Dillon - Lots of twists and turns to come

John Dillon and his Dundalk teammates are looking to carry their magnificent run of form into Inchicore against St Pat’s in their table-topping clash on Friday night but has warned that the title will not be won or lost there.

Although the sides are locked level at the top of the league at the moment, Dillon stressed that he does believe the game will be a decider given his experience of how “weird” title run-ins can be but also believes the fact that his side have twice tasted victory against the Saints this season is a positive going into the clash.

“We have won eight or nine on the bounce and we are looking to carry that in to Richmond Park and there will be lots of twists and turns to come and regardless of what the result is, it will not be a winner takes all game.

“The same thing happened with us last year at Sligo, strange things can happen, and you get involved in weird games and things will change and we just have to concentrate on what we have been doing and hopefully that will be enough,” said the versatile midfielder.

“I think you would be lying if you said having beaten them twice already isn’t a positive but that goes out the window now and we just have to believe in ourselves and I think the team talk after the game no matter what the result is will be that there are still five games left that we have to give everything in.”

The former Crewe Alexandra player tasted league success with the Bit o’ Red last season and insists that the bond between the players that achieved that last year is very similar to the one that exists at Oriel Park now and hopes they can echo the achievements of his old team.

“The lads that are here this year are very similar to the lads we had last year they really are,” the Liverpool man continued. “There is a real togetherness and it sounds like an old cliché but it is so true that we are not just 11 lads playing.

“We are 18 players, a squad who go into games and everyone gives everyone else their backing to do well and everybody knows their roles which is important as formations change to suit players but I think the togetherness is the main thing that is the same as last year and obviously it was enough then so hopefully it can be again this time.”

The 25-year-old has also looked ahead to the run-in and believes the league perhaps anticipated a struggling Dundalk team at this stage and while it seems they may have an easier final six games on paper, that means nothing when the teams take to the field.

“I looked at the fixtures and I think the way the league looked at it was to put us against the so-called lesser teams and were probably expecting Dundalk to struggle at this stage and although on paper it looks like we have an easier run in, that means nothing because at this stage of the season you are playing teams scrapping for every point to beat survival or get into Europe and we just have to rely on ourselves to do the job and nobody else.”

Dillon excelled against Shelbourne in Tolka Park on Friday night in a wide role in the first half before slotting seamlessly into a central berth for the second and is enjoying the freedom afforded to him by Stephen Kenny to test himself in different positions.

“I enjoyed playing wide in the 4-4-1-1 in the first half and setting up the goal for Richie from there and you can get more on the ball there but then in the second I went into the middle which I really do like although I like playing both and Stephen does believe that centre midfield will be the position I end up playing when I’m older but I’m just delighted with the result and to be doing my bit.”