Mahon: Saints caught by sucker-punch
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Pete Mahon reflected on his side’s third defeat of the season to Drogheda following their 2-1 defeat in Hunky Dorys Park.
“That’s the second time this year that we’ve lost a game to a late goal from Drogheda this season,” Mahon told extratime.ie. “It’s particularly disappointing as I never thought we were going to lose the game. But that’s football, you get a kick in the teeth when you least expect it, and that’s what happens”.
The Saints fell behind from a Joe Kendrick corner, Paul Crowley powerfully headed Drogheda into the lead on 30 minutes. But Pat’s equalised from a set piece of their own on the stroke of half-time, Vinny Faherty’s heading in Derek Doyle’s free to register his fourth league goal of the season. One would have expected the Dubliners to push on and win, and Mahon was of that belief too.
“I certainly thought so and was hoping so, but it wasn’t to be. Drogheda were very very determined, and they played very well at times in fairness to them. But at the end of the game, I thought they were on their hands and knees and we were coming strong again”.
Never one to shirk away from responsibility though, Mahon refused to make excuses about John Flood’s late winning goal. “It was a real sucker-punch at the end. We didn’t close down the ball high up the pitch, and I don’t know what happened, the ball was just played into the middle of the box and John Flood took it well”.
“But there were three good goals in the game, and by me making excuses and giving reasons, it’s taking away from Drogheda. They played well tonight and didn’t look to me like a team down the bottom of the league. Obviously there was a big improvement since last week against Bray, and we hadn’t counted on that, so good luck to them”.
The Saints have little time to dwell on the defeat though as they face a trip to the Showgrounds to face Sligo Rovers in the EA Sports Cup quarter-final. The Inchicore side are likely to be without full-back Derek Pender who came off injured with suspected medial ligament damage. The injury further restricts Mahon’s options ahead of the Sligo clash.
“We haven’t got many players to make changes as we’ve only got seventeen players now, so we can’t change it all that much. But we will obviously change a couple players to try and freshen things up a little bit after tonight, but there’s not that much that we can do on that score”.
“That’s the second time this year that we’ve lost a game to a late goal from Drogheda this season,” Mahon told extratime.ie. “It’s particularly disappointing as I never thought we were going to lose the game. But that’s football, you get a kick in the teeth when you least expect it, and that’s what happens”.
The Saints fell behind from a Joe Kendrick corner, Paul Crowley powerfully headed Drogheda into the lead on 30 minutes. But Pat’s equalised from a set piece of their own on the stroke of half-time, Vinny Faherty’s heading in Derek Doyle’s free to register his fourth league goal of the season. One would have expected the Dubliners to push on and win, and Mahon was of that belief too.
“I certainly thought so and was hoping so, but it wasn’t to be. Drogheda were very very determined, and they played very well at times in fairness to them. But at the end of the game, I thought they were on their hands and knees and we were coming strong again”.
Never one to shirk away from responsibility though, Mahon refused to make excuses about John Flood’s late winning goal. “It was a real sucker-punch at the end. We didn’t close down the ball high up the pitch, and I don’t know what happened, the ball was just played into the middle of the box and John Flood took it well”.
“But there were three good goals in the game, and by me making excuses and giving reasons, it’s taking away from Drogheda. They played well tonight and didn’t look to me like a team down the bottom of the league. Obviously there was a big improvement since last week against Bray, and we hadn’t counted on that, so good luck to them”.
The Saints have little time to dwell on the defeat though as they face a trip to the Showgrounds to face Sligo Rovers in the EA Sports Cup quarter-final. The Inchicore side are likely to be without full-back Derek Pender who came off injured with suspected medial ligament damage. The injury further restricts Mahon’s options ahead of the Sligo clash.
“We haven’t got many players to make changes as we’ve only got seventeen players now, so we can’t change it all that much. But we will obviously change a couple players to try and freshen things up a little bit after tonight, but there’s not that much that we can do on that score”.
