STEPHEN KENNY WANTS Dundalk to prove that they’re no ‘plastic’ champions and show that they’re as dangerous on the road as they are at home.
The Lilywhites handed title rivals St Pat’s an early wake-up call when they beat them 3-0 on Friday night.
Remarkably it was their 20th straight league game unbeaten in Oriel Park, a run that goes back to the end of the 2013 season and is just one short of the club’s top flight record set in the 1980s.
It was the perfect start to a schedule of three games in seven days, and Kenny emphasised the need to back up that performance when they face Bohemians on Tuesday evening.
He rubbished the suggestion that the artificial pitch has created ‘Fortress Oriel’ and said: “There was a couple of years that the home form was deplorable, they hardly won a match.
“Any insinuation that the pitch is some sort of thing … the crowd is more important, getting behind you and lifting you. That’s a huge factor as it is Cork and places like that.
The pitch was never an advantage when bottom of the league so why should it be when you’re top? If that was the case, why isn’t it a disadvantage when we go on grass?
“All of those things aren’t necessarily [true]. Our supporters really get behind us. That’s what we want to create.
“You’re only as good as your last game. The minute you think that or get distracted, that’s when you get turned over.”
Dundalk’s start has been practically flawless — three wins from three with five goals scored and three clean sheets — but Kenny said there was no pressure to prove themselves as champions.
Now they come up against the only other team with a 100% start, Keith Long’s Bohs.
“Never mind answering questions, it was about getting a good start ourselves,” Kenny said.
“We know we have a big season ahead and we know that we’ve got the Champions League, the Setanta Cup in mid-season and the two cup competitions, the EA Sports Cup and FAI Cup.
There is a big programme ahead. We don’t want at the culmination of all those matches to be chasing with a reasonable deficit so it was important to have a reasonable start.
“We’re trying to do something that has never been done in the club’s history, retain the title, and it’s so hard for the regional teams as was pointed out by somebody other than myself, Waterford United a half century ago [1971/72 and 72/73] were the last regional team to defend the title.”
He added: “It’s not like a Dublin club that can attract all the players to Dublin.
“Our Dublin-based players, they have to travel, commute 10 hours a week. There is not an indigenous group. We don’t have a clatter of houses we can put them in.
It’s a challenge to meet all that. In a regional club, it is a challenge. But you wouldn’t think it, the players never complain. We have a culture of not complaining.
“They are a fantastic group, they really prepare well, they are tremendous professionals and you can see that in their performances.”
SSE Airtricity League Premier Division fixtures
7.45pm Tuesday unless stated
- Bohemian FC v Dundalk
- Cork City v Galway United
- Drogheda United v Limerick
- St. Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City
- Sligo Rovers v Shamrock Rovers
- Longford Town v Bray Wanderers (8pm)
