Gartland praises great result

Caoimhin Reilly reports from Alkmaar.

Dundalk’s returning central defender Brian Gartland spoke to Extratime.ie in the aftermath of tonight’s game with AZ.

The Dubliner hailed his teams resolve to come back from the deficit that they were faced with, especially having been down to ten men for the final 19 minutes following the dismissal of Stephen O’Donnell.

Gartland said: “It’s a great result under those circumstances, down to ten men and it was backs to the wall for the last 20-30 minutes, but we’re delighted with the point.”

He also spoke about the impact that the Lilywhites’ returning hero Ciaran Kilduff has on the team when he is fit to play: “He’s (Kilduff) massive you know he came back from a broken back in record time and now he’s back from another injury which should have kept him out for probably twice as long as it did.

“What a header it was tonight. Before that set-piece, I asked him where he was going and he said in there. I told him no, that’s my spot and to take the big lad who is six-foot-six and go out the back. There you go, that’s the determination that he has, he got his just rewards.”

Gartland himself has only returned to the starting line-up in recent weeks having broken his wrist at the beginning of Dundalk’s European adventure, their home encounter with FH Hafnarfjordur in July.

The defender wore a protective cast on his wrist for the game, however, being able to take his place in this evening’s game has allowed Gartland to make up for lost time.

“It was a tough time, missing those massive, massive games and I kept telling myself that I’m going to have nights like those, I need to have nights like those, I needed to be part of those nights, and tonight’s one of those that I can look back on with pride at the result.”