Itching for a share of the spotlight

The season started better than expected for Dundalk as they charged to the top of the Premier Division. Now, they are battling to finish the campaign on a high.

Accused of playing mind games, nobody really believed Ian Foster when he declared that the Lilywhites would not be able to maintain their impressive early form.

Of course, managers are always rushing to extremes to downplay a potentially harmful situation or to exaggerate a performance or crime against them. But in this case, the 33-year-old was simply being honest.

Unbeaten in their opening seven league games, Dundalk were the surprise pace-setters in the top flight. But it was their style of play that had pundits, journalists and fans getting all giddy with outlandish expectations for the season ahead

That period could be epitomised by their Sunday afternoon visit to Tallaght Stadium on March 21st to take on Shamrock Rovers. While few gave them a chance of turning over last year’s runners-up, there was a quiet confidence in the away dressing room.

Rovers had already failed to win at home in their opening two games of the season and didn’t have the likes of Gary Twigg, Dessie Baker and Chris Turner to call on. So it was a good time for the County Louth side to be visiting.

However, those factors didn’t alter Foster’s tactics as he was confident that his players could outplay their opponents and didn’t have to resort to trying to scrap out a battling display that might see them snatch a point.

Instead, Dundalk set up in a 4-3-3 formation and stated their intentions early on with some slick passing combinations. The only surprising aspect of it was that it didn’t turn out to just be a freak spell, but how they played for the majority of the game.

From the influence of Liam Burns at centre-back to the hard grafting of Tom Miller in midfield to Fahrudin Kudozovic’s willingness to track back, everything just clicked for them and they completely outplayed Rovers.

A delightful chipped finish from Neale Fenn and a strike from outside the penalty area from Stephen Maher secured the 2-0 victory for Foster’s men, although the real victory was in proving that they could win by playing an attractive brand of football.

So with that kind of start, how come they are stuck in mid-table limbo with no league wins from their last seven outings?

Well, Foster’s prediction of his squad not being large enough to sustain that level of performance on a consistent basis proved to be right. But also, there has been a big turnaround in personnel with the likes of Matt Gregg, JJ Melligan and Fenn all departing.

Then there was the involvement in the Europa League that added extra games (not to mention travelling) to their hectic schedule and they suffered bad injuries to the likes of Burns, Peter Cherrie and Alan Cawley.

With all of that happening around the same period, it was inevitable that they would slide down the table as the clubs with stronger squads began to jump ahead of them in the pecking order.

The challenge now facing Foster is guiding his team back to the kind of early form that made them the neutral’s favourite team to watch – well maybe not in Drogheda – and pushing for a top five finish.

They might currently be out of the spotlight, but Dundalk can easily slip back into a starring role in the Airtricity League pantomine as long as they rediscover that crowd-pleasing knack that was evident earlier in the season.