Alan Cawley (left) pictured with Wayne Hatswell (centre) and Matt Gregg (right).

Alan Cawley feels Dundalk is similar to his own hometown club, Sligo Rovers, and he is hoping that results on the pitch will see the town row in behind the Lilywhites this year. The former Saint Patrick’s Athletic midfielder, who became Ian Foster’s first signing in the off-season when he put pen to paper on Christmas Eve, was speaking after the side’s second day in pre-season training on Tuesday when Wayne Hatswell put the squad through a tough two-and-a-half-hour session. And the 28-year-old, who won a Premier Division title with Shelbourne in 2004, has revealed that he would love nothing more than an FAI Cup run, as well as helping the club to push for a European place.

Sligo similarity
“I’ve played a few times against Dundalk, it’s definitely a place I know,” Cawley told dundalkfc.com in an exclusive interview. “It’s kind of actually similar to my own hometown of Sligo in that it seems like a mad soccer town. I know from playing against Dundalk that the atmosphere up here is great. If the team is doing well, it’s something similar to Sligo, the crowds really come out in their droves, and any time I’ve played up here it’s always been a really good atmosphere. I’m hoping that will be the case this year, that if we were to do well that the town will get behind us and we’ll get a few decent crowds. I definitely think Dundalk, as everyone tells you, is a sleeping giant for the past few years, because it was always a really successful club, and, hopefully, we can bring those kind of days back.

Cup hunger
“My aim is to do really well for the club,” he added. “I set out at the start of every season to obviously do the best that I can for myself and the team, so hopefully we can have a successful year and do really well. I think looking at it from the outside, going into it Bohs, as everyone knows, will probably be hot favourites again this year, and they seem to have strengthened again. I think other than that that it will be fairly open amongst the teams. There’s no reason as to why we can’t push for a European place, and hopefully do well in the cup. I know they have a good tradition in the cup up here as well. It would be lovely to have a cup run. I have a league winners’ medal, and it’s something which I’ve set myself a target for before I finish playing – I’d love to win a cup. I played in a Setanta Cup final with Shels, we were runners-up, but there’s something about the FAI Cup – I always look out for it at the start of the year, it’s always a great competition, and it would be something that would be great to do well in.”

Kenna link
Cawley, who will travel to training daily from his home in Portmarnock, had not known Foster personally before now, but the midfielder played under Jeff Kenna – Foster’s former sidekick at Galway United – at Saint Patrick’s Athletic last season, a friendship which Cawley believes helped to bring him to Dundalk. “Ian obviously got in touch with me,” Alan explained when talking about how the move came about. “I think he was speaking to my previous manager, Jeff Kenna, who I got on really well with at St. Pat’s, because obviously he has a good friendship with him. He just got in touch with me then, and after speaking to him it was the place that I wanted to be. I was impressed by what he had to say and he came across as a really nice fella and all. Obviously, I’m delighted to sign and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s great to be back the last couple of days in pre-season. I’m just really looking forward to the season now, and hopefully things go well.”

Positive start
Dundalk started pre-season training on Monday morning when Wayne Hatswell took training due to Foster’s unavoidable absence, and speaking after Tuesday’s hard session – which saw the squad train from 10.30am until lunchtime – Cawley revealed that he is enjoying the training so far. “It has been really good,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed it, I have to say. Obviously, with Ian’s situation he hasn’t been around, but Wayne has come in and he has been brilliant. The first two days have been really enjoyable. There seems to be a really good bunch of lads, all the young lads that have been training are a really good bunch. Wayne has put on two really good sessions. It’s just good to be back. I’m really looking forward to the season.” Cawley also stated that he is relishing playing on Oriel’s artificial surface this term. “Especially for the type of player I am, I’m looking forward to playing on it,” he said. “It will suit me, I think, because I like to get it down and pass it and play. From training on it the past few days it has been fine. It’s of a really good standard. I’ve played on a couple before and they’ve been nowhere near as good as the one here.”

Pats disappointment
Cawley, who also previously played with Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, UCD, Longford Town and Waterford United, admits he was disappointed to leave St. Pat’s at the end of last season but stated that he was left with little choice. “To be honest, I was (disappointed), I really enjoyed my time at St. Pat’s,” he said. “But I suppose since the caretaker manager came in towards the end of the season I didn’t really play that much. Obviously, once he got the job it was time to look for a new club, I suppose. Nobody from St. Pat’s contacted me to say that the contract would be renewed or that, so I was obviously free then, and, as I said, once Ian got in contact with me I was delighted to sign here.” St. Pat’s struggled for long periods on the domestic front during last year, but Cawley feels he performed well, although he is at a loss to explain the Saints’ contrasting form on the European stage where they defeated Valletta (Malta) and Krylia Sovetov (Russia) before bowing out to Steaua Bucharest (Romania) despite a brave performance. “I thought it actually went quite well (for myself),” he said. “I know the team probably struggled. We shouldn’t have been where we were, because we had a better squad than the position we finished in, to be fair.

European mystery
“I know things didn’t go according to plan under Jeff, but Jeff was very good,” Alan added. “For myself, especially, he played me every week and I felt I done really well, especially in the European games. The European games went really well for me. I think I got ‘Man of the Match’ against Steaua Bucharest, which was a big game. Throughout the season, I thought I done quite well. As I said, once the caretaker came in, I didn’t feature towards the end of the season, which was disappointing.” Speaking on the difference between the side’s domestic form, which saw them finish seventh, and their form in the UEFA Europa League, Cawley admitted that the squad were as bemused as onlookers. “It was something we just couldn’t figure out,” he concluded. “Everyone was asking us, and it was just something we couldn’t put our finger on. I don’t know if it was because of obviously the bit of hype with the European games – it’s no excuse because you should be getting motivated for every game – but for whatever reason we just didn’t perform in the league. We definitely had a more than good enough squad to be performing a lot better. I feel we should have finished maybe in the top four or five last year with the squad of players we had.”

dundalkfc.com will continue its daily update on the Lilywhites' pre-season progress on Wednesday when new goalkeeper Matt Gregg takes centre stage.