Archie Davies is hoping that the month of July is just as good as the month of June as Dundalk prepare to battle on three fronts over the coming weeks.
Friday night’s massive SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division clash with Bohemians at Dalymount Park is followed by both legs of the UEFA Europa Conference League first qualifying round with FCB Magpies from Gibraltar before Dundalk welcome Shamrock Rovers in the first round of the Sports Direct FAI Cup.
After winning four and drawing one of their five games in June, Stephen O’Donnell’s men are going into the busy period in a rich vein of form, something that has been recognised by the Soccer Writers of Ireland, who have nominated Davies and Patrick Hoban for their Player of the Month award.
“I think that’s a testament to the team’s performances,” said Davies. “We’ve had a really good month, five unbeaten, four wins out of five, and I think myself and Pat being nominated is a reflection of how well we’ve been doing.
“Personally, it’s a nice little achievement. I feel fit and I feel confident now and I think the run of games that I’ve had and the performances that myself and the team have had has helped me kick on.”
Davies played in a more advanced role during Dundalk’s 2-0 win over Shamrock Rovers last Friday night and he said he revelled in the freedom.
“I really enjoyed it, to be fair. I like to think I’ve got a lot of freedom going forward anyway but playing further up suits my strengths.
“It was a great performance but we need to back it up because we’ve shown that’s our benchmark and we need to continue that on and play even better. We’re all confident going into tomorrow night so hopefully we can just kick on from there.”
Bohs won the corresponding game at Dalymount Park in late February but Davies believes that Dundalk are a different proposition now.
“Looking back on that game, we were still a very new group whereas now we’re more settled with each other and we know our strengths and we know what we can play to.
“We want to go one up on that performance and go up there and get a result,” he added. “That’s the aim going into this period of games.
“Europe is coming up next week and that’s something to look forward to and I think everyone’s excited by it but first and foremost, we want to win on Friday night.”
Bohemians have won just two of their last 10 league games and a win in Phibsborough would move the Lilywhites seven points clear of Declan Devine’s men, albeit with two games more played, but Dundalk head coach Stephen O’Donnell said he was very wary of the Gypsies.
“Every team’s been through a poor run this season and enjoyed a good run,” he said, “and both ourselves and Bohemians are probably experiencing that now.
“You’ve seen with other teams, you can go through a little bit of a lull and then put a run together, that’s the way the league’s been, so they’ll think that they’re not far away from putting a run of their own together.”
Team News: Andy Boyle (hamstring) and Robbie McCourt (groin) will be assessed before kickoff while Cameron Elliott, Robbie Benson and John Mountney are out. New signing Darren Brownlie will join up with the squad next week.
