Stephen O’Donnell felt that Dundalk deserved to take all three points in Monday night’s encounter with St Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park.

The Lilywhites fell behind for the 16th time in 23 league games when Conor Carty put Pat’s in front before the break but after seeing Rayhaan Tulloch harshly sent off, they rallied and substitute Daniel Kelly scored a well-deserved equaliser six minutes from the end.

Kelly missed a gilt-edged opportunity to win it in stoppage time and speaking to LOITV afterwards, O’Donnell said that would have been just rewards for his team’s second-half display.

On Dundalk’s response to going down to 10 men…
“Delighted. We were a little bit passive before we went down to 10 men and, as I said to the players, we need to get that out of our game. We were a little bit standoffish because we showed our athleticism and our power when we went out to 10 men. I thought the players were immense for the last 35, 40 minutes and I thought we dominated the game with 10 men and we should have won it.”

On Rayhaan’s sending off…
“I didn’t think there was anything in it. It looked like two players tugging each other. Ray had just been booked a couple of minutes before that and I didn’t think there was any need for the second yellow as both were at it but our response after that was brilliant and we should have won the game.”

On falling behind again…
“We need to have more authority when we’re starting games because that was the 16th time we fell behind first in 23 league games and that’s relegation form. It’s a testament to the player’s character and personality that we came back again because the stats show that if you go one down, it’s not going to go great, but we need to rid ourselves of that.”

On the substitutes…
“I think they all made an impact. Darragh Leahy and Hayden Muller did very well and Dickie Kelly obviously was a threat and got his goal so they made a big impact. We have a marginal squad and it could be one player one week and then another player, the following week who will make a good impact off the bench.”

On Cameron Elliott’s injury…
“We were playing with fire with Cami. He’s been carrying a calf injury and that’s why he didn’t start on Friday and that’s why he didn’t start tonight. It’s just very unfortunate for him because you saw the impact he had on Friday and the impact he had tonight. What a personality, what a character…he was just brilliant.”