Dundalk aim to extend their long sequence without conceding a home goal when they face a familiar second-placed Derry City side in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division at Oriel Park on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).
The Lilywhites have been rooted to the bottom of the table since being walloped 5-0 by Sligo Rovers on March 4th but, almost three months on, they have not conceded at Oriel Park since Max Mata’s 62nd-minute strike that night – nearly six-and-a-half games ago.
A clean sheet against The Candystripes on Friday night would represent a new club record for consecutive clean sheets in the league, beating the feat set back in the double-winning 2015.
Since that heavy loss to the Bit o’Red, Dundalk have gone on to record scoreless draws with Waterford, Drogheda United, Saint Patrick’s Athletic and Shelbourne, along with recent wins over Bohemians last month and Shamrock Rovers a fortnight ago.
However, despite building that fortress, they now have the overall worst home record in the league having lost in Galway last week.
Still, it is approaching 600 minutes since they shipped a goal on the Carrick Road, and Jon Daly will be hoping that his players continue that defensive strength in his first home match in charge, although the history of this fixture will seriously test it.
Daly only arrived back to Ireland from Scotland last Friday, meeting the players less than four hours before they kicked off against in-form Galway United. Dundalk had started both halves well but ultimately fell to a 2-0 defeat after Ross Munro’s 23rd-minute own-goal and Maurice Nugent’s 72nd-minute header.
That was a third defeat in four games in all, as Dundalk’s away form continues to hinder their hopes of chasing down ninth-placed Drogheda, having now picked up just two points from a possible 27 on the road this season. Now, they return to their happy place.
Here, they take on Derry, who will have many ex-Lilywhite heroes returning to Oriel Park, including record goalscorer Patrick Hoban and manager Ruaidhrí Higgins, a league-winning midfielder with Dundalk almost a decade ago who also enjoyed success as a coach here.
Derry have the best home record in the country with 20 points bagged from a possible 30. A solid away return has helped them to second in the standings, six points behind leaders Shelbourne heading into this Bank Holiday weekend, for the southern sides at least.
They go into this game on the back of a 2-2 draw with eighth-placed Sligo at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium last week, where Dundalk old boy Will Patching converted a late penalty to rescue a point.
Four days prior to that, they were beaten 1-0 by fellow title challengers Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght, but that was just a second away defeat of the campaign, having also lost 2-1 in the capital at Bohs in mid-March. Outside of that, they have won at Waterford and St Pat’s, while drawing on their other five trips.
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Shelbourne | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 37 | 26 | 11 | 57 |
| 2 |  Derry City | 34 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 48 | 29 | 19 | 55 |
| 3 |  Shamrock Rovers | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 47 | 34 | 13 | 55 |
| 4 |  St Patrick’s Athletic | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 48 | 37 | 11 | 53 |
| 5 |  Galway United | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 50 |
| 6 |  Sligo Rovers | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 38 | 47 | -9 | 48 |
| 7 |  Waterford FC | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 41 | 44 | -3 | 44 |
| 8 |  Bohemians | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 37 | 41 | -4 | 40 |
| 9 |  Drogheda United | 34 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 40 | 56 | -16 | 33 |
| 10 |  Dundalk FC | 34 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 23 | 49 | -26 | 25 |
Dundalk have already met Derry this year, in early April, when they were beaten 4-1 in the North in what proved to be Stephen O’Donnell’s final match at the helm. On that night, Ryan O’Kane slotted in a late consolation, after Adam O’Reilly, Patching, Danny Mullen and Michael Duffy netted for the hosts.
This fixture has had plenty of goals in recent times, with the only goalless draw in the last 27 meetings in all competitions since 2017 coming in Derry in March last year.
Derry’s last visit to Oriel was in September when they won 3-1, with Patching scoring twice. Dundalk are without a win over the Candystripes in the last five encounters, including losing the last three, since winning 1-0 in Derry on the final day of the 2022 season.
Their last home victory in this fixture came way back in June 2021 when now Derry pair Daniel Kelly and Hoban scored in a 2-1 success, inflicting Higgins’ first away defeat as manager. In the five subsequent meetings in Louth, there have been two wins for Derry and three draws.
Tickets for Friday’s match are now on general sale.
Team News
John Mountney, Robbie Benson, Robbie Mahon, Koen Oostenbrink and Dara Keane all miss out with injuries.
Quotes – Jamie Gullan
“This week has been brilliant. The gaffer has been very clear with what he wants from us. We’ve adjusted to that over the past few days and the boys have really caught on quickly so, hopefully, we can bring that into Friday against Derry.
“Obviously, it’s good that he (Jon Daly) knows me from back home in Scotland. That’s a positive. I played against his teams a few times when I was at Hibs U20s and he was at Hearts so it’d be nice to score when he’s my gaffer, and not against him!
“We’ve been working on getting into the box more and getting us into positions to to score more and try and create more. That’s been a problem this season, I don’t think we’ve created as much as as we wanted to, so it’s just kind of trying to implement that and making us more dangerous going forward and attacking the goal more.
“Our home form has been brilliant. The atmosphere is unbelievable at Oriel Park on Friday nights and it’s up to us on the pitch to give the supporters something to cheer about and performances that they can be proud of. It’s going to be a great atmosphere and a really good game and, hopefully, we can make it seven clean sheets in a row and get the win.”
Match Officials
Referee: Daniel Murphy
Assistants: Chris Campbell and David Connolly
Fourth Official: TBC
