Although he was pleased with the battling qualities shown by his side in the 1-1 draw with St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park on Friday night, Dundalk head coach Stephen O’Donnell was left to wonder what might have been.
Daniel Kelly’s 77th-minute equaliser maintained Dundalk’s six-point lead over fourth-placed Pat’s but O’Donnell, who along with assistant manager Padge Cregg, was sent off by referee Rob Hennessy, left Inchicore with a feeling that his side could have taken all three points.
You can listen to his full post-match interview and read selected quotes below.
On the game overall…
“I do feel that away from home we’re not getting any of the little breaks. We’re on the cusp of dangerous moments going in on goal. It’s real marginal stuff and nothing is falling our way. Granted, we did get a little bit of luck with Dicky’s goal but I think that’s the first real break we’ve had away from home in the past number of games.”
On St Patrick’s Athletic’s goal…
“It wasn’t Andy’s fault. It was the bit before that really hurt us, the break away on the right and the pull back. Andy is a lamb to slaughter as he was on the line trying to get a leg on it.”
On his team’s spirit…
“They kept going to the end and we finished really strong. You know you’ll get that from our boys. They’ll never give up, they stayed at it, and if had gone on another few minutes we would have won the game.”
On Daniel Kelly’s late chance…
“It was a gilt-edged chance. He was maybe wheeling away thinking of his celebration before he scored it but it is what it is and there’ll be more chances missed between now and the end of the season. He got his name on the scoresheet, I think that was his sixth of the season, so he is doing very well.”
On his sending-off…
“There seems to be a bit of a mix-up about the first booking. People think I was shouting onto the pitch but I was booked for encroachment. The technical area and the sideline are very small at Richmond Park, there’s a foot between both. For the second one, we had Pat’s on the rack and I was trying to keep the speed in the game. The two bookings were for encroachment. It’s not a good look for me personally and also for the league. You don’t see this in any other league around Europe. It makes everyone look a bit silly and just adds a circus effect to what was a good game.”
On the potential significance of the point…
“Barring extreme circumstances, am I delighted with a point? No, I want to win every game but we showed good spirit to get back into it. It could be an important point but the overriding feeling is to go and win those games.”
