HIS NAME MAY not be mentioned as often as Richie Towell’s or Daryl Horgan’s, but his contribution to Dundalk’s success has been no less important.
Chris Shields goes about his business quietly yet effectively. Although the plaudits generally go to his more high-profile colleagues, the Lilywhites’ defensive midfielder has certainly brought his fine form from 2014 into this season’s campaign.
Shielding — pun most definitely intended — their back-four, winning possession and setting Dundalk off on the front foot, the 24-year-old has been Stephen Kenny’s Sergio Busquets — minus the theatrics.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” Shields told The42 when asked about his status as Oriel Park’s unsung hero. “I enjoy my role. I get plenty of praise from the lads and the gaffer. That’s enough for me. I had a decent enough season last year so I wanted to try and keep that going. Luckily I have.”
Shields was excellent last year but 2015 has been even better — which has also been the case for this Dundalk side as a whole. Despite losing top goalscorer Pat Hoban to Oxford United, they’ve looked a stronger team than the one that cliched the club’s first Premier Division title in 19 years back in October.
David McMillan has filled the void left by Hoban up front, while new arrivals like Gary Rogers and Ronan Finn have contributed significantly during the first series of games, at the end of which the Louth club sit atop the table with a six-point cushion. But Shields is reluctant to admit if the 2015 version of Dundalk is better than its predecessor.
“To say we’re a better team, I don’t know,” he said. “We’re playing well and we’ve clicked at the right time. It took us a while to get going for the first few weeks but then we seemed to hit a bit of form.”
Dundalk travel to Longford tomorrow on the back of good wins away at Cork City (1-2) and at home to Bray Wanderers (8-1). Both games were televised live, giving casual fans the opportunity to see that not only have Dundalk become the best team in Ireland, but they’ve done so while playing a brand of attacking football that’s easy on the eye.
“The game down in Cork was a really good occasion for the league,” said Shields. “Seven-thousand people in the ground, the two top teams going at it and playing good football, not just kicking lumps out of each other.
“Everything seemed to go for us on Monday (against Bray) and we showed a good style of football, which we try to do in every game. It’s important to do it in front of the cameras, but it’s just as important to do it when the cameras aren’t there. We always want people knowing that they’ll see good football played when they come and watch Dundalk.”
That philosophy has filtered down from manager Stephen Kenny, Shields says. Even in Cork, when they found themselves a goal behind away to their main rivals, Dundalk didn’t panic and revert to long, hopeful balls forward. They kept faith with their usual approach and reaped the rewards.
“That’s the way the gaffer wants us to play so that’s what we have to go out and do. As we showed in Cork, if we do go a goal down it’s important not to force things. We believe things will always come right if we keep doing what we’re doing. That’s Stephen’s philosophy. It shows in the players he’s signed and how he has us playing.”
Cork City pushed Dundalk all the way to the final day of the season in 2014 and many fancied the Leesiders to go one better this season. However, there’s already a seven-point gap between the teams. Dundalk have now beaten City on five consecutive occasions, so does Shields believe they hold a psychological advantage at the expense of John Caulfield’s men?
“I don’t know if it’s a psychological thing, although I’d say they’re sick of the sight of us by now,” he said. “We take every game as it comes and we don’t treat any team differently in terms of how we’re going to play. To say it’s psychological, I don’t know, but maybe it is more in their heads than ours, because that’s the way we set out to play every week.”
Shields says he’s “surprised” that Dundalk have found themselves so far ahead of the chasing pack at this juncture. Right now it looks like it might take an injury crisis or something similarly unexpected to stop them from securing back-to-back titles for the first time in their history, but they know there’s still a lot of football to be played.
“I suppose it’s a credit to us that we have pulled away a small bit, but there’s a long way to go and there’ll be points dropped here and there with tricky away games coming up,” said the Clondalkin native.
“The biggest threat I’d say would be complacency; getting ahead of ourselves, thinking we’re going to win it easy. That’s not the case at all. It’s happened in the past; Sligo had a great start and they ended up finishing third, so there’s no point counting our chickens now.
“If injuries happen I think we have a good enough squad to cope. There’s a battle between ourselves in the squad at the moment to keep our places. There’s a lot of guys knocking on the door.
“Complacency would be the main thing to be aware of, but I can’t see that happening with this group of players.”
This weekend’s SSE Airtricity League fixtures
Premier Division
Bohemians vs. Limerick — Dalymount Park (Friday, 7.45pm)
Cork City vs. Sligo Rovers — Turner’s Cross (Friday, 7.45pm)
Derry City vs. Galway United — The Brandywell (Friday, 7.45pm)
Drogheda United vs. Bray Wanderers — Hunky Dorys Park (Friday, 7.45pm)
Longford Town vs. Dundalk — City Calling Stadium (Saturday, 7.30pm)
St Patrick’s Athletic vs. Shamrock Rovers — Richmond Park (Friday, 7.45pm)
First Division
Athlone Town vs. UCD — Lissywollen (Friday, 7.45pm)
Finn Harps vs. Waterford United — Finn Park (Friday, 8.00pm)
Shelbourne vs. Cabinteely — Tolka Park (Friday, 8.00pm)
Wexford Youths vs. Cobh Ramblers — Ferrycarrig Park (Friday, 8.00pm)
– First published 12.20
