Captain Chris Shields believes that this week’s televised clash with Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium is the ideal fixture for Dundalk to get back on track after the disappointing loss to Finn Harps on Friday night.
Adam Foley’s double secured Harps all three points, leaving Dundalk with just one point from their opening two games, and Shields said that the fixture with Rovers would focus the minds of everyone at the club.
“Rovers is probably the perfect game to bounce back in,” he said. “We can’t put in another performance like Friday. We have no choice but to move on, we can’t wallow in self-pity and we have to look forward.”
Reflecting on the 2-1 defeat to Ollie Horgan’s men at Oriel Park, Shields said that Dundalk only had themselves to blame after shipping two poor goals.
“The one thing that everyone will say when you are playing Finn Harps is that you don’t give them goals and we have gifted them two,” he said. “We have only ourselves to blame for that.
“Finn Harps are Finn Harps and they are brilliant at what they do,” he added. “Ollie and Paul Hegarty probably don’t get the credit they deserve for what they do.
“They set up the way that we expected them to set up and we gifted them a goal just before half time which was crucial. It was such a bad time to give a goal away.”
When Patrick Hoban made it 1-1 with a 48th-minute header, the feeling was that it would give Dundalk the impetus to go on and win the match but Harps hit back and stunned the Lilywhites when Foley broke through to claim a second.
“It’s fine margins,” said Shields. “I felt when we got it back to 1-1 that we did get back on top and there was only going to be one winner after that but things didn’t go our way and that is disappointing. We just have to concentrate on getting things right.”
