Kierans not surprised by exit

On Tuesday evening, Dundalk Football Club announced their decision not to renew the contract of interim manager Darius Kierans. Despite the fact that he did the task he set out to do, keep the club in the Premier Division, the Lilywhites have decided to take a different approach for the future and go with a more experienced name.

Speaking in the wake of receiving the news, Kierans admitted that he wasn’t surprised by the board’s decision not to renew his contract for season 2013.

“Not overly surprised. The last couple of weeks you hear a lot of things like everyone else. That’s the way football goes. We done our job, we done what we set out to do and that was the most important thing – that Dundalk were in the Premier Division.”

Kierans now finds himself now looking for a new club but he looks back on his time at the club with fondness and is pleased he was able to end on a high with last week’s playoff victory.

“I loved my time there. Ian Foster brought me in last year and we had a fantastic group of players and we got to the Setanta Cup Final and I had no doubt we would have done much better only for injuries riddled us for the second half of the season. I had great times up there.

“The fans were always very good to me. I’m a Drogheda lad and they took me to heart. I really enjoyed working up there and I made a lot of friends. It’s been a very good time. This year has been a roller-coaster there’s no doubt about that but we ended on a high on Friday night.”

The former Drogheda United boss could be forgiven for having some bitterness towards the new board but he is adamant he doesn’t feel bitter and accepts that it’s part and parcel of football.

“People make decisions and that’s it. We have to live and die by them. I can understand that they’re looking for an experienced manager and a bigger name than myself. I have to understand that and take it.

“I worked closely with the board and they are people who I got on well with but these are things that you just don’t know and you never know what a new manager can do.  Would any of them done what we’ve done? You don’t know. These are things we just don’t know and time will tell. No matter what happens I hope they make the right decision and I’m sure they will”

The 33 year-old finished off by thanking all the staff at the club who helped him during his time and also had a special mention for the fans of the club.

I would just like to thank my staff. Martin Connolly, who has become a very good friend of mine, for the couple of seasons. He has worked extremely hard in a lot of capacities within the club. Paul Chesire, our Physio, Noel Walsh our voluntary kit-man and Shaun Maher who came in voluntarily during the season as well. I’d just like to thank them people who worked extremely hard for the club.

I’d also like to thank the fans who have worked extremely hard to keep the club alive and have been brilliant for me since I came in there.