Kenny - 'We were worthy winners'

Oriel Park was treated to another feast of football on Friday evening as Dundalk rolled on and defeated reigning league champions Sligo Rovers 2-0 at Oriel Park. Speaking to ExtraTime.iea jubilant Stephen Kenny was full of praise for his players and felt his side were 'worthy winners'

"We're delighted with the win. It's a fantastic victory for us. The first half performance maybe wasn't as good as it could have been but we got the goal. Great play from Dane Massey, what a finish from Patrick Hoban. What a real striker's goal, very opportunistic.

"There was a period where we were getting dispossessed in our own third of the pitch. Sligo Rovers pressed us high and it worked to a degree but we were much better in the second half, we defended brilliantly and we were worthy winners."

After playing at left-back for the last three weeks, Chris Shields found himself on the bench with the return of Dane Massey and Kenny couldn't speak higher of his young midfielder, praising his attitude.

"Chris has shown great character. He was left out after putting in three great displays in a row. He didn't sulk about it though, he rolled his sleeves up and was ready to go. He put in an unbelievable tackle on Kieran Djilali. Not only did he win the ball but he stood up and put us on the attack. 

"He powered his header home brilliantly. He was fantastic when he came on. We were lucky in the first half with Sligo hitting the bar and that but we got the win and it's great."

With the way results went on the night, it meant that the Lilywhites are now 6 points clear of Sligo Rovers in second place however the former Derry City boss insists that he is only worried about anyone else and warned that anything can happen in the league.

"We are just focusing on ourselves. There's 8 games to go and anyone is capable of beating you if you aren't at your best. On any night it can go against you so you have to be at your best every week.

"We are trying to be as professional as we can, we are preparing to the best that we can and we are in this weekend to make sure we are ready for Limerick next Friday."

Next up for the Louth club is the FAI Cup tie at home to Limerick on Friday and while the 41 year-old admitted that he'd rather have a league match to play, Kenny is looking forward to the match and admitted that Limerick have been difficult opponents for Dundalk this year.

"We don't need a distraction really, we want to keep going in the league but isn't it great that we have it? We could be out of it, be out of the league and be out of everything. There's a quarter-final place at stake.

"We haven't beaten Limerick this year, they've been a tough team for us, we drew 2-2 in Oriel and we let a two goal lead slip in Limerick but we have come a long way since that. Over the last few weeks we have responded brilliantly to that and won all our games bar the drawn Cork City match but the players have been terrific.