Dundalk recorded their first victory of the new year at Oriel Park on Tuesday night with a solid 1-0 win over Premier Division side Saint Patrick’s Athletic, and, having played an integral part in the side keeping two consecutive clean-sheets in the opening 180 minutes of 2008, it was left to a defender to also net the Lilywhites’ winner, as right-back John Flanagan rose highest to plant a David Crawley set-piece in the top corner early on.
 
And, the 28-year-old, who was without a goal since last May, is understandably pleased with the squad’s progress after their opening two warm-up matches. “I think there’s a decent shape about us at the moment,” Flano told dundalkfc.com, “but it’s easy to play against the big teams that play in front of you - they kind of nearly play you into shape. Our tests are going to come against the lesser teams, because they just go long. I think that’s going to be the test for us - how we’re going to adapt to people just lumping the ball. But, at the moment, we’re looking good, and when we get on it, we look a threat as well. We had a couple of chances tonight and could have maybe got a couple of goals, but we’re very happy with how it’s going.
 
“I think the one chance Pats had tonight, they hit the post, which in fairness, was again a shot from the edge of the box. We’re working very hard, and the midfield four he has in there, the four of them are working hard in front of us, and the front two are working hard also - as a team, we’re working hard and we’re keeping people out, which is great. I think if we keep it like that throughout the season, we’ll do alright.
 
“I think the new lads have really invigorated the whole place; there’s a whole fresh approach to things. The work-rate from the lads, as you can see, is phenomenal. I think, as a group of players, it’s brilliant - everyone’s pushing each other, there’s nobody acting the eejit, nobody messing and there’s a great attitude all around the place, so hopefully that will continue on.
 
“There’s five young lads that have come in from Rovers, and they’re nice fellas, but they also want to work and they want to win, and they fit in perfectly with how John wants to play. The older lads as well, a lot of us know them from playing against them and playing with them over the years, so it’s very easy for them to settle in. As a group of lads, we’ve got together very quickly, and we’re only going to get stronger.”