Stephen O’Donnell could not hide his frustration after Dundalk’s 3-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Sunday night.
The Lilywhites enjoyed large spells of possession and forced Rovers goalkeeper Alan Mannus into a number of fine saves but their hopes of closing the gap at the top were undone by some poor defending which saw the hosts punish Dundalk with three decisive counter-attacks.
The result extends Rovers’ lead at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division to seven points. Dundalk remain in second, three points ahead of Derry City, with an extra game played.
You can read O’Donnell’s post-match comments below.
On Dundalk’s overall display…
“I just saw the stats and we had 66% of the possession and 17 attempts to 12 but we’re not going to be one of those teams who takes moral victories, we lost the game 3-0 because we gave away terrible goals. We had good passages like we knew we would, but the difference was in both boxes where we weren’t clinical enough.”
On the Rovers goals…
“The first goal came from us being in a really good position and we weren’t set to defend and the second comes off a free-kick straight down the middle which is really poor from our point of view. It wasn’t a case of us being played off the park football-wise. Then you would be a bit disillusioned and saying ‘we’re well off the pace’. That wasn’t the case. Rovers were very direct and we were just too open and the goals we gave away were very poor.”
Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Alan Mannus makes a save from Keith Ward during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
On Dundalk’s style of play…
“That’s the level we’re going to get to, where we impose our will and our style of play on the game. They basically played with a front three and went over their midfield and we didn’t deal with it well. They’ll say it was a good game plan, which it was as they’ve won the game. We’ve had so much success at pressing teams and being really good like that so when you’re a little bit out of sorts and not connected, it can show itself up a little bit. We were a little bit disconnected in regards to our defence and dealing with the long ball.”
On Alan Mannus’s performance…
“It was a great save from Keith Ward’s free-kick and I thought he made some good saves in the first half too when we were in good positions. That’s what it is. Alan’s a very good goalkeeper. I played with him at Rovers before he moved to Scotland and he deserves a lot of credit to be still as agile and sharp at his age. He was excellent and that tells you something.”
On Robbie McCourt’s injury…
“He played 45 minutes last week and did very well but he hurt his Achilles. We’re hoping it’s not too bad. We would have liked to have got more games into him so it’s a little bit of a setback.”
On Friday’s FAI Cup tie with Wexford FC…
“Andy Boyle will be back from suspension for the FAI Cup tie against Wexford on Friday so we’ll go again. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves or wallow.”
