Having been busy trying to acquire the signatures of the players at the top of his wanted list in the off-season, Dundalk boss John Gill got his first chance to test out his new signings at Oriel Park on Thursday night against Drogheda United, and judging by their debut displays with the border club, the manager appears to have bought well. Six of the new arrivals started while a seventh entered from the bench, with David Cassidy, who joined from Shamrock Rovers, picking up the Man of the Match accolade following an impressive midfield performance.
 
And, it was an outing which understandably pleased Gill, despite seeing his side lose out on penalties after a scoreless draw. Speaking afterwards, he told dundalkfc.com: “We got a lot out of the game. In fairness, they’re a good side - that would be eight of their starting eleven, I’d imagine. They actually played us into a decent shape, which is what we were looking for, a defensive shape; they actually helped us work on that tonight. I thought we coped very, very well. I already said before the game, I was very happy with the fitness levels, and I thought you saw that there tonight. I thought we were excellent, against a full-time team, I thought we were very, very good fitness and conditional wise.
 
“The good thing about that is, I said this to them down there, that’s one performance, but you’re looking now to build on that. One thing is for sure, we’ll get better. They’re a new bunch of players - six new players started there tonight. So, I think that we’ll improve; I’m not saying it guarantees you anything, but I’m very, very happy with the attitude and the hunger that they’ve shown, and it was an excellent workout for us.
 
“I have to say, I thought we were comfortable tonight. I felt we were very comfortable, defensively. Trevor could have scored in the first-half and Tiarnàn had a chance in the second-half; I thought overall, chances wise, we shaded it, but you can’t take too much out of it. It’s a workout for them, they were trying a few new players out as well - they had Kendrick and Hughes making their debuts tonight, along with the ‘keeper.

“The game was good for the fans. There was a great atmosphere, and I said it to the new players there. They didn’t realise maybe how big this place is or could be, and I said ‘that’s only a taste, imagine, if you can get this crowd behind you, we can make this place like a fortress’.
 
“I think that you can see that the players we brought in from the Premier Division have that little bit of class. They pose people problems, but it’s their work-rate as well. I said them down below, to be successful, you’ve got to work hard first. The only time that success comes before work is in the dictionary. If you don’t work hard, you’re never going to be successful, and by God did they work hard tonight. We had a thing on the board down there - attitude + work-rate = performances, and I think we got that tonight. There’s nothing at stake, but it’s very, very pleasing, because you could have turned up tonight against a team that’s very, very used to playing with each other, full-time, and got a tanking. But we worked very, very hard and we actually posed them a few problems.
 
“I know some people in the club were maybe doubting signings that I made. Anybody that doubted that the Rovers boys were going to put it in got their answer tonight. They can call us the ‘Lilyhoops’, they can call us what they want, once we perform like that, and I think they showed tonight that they’re here to do a job.
 
“This is why we put together the pre-season schedule that we did. Part of the reason I do that is obviously for the fans, to give them a taste for the game. But I said to the players, the easy thing to do, and it’s happened here before, is that you play local, non-league teams and you maybe play teams from the North, and what do you learn about yourselves? Not only will Drogheda test you physically, but I feel Premier Division teams test you mentally. It brings your game up mentally, because you’ve got to react quicker, and that’s why we go for the tough programme that we have.
 
“There’ll be a couple of changes on Tuesday night (-v- Saint Patrick’s Athletic) as well. The players that came on done really, really well. I think we have the makings of a very, very tidy squad, when you consider that Ben Whelehan and Paul Crowley didn’t play tonight. We all know what Whelehan is about, and Crowley is an excellent player as well. I’m really, really pleased with the squad that I have. I’ve got some great young talent in young Shane, Tiarnàn and Stefan McKevitt. So, it’s looking very good for this football club, on and off the pitch.”