Daryl Horgan says Dundalk must “bring the same everything” that they showed against Shamrock Rovers when they take on his hometown club Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night.
John Mountney’s injury-time strike gave the Lilywhites a rousing 1-0 win over the reigning champions at Oriel Park to move to within three points of Drogheda United at the bottom of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division table.
That scenario looked extremely unlikely as Drogheda’s game with Galway ticked past the 90-minute mark at Weavers Park, but the Tribesmen – who had only scored three times in their previous eight outings – netted twice to stun Kevin Doherty’s side as they shot up to fourth place.
The table will change again before Dundalk head into the West, as Drogheda travel to Waterford for a televised fixture on Thursday night.
23 February 2024; Daryl Horgan of Dundalk in action against Aodh Dervin, left, and Vincent Borden of Galway United during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Dundalk and Galway United at Oriel Park in Dundalk, Louth. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
But Horgan – who won three titles in a row with the club – insists his team must not worry about what others do if they are to get out of this “dogfight”, as they look to avenge their FAI Cup quarter-final hammering in Galway last September.
“I suppose we can’t really worry about that too much,” Daryl said, reflecting on Drogheda and Sligo Rovers both losing on Friday. “We just have to look at ourselves game by game by game. If we look after ourselves, we’ll get out of it. If we worry about what this team does, that team does or that team does, then we’ll end up in a massive dogfight.
“Look, at the minute, we’re in a relegation dogfight. We know that. We need to play like we did on Friday every single week to get out of it. But it’s game, game, game and then we’ll worry about after that.
“We just have to take every game as it comes now. Obviously, Galway got a good win in Drogheda. They’re flying it, so they’ll be full of confidence down at Eamonn Deacy Park. It’ll be a tough game. They’ve been really good.
“So, we will have to bring the same intensity, same levels of quality, same hunger, same everything really that we did against Rovers.”
17 May 2024; Daryl Horgan of Dundalk in action against Sean Kavanagh of Shamrock Rovers during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park in Dundalk, Louth. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
On the win over Rovers…
“I’m absolutely delighted personally for Mounts. We had kind of been pinned back but you have your left wingback up at the back post scoring a goal. It’s a huge moment for us and it could be a real catalyst. It was unbelievable for him, and as a whole team performance, it was really good, really solid.
“Rovers are a team that have won four on the bounce, and for long spells, we were the better team in the game.
“We need to do more of that now. We’ve been in games. Every game, we’ve had bits and pieces where we’ve played well, but either not taken the chances or given away silly goals. On Friday, we took the chance and we didn’t give up any silly opportunities.”
15 April 2024; Daryl Horgan of Dundalk in action against Paddy Kirk of Bohemians during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Bohemians and Dundalk at Dalymount Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
On the performance…
“It was really good. There was real solidity. I thought the back five and Ross (Munro) were very good. I could go through the whole team and say they were brilliant.
“We did it as a collective. There was a real togetherness drilled in all week and a real push for how we were going to need to be to win the game. You’re probably thinking come the end of the game, look, we’ll take a 0-0 now.
“But we pressed high, we won the ball back, we get a cross in, we get bodies in the box and we score a goal. I suppose at that stage Rovers were the team a bit on the ascendancy, they were pinning us back, but it says a lot about our fitness, character, everything, that we could push so many bodies up that pitch and put so much pressure on them to win the ball back and score.”
17 May 2024; Dundalk first team coach Liam Burns, centre, speaks to his players during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park in Dundalk, Louth. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
On the departures of Noel King and Brian Gartland last week…
“It was really sad for Noel. I know he was really excited about this job. I think he said it was a dream job type thing coming for him, so it was sad that he had to walk away from that so early into his tenure.
“At times, it’s a horrible industry. In football, unfortunately, people lose their jobs, people have to step away and things like that. Whereas as players, we have to be above that in a sense of you work with people, you enjoy working with people, but football moves very, very quickly.
“Burnsy (Liam Burns) was incredible. He had about 14 jobs. He has done unbelievable, and all the staff chipped in, it really has been a great effort from them as well. It was brilliant for all of us, but it’s one game. Now, we need to make it two and three and four.”
