After a long off-season, Ryan O’Kane said it was good to get back on the pitch against Finn Harps on Friday night.

A crowd of over 1,000 braved the icy conditions to watch Dundalk’s first game at Oriel Park this year and, speaking to dundalkfc.com, O’Kane said the scoreless draw was good preparation ahead of the League of Ireland opener against UCD on February 17th.

“There was a great crowd here on Friday night,” he said. “It was good to see so many people come out for the game.

“Pre-season is all about getting minutes and getting ourselves into shape for the UCD game and it was a good workout for both teams I think.

“We always want to play well and win but it’s not the most important thing for us at the moment, it’s all about building up to make sure we are ready for the start of the season.”

The countdown to the new campaign continues this week when Dundalk play Cork City in a friendly at the AUL on Friday at 2pm.

“Pre-season has been physical so far but it has to be done,” said O’Kane. “It’s a long season and that’s why we are putting in the hard yards now.

“We are ticking the days off until we get the league started and we want to make sure that we are ready to go from day one.”