This week, Dessie reflects on a magnificent start to the season for an all-conquering Shamrock Rovers side and pays tribute to his old mate David Freeman, who was back amongt the goals for Drogheda United.
This weekend I decided to go along to Shamrock Rovers against St. Pat’s and it was another cracking atmosphere at Tallaght Stadium. As far as the game itself was concerned, I thought that it was a little too easy for Rovers on the night.
When they went 1-0 up I think it was almost curtains for Pat’s, they put their heads down a little. In fairness to Pat’s, the home crowd were up for it and really got behind Rovers and it can be hard for the opposition to get back into the game when that happens. Chris Turner put Rovers ahead with a cracking strike and after that, I felt as if Rovers were coasting for a while.
Pat’s though, did have a couple of chances to get back into the game. Anto Murphy had an effort that took a deflection and put Alan Mannus off a little bit and Dave Mulcahy went close with a header as well. Alan Mannus pulled off a magnificent save from Ian Daly as well and obviously if one of them had went in it could have been a different story because goals change games.
Oman the man
Ken Oman finally killed off Pat’s with a goal late on and to be fair, I’ve been impressed with Ken since he joined Rovers in the summer. I had played against him a good few times and always thought he was a good player, but I wasn’t sure whether or not he’d fit in at Rovers. It hasn’t been a problem though as himself and Dan Murray have gelled really well so far.
It’s going to be interesting to see how they get on, because Craig Sives is coming back from injury as well. He was excellent for us last year and there’ll be plenty of competition for places at the back, especially with Pat Sullivan there as well. But that just goes to show the strength of the Rovers squad at the moment and you could see that on Friday night when Karl Sheppard and Ciarán Kilduff came off the bench.
Ken Oman has settled in really well at the heart of the Shamrock Rovers defence
Michael O’Neill made nine changes from the team that defeated Lisburn Distillery in the Setanta Cup during the week, so the fact that they can do that without too many problems, and have the firepower that the likes of Sheppard and Kilduff can provide from the bench is a bit worrying for the rest of the league.
Strength in depth
A lot of managers would give their right arm to have a squad like Rovers, but the other side of it is trying to keep everybody happy, and Michael has a tough year ahead of him in that regard. But, as I was saying to a mate at the match the other night, players are just happy to have a club these days.
There are loads of players out there that are playing Leinster senior football and are looking out for clubs to snap them up and would give their right arm just to be on the bench for a team in the Airtricity League. So although Michael has it tough trying to keep everybody in a big squad happy, there are a lot of players out there that would be delighted just to be on the bench for Rovers and to be in contention for another medal this year.
With the likes of Oman, Finn and McCabe coming into the side, I think that Rovers have definitely changed their tactical approach from last year.
He’ll be delighted to have got through the first three games unscathed. As I was saying last week, there were three potential banana skins in the first three games, especially with all the new players coming in, as it’s hard to get things right straight away. They must have worked on it a lot in pre-season and came away with a good win against Dundalk and then to go up to Sligo and get a win was a fantastic result.
Pat’s will probably be one of the top three or four teams in the division this season so to beat them and to come out with nine points from those first three games was brilliant from a Rovers point of view and it’s onwards and upwards from here on in.
Pat’s have potential
Despite the result against Rovers, I do think Pat’s will be in and around the top of the league this season. Pete Mahon has them well organised and if they had taken one of the half chances that came their away the last day, it could have been a different story. I did think, however, that Rovers could have stepped it up again if required and that if Pat’s did nick a goal that Rovers would have been able to up it 10 or 20 per cent and go on and get a winner.
I remember last season whenever we were 1-0 up, we were always afraid that the opposition might nick a goal before the finish, but when it’s 1-0 this season, I don’t see many teams coming back at them. With the likes of Gary McCabe and Ronan Finn in the team they seem to have changed their style slightly and also Chris Turner, to be fair to him, looks a lot sharper and a lot fitter than he did last year.
Michael is probably working on getting the ball down and playing more football this year and not hitting it forward as often and as quickly as we did last season. He has the players and the squad to do that this year; Ken Oman likes to start it from the back, Pat Sullivan likes to play it into feet as well and Dan Murray could play as a central midfielder if he really wanted because he’s so comfortable on the ball.
With the likes of Oman, Finn and McCabe coming into the side, I think that Rovers have definitely changed their tactical approach from last year.
Dessie on David Freeman and Derry City
Shortage of firepower
Apart from the Rovers v Pat’s game, it wasn’t the best weekend in the league with three of the games finishing in goalless draws. I mentioned the firepower that Rovers had upfront – they have four of the best strikers in the league, and a lot of the other clubs are struggling up front and struggling to get goals.
I was actually asked by friends on Friday morning how I thought the games were going to go and I said that five draws wouldn’t be a bad bet and to be fair, I wasn’t far off!
I was almost certain that Bray would hold Sligo to a draw, because as I said last week, Bray are very organised and they are very difficult to beat on their own patch.
Galway against UCD was another one I had down for a draw and although I thought that Dundalk might nick it against Bohs at home, especially with Jason Byrne and Mark Quigley up front, that one also ended in a stalemate. Bohs didn’t have much firepower up front and actually played Anto Flood on the right wing, which I think shows that they were happy with a point.
If Derry are going to do well and achieve the top-half finish that they are capable of, Stephen (Kenny) might need to look at adding a bit of experience to the squad.
I thought that if Rovers didn’t get an early goal against Pat’s or if Pat’s played well that they might be able to nick a draw there as well and at the start of Friday I really thought that all the games could end in draws and as I said, I wasn’t far off in the end.
It was Bray who pulled off the big comeback against Pat’s last week and this weekend, it was Drogheda’s turn to get something out of nothing against Derry City. I wasn’t that surprised as it’s a tight pitch up at Drogheda and they don’t make it easy for you.
Fair play to ‘Freer’
I have to add that I was absolutely delighted to see David Freeman back on the scoresheet. Freer’s a really good lad, I was at Longford with him when he was sick with his heart problem and after he came back from that, he struggled to get back into form for a while, so I was really happy to see him back on the pitch and back amongst the goals again.
David Freeman, pictured above in his Shelbourne days, was on the mark for Drogheda at the weekend
Eamon Zayed got his first goal for Derry City on the night and I believe he had three or four more chances as well. I’d like to see Eamon doing well because I think he’s a decent player, but for whatever reason, he seems to get stick wherever he goes.
I think Eamon will come good though and Gareth McGlynn, who got the other goal for Derry, is another good player. He’s from Derry and it’s always nice to see local lads doing well. Derry let it slip, however, and Drogheda showed great character to come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and fair play to them for doing so.
Stephen Kenny will have been very disappointed with conceding that advantage and he said as much afterwards. Stephen is a very good manager and he knows what he’s talking about. If Derry are going to do well and achieve the top-half finish that they are capable of, Stephen might need to look at adding a bit of experience to the squad. They’re coming up from the first division and with all due respect, it’s a completely different league altogether.
Step-up
I remember playing in Dundalk in the First Division for a half a season a couple of years back and it’s a big step up from that level to the top flight. People don’t realise how big of a step it is until four or five games into the season and then you’re saying to yourself ‘God, this isn’t as easy as it was last year’.
The manner that Derry conceded the goals won’t have pleased Stephen either, they conceded one from long range and before they knew it, they had given away a penalty and they were back to 2-2.
When you’re 2-0 up like Derry were, the senior players need to stand up and say, ‘We’ve got to be sensible here, don’t do anything stupid, hold on to the lead and get the three points’. I’m sure Stephen told them that after the game because if you’re Derry City, it can be a long trip back up north, especially if you’re playing in Dublin, and you don’t want to be throwing away results like they did on Friday night.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
