WE’RE A THIRD of the way into the SSE Airtricity League season and Dundalk’s stronghold on the Premier Division shows no signs of waning.
Richie Towell may now be a not-so-distant memory but the back-to-back title-winners sit in a familiar position atop of the table on 31 points from 12 games with nearest rivals Cork City already playing catch-up.
Having enjoyed an impressive debut season with the Lilywhites after arriving from Shamrock Rovers before the 2015 campaign, Ronan Finn has upped his game again with six goals from midfield already this season.
The 28-year-old former UCD and Sporting Fingal man has been one of the league’s finest players for a number of years, so it comes as a surprise to learn that his recent exploits have earned him the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month award for the first time in his career.
Finn picked up the accolade in Dublin yesterday, where he spoke of how manager Stephen Kenny has kept the players focused to deal with the pressures that a prolonged period of success brings.
“There were a lot of questions asked at the start of the year – how would we do, if we still had the hunger,” said Finn. “But we have been flying.
“People are trying to find fault but Stephen has us in the right frame of mind and we’re picking up results.
“We’re no stronger or any worse (than last season). We had a brilliant team last year
and won the double, it will be hard to replicate that but so far we have been picking up results.
“It’s a tough league, last year we beat Brsy 7-0 but played them the other night and it was a tough game.”
While there is no shortage of technical ability among this Dundalk team, they are often lauded for setting the bar in terms of fitness levels and physical conditioning.
And Finn explains that there is a culture within the club to go that extra mile in a bid to obtain excellence.
“Stephen is lucky that he’s got a really talented group there,” he says. ”It’s funny how hard-working the group is.
“I’ve said it before, boys are staying back constantly and he’d be literally saying ‘right enough is enough, you’ve got to finish training. There’s a game tomorrow’.
Boys are in the gym everyday, that’s just the work ethic at the club. I don’t know where it stemmed from, it was just there and I bought into it straight away. Anyone who signs, like Ciaran Kilduff, he did too.
“It’s always frowned upon if you don’t do the extra work. The results are showing. That bit extra does help. I think last year we won a lot of games late on. This year, we haven’t really had to do it yet.
“I know our fitness levels are high, maybe the congestion of games hasn’t come in yet. I think when the games come thick and fast, you’ll see the benefit of that as well.”
Dundalk are leading the way but others have followed suit, according to Finn.
“In fairness, you can see the fitness of the whole league has stepped up,” he adds. “Everybody is buying into sports science and everybody is doing that bit more in the gym.
“I think they’ve looked at us as an example in that sense. Stephen is nearly annoyed at people talking about our physical side, our power or our pace when he’d just be more about our technical side.
“We score great goals as well, but I think we’ve got a good balance of both to be honest.”
Aside from Towell, who departed for Brighton Hove & Albion back in December, Dundalk were able to hold onto the guts of their double-winning squad while adding talent the shape of Patrick McEleney and Robbie Benson.
“There are a couple you look at, I’m delighted they stayed,” says Finn. “You were looking out and hoping that you wouldn’t see any breaking news that (for instance) Daryl (Horgan) has left.
“Patrick (McEleney) coming in is a bonus and it bodes well. Stephen can persuade these players to stay and develop, I’m sure he doesn’t want to hold anyone back if lads have aspirations but it’s great for me personally because the stronger squad we have, the more chance we have of winning things.”
The Premier Division champions were unlucky enough to draw seasoned European campaigners BATE Borisov in the Champions League second round qualifier last season.
Coming away from the first leg in Belarus with a 2-1 defeat, Dundalk went out after holding BATE to a 0-0 draw at Oriel Park in the return fixture.
Finn’s hope is that this time around they will be paired with more favourable opponents.
The draw is massive,” he explains. “If you can get a draw that is winnable, you can really go far. Listen, BATE last year were very strong, it’s unfortunate that we got that tough draw.
“It was a tight game. If you look at the fixture, they deserved to go through. Even though it was 0-0 in Dundalk, they were the better team.
“Over there we were very good. We could have taken a draw back or got another away goal. I think they were almost surprised and they took the game more seriously in Dundalk.
“You noticed after the game they really celebrated. If you can do well in Europe, I suppose it puts you on the map.”
Finn was part of the last League of Ireland club to make a real impact in Europe as Shamrock Rovers reached the Europa League group stages for the first time in their history in 2011.
That Hoops team had experience in abundance in the shape of Dan Murray, Stephen O’Donnell and Gary Twigg, but Finn reckons his current team-mates are a level above that Michael O’Neill side.
“We’ve talked about it quite a lot,” he replies, when asked about comparisons between the two teams. “It’s difficult. It’s a strange one. The Rovers side that won in Belgrade was strong but this side has something that team didn’t have. I think we’re more ready.
“When we played in the group stages that time we were physically a little bit out of our depth. If we made it to the group stages this year I don’t think we’d be caught out physically.
“Technically we’d have to step it up a level but physically when we played the likes of Rubin Kazan and Tottenham they were physically and technically up a level.”
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