This week, Dessie talks about the strength in depth at Shamrock Rovers, the ongoing Pat Fenlon situation at Bohemians and suggests that Dundalk can’t be written off just yet.
On Tuesday night, I went up to see my old team-mates at Shamrock Rovers at training because I wanted to speak to Michael O’Neill and get a few ideas as I’m currently managing Edenderry Town in the Leinster Senior League.
It didn’t really work out as we ended up getting beaten 3-0 by the league leaders St. Pat’s on Saturday night, but after going along to the training, I decided to go and watch Rovers against Drogheda on Friday night.
Sharp
From what I saw of the lads in training, they looked very strong and very sharp, especially the likes of Ciaran Kilduff, so I wasn’t surprised that Michael decided to change it up front against Drogheda. In the game itself, Rovers were well on top and it was just a matter of time before they scored. When they did score, the floodgates opened and it was a quite comfortable win in the end.
Individually, I thought Billy Dennehy had a great game, I thought he was one of the best players on the pitch. I also thought that Ciaran Kilduff did very well on what was his first league start for Rovers; he looked sharp up front and had two or three chances to score before he netted one in the second half. He linked up well with Gary Twigg up front and pairing them together is yet another option for Michael to have.
If he (Billy Dennehy) can keep up this form and keep improving, there will be clubs in England having a look at him.
When you can afford to mix it up front like Rovers did this weekend and then have the likes of Stephen Rice to come in off the bench, it just proves how strong of a squad Rovers have at the moment. From a Rovers point of view, it’s great to see that sort of strength in depth, only Sligo Rovers in the rest of the league would have anything like the calibre of players Rovers do to come off the bench.
I’ve said it before in this column, but it’s ominous enough for the rest of the league when players who haven’t been playing week in, week out can come in and do the business and score goals like they have been for Rovers.
Dennehy getting better and better
As I was saying, I thought Billy Dennehy was outstanding for Rovers and has been good all season. Billy is a very quick player, but he works hard as well and I don’t think many people see that side of him. He’s up and down the wing all game; he’s not just going forward all the time.
He seems to be improving his end product as well, which is good to see as last year, although he was very good for us in terms of getting forward and getting to the by-line, he sometimes lacked a bit of quality at the end of it. He’s well able to play the ball around as well, but I think Billy is at his best when he uses his pace to get at defenders.
Billy Dennehy has been getting better and better for Shamrock Rovers
He’s getting better and better and he’s still only 24 so he’s got a lot to learn. He has learned a lot since joining Rovers and I think he’s flourishing under Michael’s management. If he can keep up this form and keep improving, there will be clubs in England having a look at him and there’s definitely a chance that he could end up going over there yet.
He was brilliant against Drogheda the last night, but I’d be worried about Drogheda this season. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I don’t pull any punches and I think they could struggle to be honest. For the likes of themselves, UCD and Galway, their home games are going to be so important and will dictate where they end up at the end of the season.
Home truths for bottom teams
Going down 4-0 like Drogheda did is never nice, especially at home, while fellow strugglers UCD had another disappointing loss against Dundalk. UCD are finding it very tough this year and I thought that might be the case as they’re a very young side and they haven’t got much experience. Experience is a massive asset in the league and it’s something that some of the other teams near the bottom have in their side, like Bray, for example.
It was unfortunate for Bray at the weekend that they lost to Derry as I thought that they might have been able to get a result at home, but in the likes of Danny O’Connor, who I played with at Longford, Matt Gregg and Gary Dempsey, they have players that might be able to get them out of the position that they’re in at the moment.
UCD haven’t really got those players in their squad and it’s the same with Drogheda, although to be fair to them, in the first 20 minutes against Rovers they looked organised, they held a good line at the back and if they had held out a bit longer, it could have been frustrating for Rovers. When Twiggy got the goal, however, there was no coming back for Drogheda as they had no real answer going forward.
They have a decent defensive record, though, especially at home, and you could see for a while the last night why teams struggle up there. For Drogheda, UCD and Galway as well – they got turned over at home by Sligo, it’s important that they win their home games and pick up the points that they should be picking up early on in the season or else they’ll struggle later on.
Dessie on Pat Fenlon, Bohemians and Dundalk
Dull Dublin derby
One of the bigger games this weekend was the clash between Bohs and St. Pat’s and it wasn’t a great game by any means. Friends of mine that I used to play football with were at the game and they said that 0-0 was a fair result. If anything, I heard that Pat’s deserved something out of the game, but both teams were supposed to be pretty disappointing on the night.
It looks as if Pat Fenlon is going to stick with Bohs for now and as I said last week, he’s not the type of man that likes to walk away from something. I’ve worked with Pat and I know what he’s like. He’s a very proud man and I don’t think he’d want it on his CV that he walked away from a job.
Saying that, if things aren’t going right, if he’s not happy with the way things are being done and something better comes along down the line, he’ll be tempted to leave. We’ll see in two or three months time if the players and the coaching staff are still getting paid and how the situation pans out.
Pat wouldn’t want to walk away from the players and if he leaves, I would imagine it would be because of an administrative problem rather than something to do with the playing staff.
I’m not sure exactly what’s going on at Bohs, but I would imagine that it is the financial side of things that caused Pat to consider leaving in the first place. I can relate to where Pat is coming from because, having taken over as manager of Edenderry Town lately, it’s entirely different being on that side of things.
Players need looking after
I know it’s a different league and different circumstances altogether, but at the end of the day, no matter what level you’re at you want the best for your players, so I can empathise with him in that regard. I know that at Rovers last year, everything was done to look after the players and it worked. We ended up winning the league and getting to the cup final because the club and the manager looked after the players first and foremost.
If Pat can’t do the same at Bohs, then he’ll feel as if he’s not doing his job properly. If the board are saying to him that they can’t help him with this and that and they have to cut this and that, then Pat can’t do the job the way he wants and that’s probably the reason why he might go.
Pat Fenlon is a very proud man and I don’t think he’d want it on his CV that he walked away from a job.
If things aren’t right for the players, if they’re not getting the right treatment, if the training pitches aren’t right or if there are other problems, I think he might end up walking from the job eventually. Pat needs the backing of the board and if he doesn’t get it, it’s going to be a long season for everyone concerned at Bohs.
Table beginning to take shape
I had a look at the league table after the weekend’s results and it’s pretty close to what I think it will look like come the end of the season. You look at Rovers at the top and see that they have ten goals for and only one goal against and it becomes clear that they’re not only scoring goals, but that they’re keeping them out at the other end as well.
It’s an impressive record and you have to take into account as well that they have been to both Sligo and Derry already and have kept clean sheets at places where you’d normally expect them to concede goals.
Don’t write off Dundalk
At the start of the season I thought that Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers would be the main contenders for the title and maybe Pat’s, Bohs if they were lucky and Derry after that and that’s how it’s panning out at the moment. I still think, however, that Dundalk can’t be counted out. To be fair to them, they’re scoring goals and if they can get things sorted at the other end they could do well.
They got three at the weekend and it was good to see my old friend Jason Byrne amongst the goals again. Although they’re only mid-table at the moment, I certainly wouldn’t be writing them off and maybe four or five weeks down the line they could be challenging at the top of the table. I think they’ve a great chance of finishing third – I think that it will be Shamrock Rovers at the top followed by Sligo and Dundalk and it will be a fight for places after that.
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