Stephen O'Donnell: 'Our priority is to win the league again'

“Touch wood I’ll stay fit,” said Dundalk captain Stephen O’Donnell, speaking at today’s Airtricity League launch at the Aviva Stadium.

While Fran Gavin, FAI Director of Competitions, addressed the assembled journalists and club representatives about the vibrancy of Irish domestic football at the moment, O’Donnell was blunt in relating how he just wants to get back playing regularly after his injury-plagued campaign of 2016.

“Unfortunately I haven’t played a full pre-season game yet which is a shame because we’re all chomping at the bit to get going,” the midfield told extratime.ie.

“With a bit of luck I’ll be fit for the Cork game in the President’s Cup on Friday night and hopefully that’s the start of a good run in the team.

“Our priority is to win the league again. You can never predict much at this stage though and all you know is that we’re going to give it our best shot.

“It’s going to be a very competitive league this year from top-to-bottom and I think that there is going to be a lot of points dropped.

“But as long as we’re top of the pile come the end of the season I don’t really mind how many points we get.”

The champions saw a larger turnover of players during this winter than they had in previous off-seasons with Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle among nine players to have departed Oriel Park, either on a permanent basis or on loan.

In replacing them, Stephen Kenny has attracted the likes of Conor Clifford, Jamie McGrath and Michael Duffy, and O’Donnell is confident that the new additions offer the quality required to help the Lilywhites compete on all fronts.

“They [the new guys] have all settled in well and are getting on with the group. It’s a good dressing room to come in to, easy enough for anyone to come in to, and we’re all just looking forward to the start of the season.

“It’s intriguing to see how we all gel together but everyone has settled in very well so far I think.

“We don’t have a big squad but there is a lot of quality there so with them boys being out injured there is good depth there.

“So on any given week the 18 or 19 we have in our squad this season can play and not weaken the team so that’s something that we’re looking forward to using.

“I think that throughout the season the way things unfold you’re likely to always have one or two out injured so there are going to be different lads playing, but in terms of strength and depth we’re very strong without probably having the most numbers either,” O’Donnell remarked.

The 31-year-old also feels that the effects of their warm-weather training camp in the north-east of Spain will stand them in good stead for the season, but particularly in the early weeks as other teams try to bed their new additions in.

“The training camp was very good. It wasn’t overly warm, but it was good to get away and be in each other’s company 24/7 for a few days and get good training sessions and a couple of good matches in, so that was great, especially for the new lads.

“When you’re only coming in for a couple of hours training and then going back home it’s harder to bond, whereas when you’re with each other all the time over there you get to know each other better personally. It was a good trip and a good exercise,” the Galwegian added.

Having enjoyed a major financial windfall as a consequence of last season’s European exploits, top of everyone’s list of purchases was always set to be a new surface in Oriel Park, where the much talked about plastic pitch had lay for the best part of a decade.

In recent weeks, work on the installation of new synthetic surface has got underway and will be ready for Dundalk to open their Premier Division campaign against Shamrock Rovers the Friday after next.

And O’Donnell is looking forward to getting a chance to test the new pitch before the season opener.

“We’re all delighted that it (the new pitch) is going down. It should of course add to better spectacles at Oriel Park for sure.

“I think we’ll only be able to train on it next week because it’s going down at the minute but hopefully we’ll get to train on it for a few days before the Rovers game.”

That meeting with the Hoops is at the forefront of Dundalk’s minds, according to O’Donnell, despite the Lilywhites facing Cork City in the President’s Cup at Turner’s Cross this Friday night.

“Definitively, I think so, if we beat Rovers on Friday week that’s what we’re after.

“I don’t think people will be too concerned about the President’s Cup result but at the same time I suppose the it’s a massive game in order to get ourselves right for the league season.

“It’s going to be like a league match and we’ll know then after Friday night what we have to work on.

“We do see the game as important as we are going to have to be at our best to get the result but I think the main game for us is going to be the Rovers game to get our season underway,” he concluded.