Two goals inside the opening 15 minutes from captain Patrick Hoban and centre-back Louie Annesley put the Lilywhites in the driving seat and they kept their foot on the accelerator after the break with two of the other new arrivals, Rayhaan Tulloch and Connor Malley, grabbing their first goal for the club either side of a cool Daniel Kelly finish.
The result is Dundalk’s biggest under O’Donnell thus far and speaking afterwards, he was a happy man.
On the performance…
I’m delighted. Some people might have laughed when I said I was positive after the defeat to Bohemians but I know we’ve good players. I think that the public saw that tonight with the new additions and I’m just delighted with the all-around performance. Composure-wise, we could have had a little bit more in the first half but we showed the other side of it and had a bit of a hard-nosed edge to us. In the second half, we were excellent and it could have been more. We’re delighted with the performance, we’re delighted with the way they train. They work so hard to be able to go out and put on a performance like that.
On the three new arrivals who scored…
Louie Annesley came up with a really good finish and I thought Rayhann Tulloch deserved a goal because he was excellent and the crowd will be excited by him. Connor Malley’s performance also deserved a goal and he took it brilliantly. It could have been more.
On being ruthless…
That’s what we want. We want a ruthless sort of attitude. Two-nil is a tricky enough scoreline at half-time. Pat’s had a couple of half chances and they hit the post from a set piece so it’s a tricky lead and it was important to get the third goal. We kicked on from there and we were secure at the back. They were throwing bodies up against our back four, going direct, but we were secure with that and then we showed quality to pick them off on the other side.
On the squad…
Even though we’re missing bodies, we have really good quality and really, really good players coming on. Keith Ward’s been our best player in training for the last two weeks. He came on and did well and he’s gone up another level from last year and, even though he’s in his early thirties, he’s still really applying himself and he’s brilliant around the place. Ryan O’Kane, Cammy Elliott and John Martin were all very good when they came on and they’re all training well and they all should be playing really. It’s good to have those options.
On the clean sheet…
It was huge. In the first two games, we’ve been done by two direct free kicks and you’re unlucky if you’re conceding from them in the first two weeks. It was brilliant for Nathan. I thought he was really sharp, came off his line and claimed things and all around, our back four were excellent and dealt with the physical side of it and the direct balls that they were playing.
On confidence…
This will give our squad belief. It’s okay for us saying we’ve got good quality but it’s important for the players to see exactly what they can do when they do play to their potential against another strong team. It’ll give individuals belief, it’ll give our squad belief and it’ll give the supporters belief but one swallow doesn’t make a summer. We’re not there yet. We’re still a work in progress but I think we saw tonight what potentially could be there.
On Shelbourne…
I said to the players that Monday will be on us before we know it and it’s time to start recovering. We enjoyed the feeling in the dressing room and it’s nice to lie in bed after such a good win and a good performance but we’ll be ready to go for Shelbourne on Monday.
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