Stephen O'Donnell: 'I think this league in particular, is going to be swings and roundabouts, there’s going to be a lot of teams that are capable of taking points off each other'

Following a composed 2-1 victory over an out of form Sligo Rovers side, Dundalk FC Head Coach Stephen O’Donnell was in a positive mood when speaking with the media, including extratime.com after the game.

Referencing the goalless draw in Inchicore last Friday, the Galwegian spoke about the improvement on show at Oriel Park.

“My biggest disappointment last week was that we never really had a foothold on the game and never showed our quality in possession and I thought we did that tonight. I think this league in particular, is going to be swings and roundabouts, there’s going to be a lot of teams that are capable of taking points off each other.”

“I thought tonight was our most controlled (performance of the season). As I said, the last fifteen to twenty minutes got a bit scratchy, a bit fragmented and then we conceded a sloppy goal from a long throw but we saw it out well.”

In reference to the opposition on Friday night, O’Donnell was full of praise for the Bit O’Red, despite their defeat.

“Sligo are a good team and they’ll be difficult to beat, they beat Drogheda and went 2-0 up against Shamrock Rovers only a couple of weeks ago.They carry a threat and they’ve good quality”

In relation to a question on the importance of winning the game, the ex Lilywhite skipper was clear in his expectations of players.

“I never put pressure on us to win a game, it’s just ‘go out and give your best’, go and play with freedom within the structure of the team, that's the only way. The only time our players will get an earbashing off us is if we think they can work harder than they’re working.”

After Friday night’s victory, his Dundalk side are sitting in third place in the Premier Division table and travel to take on second place Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght Stadium on Monday- both sides will have their work cut out to take all three points as Shamrock Rovers remain unbeaten at home all season while the Lilywhites have only tasted defeat once in 10 league games this campaign so far. 

League Report: @DundalkFC 2 - 1 @sligorovershttps://t.co/T1nkwEYIVNpic.twitter.com/zlURb2n8V8

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) April 16, 2022