Goalkeeper Matt Gregg is determined to nail down the No1 jersey at Dundalk this year, having played second fiddle to Brian Murphy at Bohemians last season. The 31-year-old lined out just twice last term for the Gypsies – who he returned to after a two-season absence – due to the fine form of Murphy, who has since transferred to English Championship side Ipswich Town.

No1 aim
However, Gregg, who joined the Lilywhites after being released by Bohs, is now aiming to dislodge his Scottish counterpart Peter Cherrie – who was back in Dundalk on Thursday after being excused for the first four days of pre-season training – and make a return to regular football. “I’m here to be No1, definitely,” Gregg told dundalkfc.com in an exclusive interview. “I wouldn’t come up here if I didn’t think I would be No1. I saw Peter once or twice last year, he looks tidy enough. Obviously, he hasn’t been here this week, so hopefully he will come in now and we can start getting some work done.

Bohs frustration
“We won the league last year at Bohs, but it was frustrating not playing many games,” the Cheltenham-born netminder added. “Brian Murphy was excellent. I’ve been in the league seven or eight years now, and he’s the best ‘keeper I’ve seen in the league, by miles, and hopefully he’ll do really well at Ipswich now. He’s an outstanding ‘keeper, it was hard to dislodge him. Last year, when I signed, I was hoping he would be gone to Ipswich during the season, because I knew it would be hard to dislodge him, but it didn’t turn out to be, so I was twiddling my thumbs on the bench.

‘Professional outfit’
“But I’m here now, hopefully getting the No1 jersey,” he continued, “and going and winning some honours, hopefully. Bohs is a good club, the fans really come out when you’re challenging, but I’m happy to be here. This is where I want to be now. I’ve been here a few days now and it looks like a very good setup. I think the pitch is very good, I love it. I’ve played up here a couple of times before and I’ve no problems with the pitch at all. The changing rooms and you’ve Gerry (Watters) looking after the kit – there’s a decent club here. I’m actually very impressed with the facilities, to be fair. It looks like a professional outfit.”

Fighting fit
Gregg runs Goalkeeping Schools most nights of the week in Dublin, similar to those held by Steve Williams in Dundalk and Drogheda, and insists that he is ready for action and won’t be affected by the lack of games over the last 12 months. “No, definitely not,” he said. “There’ll obviously be pre-season games coming up and I’ve been training all the time. I run Goalkeeping Schools – we’re trying to spread it around the country now and Steve is helping me to do that – I’m out coaching all the time, I’m on the ball all the time, so hopefully I’ll get back into the swing of it and go and get the no1 spot.”

12th man
With Dundalk stuck in the First Division for much of Gregg’s time in the League of Ireland, the ‘keeper has had few outings at Oriel Park, but he has been well educated on the club by fellow players. “I’ve played with lads who have played with Dundalk and they’ve told me about the good old times,” he said, “when the club used to be winning leagues, and that the fan base here is really good. If you can get on a roll, the fans will come out and support you, and it’s a real good football town. That’s one of the reasons I came up here as well. Obviously, they have a great fan base and I’ve heard a lot about the support. I’ve played here before and I’ve seen the passion of the supporters. Getting the fans behind us is going to be huge this season, so hopefully they can be the 12th man and we can make this place a fortress.”

Foster call
And the former Bray Wanderers and UCD ‘keeper has also been impressed by the sessions put on by assistant manager Wayne Hatswell this week in the absence of Ian Foster, whose plans for the club helped to make Gregg’s decision to join. “I got a call from Ian just after Christmas,” Matt explained on how his move to Oriel Park came about. “I was chatting away with him, and there’s a bit of coaching involved as well, so everything sounded good. Ian sounds like a good lad – I haven’t met him yet – but ‘Hats’ (Wayne Hatswell) is a good lad and coaching has been very good this week.

Hats off
“Training has been sharp,” he added. “Wayne is a very good coach, his training sessions are nice and lively – they’re good fun sessions with hard work. Obviously, we’re short of signings at the moment, so hopefully we can get a few more faces in and then really push on. Wayne has been excellent; he has done a great job, to be fair. Obviously, he has been thrown in at the deep end, but that happens in life, the baby popped out at the wrong time! But I hear everything is OK over there with Ian, which is the main thing. ‘Hats’ has done a great job this week, not knowing anyone, in a new country – fair play to him.

Reaching high
“I’m not one for setting goals,” Gregg concluded when talking about possible aims for the season ahead. “We’re going to get a team together first, get a good few pre-season games under our belt and hopefully we can push on up the league. As I said, I don’t want to set goals, but you never know where you can go. We’ve got a couple of good lads in already, like Alan Cawley, a great ball player, and if we can get players around him then we can do well. There are no goals set, but we’ll reach as high as we can.” Gregg is also wary of the threats posed by newly-promoted clubs UCD and Sporting Fingal. “I think UCD will be very strong,” he said. “They’ve got a good base of young fellas there, so they could do very well this season. Fingal have obviously spent a lot of money, they have a big budget, but again budgets aren’t everything – as we’ve seen before in the league. Bohs will be very strong again, but winning the league three times in a row is not easy, so they’re going to be under huge pressure. It’s there for people – if we want it, we can go and get it.”