Stephen O’Donnell is confident that Dundalk can finish the job and advance to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League when they play host to FCB Magpies at Oriel Park next week.
The Lilywhites played out a scoreless draw with the Magpies at a sun-drenched Victoria Park on Thursday and speaking afterwards, O’Donnell said he was satisfied with the result, and elements of Dundalk’s performance.
Overall thoughts…
Obviously, the conditions were very, very tough with the heat. I thought we played well in stages and passages and they had joy on the counter and had a couple of chances by going direct. We need to defend them sort of transitions better, but in the main, it’s all we were allowed to do. We had control of the game, we were the dominant team but we probably went away a little bit from getting crosses in the final third, getting width and making them defend their box.
On Dundalk’s chances…
We had numerous chances in the first half. Johannes had a header, Ryan O’Kane, Dickey on the rebound, Pat Hoban had a header and I thought we were going to get one. We pushed on and were the dominant team towards the end when they were fatiguing a little bit. All in all, it’s a draw away from home and we’ll take that back to Oriel next week. They’ve shown that they’re a threat on the counter we’ve shown that we can pose a lot of problems too.
Dundalk supporters during the UEFA Europa Conference League First Qualifying Round 1st Leg match between FC Bruno’s Magpies and Dundalk at Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar. Photo by Gerry Scully/Sportsfile
On The Magpies…
Ultimately, we didn’t know much about their entire unit. They have a new coach and so many new players and we had just one game of footage to go off. We have a much better feel for them after this evening and we’re no worse off result wise so we’ll look forward to next Thursday.
On recovering from the heat…
The recovery starts now. We need to get the fluids back on board because they would have lost a lot of weight in that game from a sweat point of view because it was so hot.
On the travelling support.
They were brilliant and they did their presence felt. It was a good time in the evening for them and they would have been well hydrated! It’s great to get that massive amount of support because it’s not easy financially. We’re always grateful for them. They never stopped singing from the first minute to the 90 seventh or whatever it was.
On the home leg…
It should be a really good atmosphere at Oriel. As a club, we missed having European football last year so we’re really looking forward to getting back to Orion next Thursday and really going for the game.
