-round performance to inspire the Lilywhites to a memorable win. Afterwards, however, Shiels stressed: “It’s only three points - there’s nothing won here today.

“Obviously, with the way the game panned out, we’re all delighted. For long spells, it looked like it was getting away from us, but I always felt - even with ten against eleven - that we were the ones forcing the issue. And maybe having a man sent-off in the first-half helped us a little bit and made us all work that little bit harder and push on for the result. But what was pleasing was that we weren’t settling for a draw, and instead we went on and tried to win it. The way we’ve got the three points, that can galvanise a team in ways, and we’re all delighted in there. We can enjoy it now tonight, but tomorrow, we have to think about the Shels match next week.”
Thursday’s win added to Dundalk’s impressive 5-0 stroll in Wexford last week, and has confirmed a return

to form for the Oriel outfit after a three-game winless run earlier in the month had set alarm bells ringing among some of the club’s support. “If that’s the worst dip we hit during the season, I won’t be too

disappointed,” Shiels stated. “In the two drawn games, I didn’t play, but watching them, I didn’t think we played that badly. I remember the first time we played Sporting Fingal, we were absolutely terrible, and if we had played like that, then it would have been really disappointing.

“But I just thought in the two games against Monaghan and Longford, it was just a little bit of sharpness and creativity in the last third that let us down - not any hunger or work-rate. So, I wasn’t that disappointed, and, as I say, if that’s the worst dip we hit during the season, I’ll be a happy man.”