JAMIE MCGRATH ADMITS being a little taken aback when he first arrived in the Dundalk dressing room.
Signed from St Patrick’s Athletic in January 2017, the then 20-year-old had earned a reputation as one of the most promising players in the SSE Airtricity League.
However, the Ireland U21 international was joining a team that had just acquitted themselves incredibly well in the Europa League group stages, and the step up in quality was evident when he looked around.
“Coming in at the beginning, it was probably a bit of a shock to me in terms of fitness levels,” the Meath native tells The42 this week, “how the lads were in such good nick and the gym side of it as well, as I hadn’t really been going before then.
“Naturally, there was some bedding in but halfway through last season things started to turn for me after a slow start when I had just been getting to grips with how we played, when to press and what the manager expects.
“Maybe there was a confidence issue as well, as a young lad coming into a team that had done so well in the Europa League.”
The necessary hours were put in behind the scenes, in the gym and on the training pitch, and McGrath made 28 Premier Division appearances with the Lilywhites — nine of which were from the bench — during an encouraging first year.
He already had technical ability in abundance, but this season, the attacking midfielder/winger’s physical development has been there for all to see.
The boys were saying that they saw a picture of me lifting, I don’t know what weight it was, in the gym last year and I was a scrawny lad!” he jokes.
“You can see the transformation this year and I need to continue as you always have to be improving yourself. Thankfully, during the end of last season and the first half of this one I’ve kicked on and I’m starting to feature more regularly.”
The loss of key players, and, in particular, Patrick McEleney, opened up opportunities for others to stake a claim for regular game-time, and manager Stephen Kenny told McGrath as much before a ball was kicked.
“In pre-season, we had a camp and there was a team meeting where the gaffer challenged a few of us — the likes of me, Sean Hoare and the lads who were brought in,” he explains. “Mickey [Michael Duffy] as well.
“I think we’ve all stepped up and done very well this year. The gaffer did put it to us in pre-season and thankfully we’ve been able to respond so far.”
Several younger members of Kenny’s squad, aided by those who have been there and done it all, are producing the goods so far in 2018 and Dundalk are once again in a two-way battle with Cork City for the Premier Division title.
McGrath, who has started in 17 of the 23 league games while featuring in three more off the bench, was awarded for his progress earlier this month with a new one-year extension to bring his deal up to the end of 2019.
“Me, Seanie Hoare and Mickey Duffy joined last year and the core of the team is becoming younger and younger, but we’re obviously surrounded by the more experienced lads who have won many leagues — lads like Garts [Brian Gartland] and Shieldsy [Chris Shields],” he says. “I think it’s a good bunch and we’ve got a blend of youth and experience.
I was delighted to get it [the deal] done early so I can just focus on football now. It means you just have a bit more security for next year guaranteed. Seanie signed a two-year deal as well so he’s buzzing with that. So we’re focusing on winning a few trophies this year.”
Dundalk trail the Leesiders by a single point but host their title rivals at Oriel Park tonight, where it’s likely to be another extremely tight affair with both sides earning one win each in league meetings this season.
“We’re both only getting stronger,” says the 21-year-old. “It’s obviously going to be a really tough battle but we can take confidence from the last game at Oriel. It was only 1-0 but I think it could have been more on the night.
“They’re going to come up and make it hard for us to play, but I reckon that if we focus on ourselves we have the capabilities to come out on top. It should be a fantastic game and hopefully the quality of the league will be on show as it’s on TV.”
The league’s top scorer, Pat Hoban, has been on fire since returning to the club from England for a second spell. The Galway-born striker has 19 Premier Division goals to his name and bagged the winner when the two sides met in Louth back in March.
“Our front four or five, if you include Robbie Benson, have all been playing well this year,” adds McGrath. “We’ve been creating a lot of chances and Pat has been finishing them. He has 19 league goals so he’ll be looking to get to that 20-mark and hopefully we can supply him with the ammunition.
“We’ve threats from all over the place with Robbie break from deep, we’ve Mickey on the left and Dylan [Connolly] on the right. Pat came back this year and there were a lot of doubts whether he could do it, but he’s proven to everyone that he can and he’s playing out of his skin. Long may it continue.”
Premier Division
First Division
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
