DFC ACADEMY: MU20s Update

📸 Kristine Lubimova

Dundalk FC U20s got their league campaign off to the perfect start last Saturday with an emphatic 6-1 victory over Derry City — a result that delighted manager Shane Grimes after a strong performance built on intensity, quality, and a ruthless edge.

Grimes was pleased to see his side grow into the contest early on and then maintain their standards right through to the final whistle.

“Any time you start off with a win, it’s good,” he said. “But it was the manner of it — once we found our rhythm after the first 10 or 15 minutes, we showed nice football, good intensity, good quality and energy from start to finish.”

📸 Kristine Lubimova

First-half control set the tone

After settling into the game, Dundalk began to play with confidence and purpose, pressing hard and moving the ball well as they took control.

“I thought we were pretty relentless for the whole game, which was pleasing,” Grimes added. “We didn’t take our foot off. We got a couple of goals up going into half-time, which gave us a strong lead.”

At the break, the message was clear: don’t let standards drop.

“We just reinforced at half-time that we needed to keep the same mindset going into the second half,” he said. “Keep doing the things you’re doing well.”

📸 Kristine Lubimova

Clean sheet the only frustration

Despite the scoreline, Grimes admitted there was one small disappointment — conceding a goal — as he continues to drive home the importance of defensive pride alongside attacking output.

“The only negative was it would’ve been nice to get a clean sheet,” he said. “That’s something we’re trying to instil — taking great pride in everything they do, whether that’s putting the ball in the back of the net or keeping clean sheets as a team.”

Plenty of fresh faces and goals

Another encouraging feature of the win was the spread of goals and the number of new players introduced into the group.

“It was nice to get a couple of different goal scorers,” Grimes said. “Between the starting team and the subs coming on, we had maybe eight or nine new debuts for the U20s, so it’s a fresh look this year.”

📸 Kristine Lubimova

Attention turns to Longford

With a renewed group and coaching staff eager to get to work, the focus now turns quickly to what’s next. “Myself and Neil [Neil Adair, Assistant] are just looking forward to getting stuck into the group and seeing how we can progress them,” he said. “If we can improve individually week on week, session on session, collectively as well — that’s the aim.”

There’s no time to dwell on a big opening-day result, with a tough away trip on the horizon.

“We’ve got a tough trip away to Longford next week,” Grimes noted. “So we’re back in training this week and trying to prepare as best we can for that — and just keep improving week to week.”