Gaynor enjoying Setanta Cup success

Credit:

Dundalk goal scoring hero Ross Gaynor spoke exclusively to extratime.ie after his late goal secured the Lilywhites passage to the Setanta Cup semi finals.

Gaynor applied the finishing touch to a lovely move involving Keith Ward and Mark Quigley. The goal arrived hot on the heels of Glentoran being reduced to 10 men leaving the Belfast team with little time to get the second goal they required to progress.

“The timing of the goal was important, as soon as they had someone sent off we just knew that we would score, I knew Quigs (Mark Quigley) would play me in right and he did, I didn’t even have to touch it, all I had to do was put it in the net. I’ve been doing that in training and hopefully I can keep on scoring. Last year I had a few howler misses so the gaffer has got me working on finishing this year, I’m doing alright so far.”

Gaynor is enjoying the Setanta Cup having grabbed his second goal in the game. “Two goals in three games so that’s the main thing, (this competition) suits us, it’s kind of like a European tie from last year. It’s a little bit slower and lets the players really express themselves and I thought that tonight (Danny) Kearns and Quigs did that and I was lucky enough to get the goal.”

Inexplicably for a team that needed to score, Glentoran sat back and tried to draw Dundalk on, Gaynor was similarly puzzled by the opposition. “The person who got the most touches was Hawks the centre half so that kind of shows that they weren’t pressing. They didn’t really show that they wanted it until they scored on the break with the penalty. We were the better team over the two legs and it was good to get the draw, good to get the goal and to get through, now it’s the semi so we’re looking forward to that.”

Ross would prefer to set up a cross border final and draw a League of Ireland team in the semi-final. “I’d like a “Southern” team first in the semi and hopefully get through to the final against a “Northern” team that would be nice, that would be as it should be, the atmosphere with our fans would be brilliant up there.”

The left winger has now set a target for goals this season. “Last year I think I got 8 goals so I want to at least get 10 this year and I’ve only got 2 so far, so I’ve got a way to go, I’ve got to start hitting the target a little bit more.”