David McMillan hailed Dundalk’s fighting spirit after the 2-1 win over Finn Harps in Ballybofey on Friday night.
Goals from Lewis Macari – his first for the club – and an OG by Rob Slevin put the Lilywhites in command at Finn Park and although Rob Jones pulled one back for the hosts late on, McMillan felt that Dundalk were worthy winners.
The Dundalk striker’s post-match thoughts are below.
On bouncing back from the defeat to St Pat’s…
“We were a little bit unfortunate against Pat’s with the way it ended. There were 10 seconds left and we had a chance to win the game but we ended up losing it. People may have thought we were vulnerable coming up to Finn Park but we wanted to show our character and show that we could turn it around and win at a tough venue.”
On Lewis Macari’s opener…
“Fair play to Lewis. He hasn’t had the opportunity to get up for too many corners or frees this season. I think Sam Bone won the original header and kept it alive and Lewis hooked it in. I was sneaking around at the back post but I was relieved to see it drop in.”
On his part in Dundalk’s second goal…
“It was an excellent ball by Darragh Leahy. I was so happy to get on the end of it and thought it was going in but the quick disappointment turned to happiness! I made a good connection and on either side of the ‘keeper, it goes in. It went straight at him and he was able to make the save but we had a bit of luck when it came back off him. Their defender knew I was right behind him so he had to get something on it but it accidentally came off his knee! We’ll take any goal up here, especially when it helps us to a win!”
On Dundalk’s first-half display…
“I thought we were very good. We went a little bit direct as we thought the pitch would probably be worse than what it actually was. We could have maybe played a little bit better at times but I thought in general our attitude was excellent. We got after them well, we pressed high up the pitch and that created opportunities for us. We got two scrappy goals but they were probably the reward for the effort we put in during the first half.”
On defending the lead….
“We’ve been good at defending set pieces this year so it was disappointing that they scored off a corner. Jones is a big man and it’s never easy here when they’re throwing balls into the box. The likes of Andy Boyle and Lewis Macari put their bodies on the line and Darragh Leahy cleared one in the first half so everybody contributed.
“We could have nicked another in the second half. It was a tight offside against Ryan O’Kane and their goalkeeper made a good save from John Martin towards the end. We could have made life easier but sometimes when you scrap it out, it can feel even better!”
