McCaffrey pleased with opening encounter
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Dundalk opened their 2012 Airtricity League campaign with a scoreless draw with Monaghan United at Gortakeegan. Speaking after the game, manager Seán McCaffrey was “happy enough” with the point gained however he did feel that his side could have played better.
“Happy enough with the point. Happy with the performance to an extent. It was a competitive game. The boy’s effort and all that was very good. We probably could have played better, we played well in patches but it’s a work in progress. There are things we need to work on.”
The Lilywhites manager thought that his side should have been in front at the break only for them to be denied by the crossbar and home ‘keeper Chris Bennion.
“We should have been in front by half-time. Having said that, that’s the way it goes. We did create chances but not as much as we would have liked. “
“I think both teams had chances to win the match. The draw is probably a fair result. “
McCaffrey also thought Monaghan had an advantage in both fitness and physicality.
“Roddy had them well organised. They were strong. Physically stronger than us and towards the end of the game their physical strength paid off and we were getting a wee bit tired. The young lads after the physical battle, the tiredness told a bit on them.” The boss highlighted the injuries that the side had and thought that the loss in particular of captain Chris Shields was a massive blow.
“We had a lot of injury problems going into the game. Chris Shields being out was a big miss for us, he’s captain of the side. Having said that overall I was pleased. The effort was great from all the lads. We played some very good football, we created a few chances and defended very well so overall pleased.”
McCaffrey also confirmed that striker Mark Griffin is five to six weeks away from fitness while Brazilian Hernany Macedo has signed however the club are waiting on a work permit to come through which could take “at least six week”.
The game also marked McCaffrey’s first competitive game in charge of Dundalk and the Monaghan native described his opening game as ‘interesting’.
“It was interesting. I would like to have won it. Dundalk haven’t done particularly well down here in years and we tried to win the match, but we just didn’t get over the line with it.”
