Connor derides referee's lack of common sense

A once again happy man following the distressing mauling at the hands of Bohemians only seven days previously, Dundalk manager Sean Connor was pleased with a three point haul from last night's match which he felt was ultimately much more important than the manner of his team's performance.

Connor is hopeful of moving up the table now with a number of what he feels are winable home fixtures in this series of games before the half-way point of the season, but genuinely believes that a fourth place finish is as high as his current squad will be able to achieve, with anything picked up along the way against the top three regarded as a bonus.

"I’m always happy when we win," Connor stated. "I’m always unhappy when we lose. Sometimes I look beyond the result and look at the performance but tonight was all about the result. What we did tonight was probably one of the most unattractive games we’ve played this year but we picked up the points. I think some people misunderstood my comments last week when I said we’ve got to get nasty and ugly. I meant in terms of how we play the ball and we probably put more balls into the channel and more direct balls into the box tonight than we’ve done all season.

"We’ve got a lot matches this series against teams which we should be picking points off. That’s going to be very, very important. I think anything we do against Cork, Bohemians, and Derry is a bonus. We’ve already picked three points up against Derry. I thought we were unlucky here against Cork. It’s important that we pick up as many points at home in this series of games as we can.

"It was a very, very difficult game. I think Galway came here on the back of some very, very good form. I think you can see from tonight, that’s the second time we’ve played them and there’s really only been a kick of the ball between both teams. I think we’re in a six-team league. Galway right now are at the top of that league so it was important for us to win tonight and close the gap."

Close the gap they did, despite the late sending off of goal scorer Declan O'Brien, who twice in the space of five minutes nudged the ball away from his opponents who were hurrying to get back into the game after the ball had gone dead. Had the shoe been on the other foot and it were his own team who were behind and looking to salvage something, maybe the Dundalk boss would have thought differently, but these were his views on the incident and the stream of yellow cards his side - they accumulated five last night - seem to be picking up.

"That’s the most frustrating thing for me and I have to be careful what I say. I just think sometimes, I wonder do these guys go and watch the games afterwards and see what they give yellow cards out for. We’ve all played the game and you know, when it’s a late tackle when its a player getting there late or a late tackle with some danger attached to it.

"What Declan O’Brien’s second yellow card was for....that’s where common sense goes right out the window. That’s where the referee has got to look at the situation. Was that a serious infringement and foul play? Did he endanger the other player? No. Was it not a case of saying, ‘Declan, right, come on, catch yourself on and play on’. But that’s been taken out of the game.

"Referees today have lost all personality, whether it’s because of the directives that are coming from above them but I have yet to meet a referee with personality that lets the game flow and makes some common sense decisions."