McCaffrey disappointed with display

Dundalk manager Seán McCaffrey was understandably disappointed following his side's 2-0 defeat to St. Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park on Friday night. Speaking to extratime.ie, McCaffrey admitted his team deserved to be beaten and felt that they never got into any rhythm.

“Disappointed with the result, disappointed with the performance. We were well beaten by Pat’s. We never got into any sort of rhythm at all. We were poor from start to finish.”

John Mountney hit the cross bar just after half-time when it was 1-0. The Lilywhites boss thought that if it went in, things could have been a little bit different.

“It could’ve been different. We had that chance at the start of the second half. Goals change games, but it didn’t go in. Then we gave away a poor goal. There was no coming back after that.

“We weren’t really creating much, we weren’t really retaining possession, we weren’t holding the ball up in the attacking third, we didn’t really create any chances and we didn’t have the quality about our play.”

The Monaghan native pinpointed the midfield area as the problem on the night as they didn’t create much for the strikers and also highlighted the injury of captain Chris Shields as a huge loss to the team.

“It was difficult to break Pat’s down, but the problem was really coming from the middle of the park. We never  really created the openings for our attackers. There was no real quality on the ball.

“Without making excuses, I think we really missed Chris Shields in central midfield as we did last week. Having said that, the  lads playing in midfield Stephen(McDonnell), Robert(Waters) and John(Mountney) although they tried very hard, they never really hit any vein of form during the match.”

McCaffrey does however believe it will take time for his players to come together and will show exactly what they are capable of.

 “I think it is going to take a bit of time. I said at the start it will take 10 or 12 games before we hit any sort of form. The only real disappointing thing about tonight is that not just collectively but individually we didn’t play well. Some players were just off the mark tonight.”

The Monaghan native also had full praise for the home support who turned out in numbers for the first league match at Oriel Park and he knows that winning is the remedy to maintain that support.

“The support was very good. Even after the match it was very positive. It’s nice to see that. We have to win a couple of matches. I’m not concerned about league positions at the moment.
 

“My main concern is that we start playing a lot better as a team and individually we play better individually. Tonight unfortunately it didn’t happen. The defenders played well tonight. I know they conceded two goals but the back four were otherwise decent.”
 

The Dundalk boss admitted that the experience of the Pat’s squad and their fluency together told on the night.
 

“They have played together a lot of those lads down through the years. They were stronger physically than us. They were experienced in holding the ball up and moving the ball.
 

“In the first half if I was Liam Buckley I wouldn’t have been that pleased with them. They created one chance and scored it. In the second half they worked very well together. We need time to develop, but in that time we need to pick up points.”