Cronin lashes "lethargic" Longford players
Credit:
A defeat to Finn Harps is one thing, but for Longford Town manager Gareth Cronin the attitude and performance of his players is another.
After the 1-0 defeat in Finn Park last Friday night Cronin pulled no punches: “I thought they were a shambles. I’m fed up with them. I make excuses some weeks that we aren’t good enough to beat Shels and UCD. We are good enough to beat Finn Harps, but at the moment the players are not earning their wages. It’s about desire and there are too many people not working hard enough,” he said.
Since Cronin took over as Town boss at the beginning of June he had been pleased with the way things were going, but the last two defeats, and in particular the manner in which they lost to Finn Harps, have frustrated him.
“They don’t have weeks off. It’s not GAA where you turn up once a month and play a match. You have to produce week in week out and at the moment it is not happening. They looked lethargic. It’s not good enough. It’s all about mental attitude. It’s disrespecting the club and the few supporters that came up tonight.”
Not one to mince his words, Cronin gave an honest and frank assessment of things at moment: ”Weak minded people and weak minded players use wins to put credits in their back pocket and then take weeks off. That’s what’s happening here. I’m sorry if I sound over critical but I’m being honest.
"That’s just not good enough. You should use the Limerick game as a springboard to move ourselves up the league, but it doesn’t matter as long as we don’t finish bottom. That’s all that seems to matter to some people. That’s unacceptable. You should aim to finish as high as you possibly can.”
Cronin had singled out the games against Limerick, Monaghan and Finn Harps as being of vital importance for his side if they are to move up the table. He feels that silly mistakes and schoolboy errors have cost his side valuable points.
“We don’t learn from mistakes. It’s been happening all year. It’s nothing got to do with Alan Gough or me. You tell people not to take stupid chances and yet we continue to take them. There are three or four that started the game that are going through the motions for the past few weeks. That is unacceptable and they won’t be professional footballers next year. Their contracts go up at the end of this season."
He added: “If I was on the committee of this club I would be asking ‘what’s going on here.’ Mervue have a budget nowhere near ours and they are ahead of us in the table. Farcical! There are too many people that got used to losing at this club and that’s the mentality we have.”
After the 1-0 defeat in Finn Park last Friday night Cronin pulled no punches: “I thought they were a shambles. I’m fed up with them. I make excuses some weeks that we aren’t good enough to beat Shels and UCD. We are good enough to beat Finn Harps, but at the moment the players are not earning their wages. It’s about desire and there are too many people not working hard enough,” he said.
Since Cronin took over as Town boss at the beginning of June he had been pleased with the way things were going, but the last two defeats, and in particular the manner in which they lost to Finn Harps, have frustrated him.
“They don’t have weeks off. It’s not GAA where you turn up once a month and play a match. You have to produce week in week out and at the moment it is not happening. They looked lethargic. It’s not good enough. It’s all about mental attitude. It’s disrespecting the club and the few supporters that came up tonight.”
Not one to mince his words, Cronin gave an honest and frank assessment of things at moment: ”Weak minded people and weak minded players use wins to put credits in their back pocket and then take weeks off. That’s what’s happening here. I’m sorry if I sound over critical but I’m being honest.
"That’s just not good enough. You should use the Limerick game as a springboard to move ourselves up the league, but it doesn’t matter as long as we don’t finish bottom. That’s all that seems to matter to some people. That’s unacceptable. You should aim to finish as high as you possibly can.”
Cronin had singled out the games against Limerick, Monaghan and Finn Harps as being of vital importance for his side if they are to move up the table. He feels that silly mistakes and schoolboy errors have cost his side valuable points.
“We don’t learn from mistakes. It’s been happening all year. It’s nothing got to do with Alan Gough or me. You tell people not to take stupid chances and yet we continue to take them. There are three or four that started the game that are going through the motions for the past few weeks. That is unacceptable and they won’t be professional footballers next year. Their contracts go up at the end of this season."
He added: “If I was on the committee of this club I would be asking ‘what’s going on here.’ Mervue have a budget nowhere near ours and they are ahead of us in the table. Farcical! There are too many people that got used to losing at this club and that’s the mentality we have.”
