O'Donnell pleased with vital win over Drogs

Dundalk captain Stephen O’Donnell believes his late winner against Drogheda United puts Dundalk back in a great position ahead of their visit to Inchicore to take on table-topping St Patrick’s Athletic.

The sides are locked level at the summit with the Dubliners ahead on goal difference as they battle for the championship but the Lilywhites would not have had the advantage of going in to that game level if O’Donnell had not seized upon a defensive slip-up to score.

“It was so important to get that goal and win this one going to Pat’s because it means we go there on level-pegging rather than knowing we need to win,” he said.

“We will be going there to do that regardless and it was great to get three points out of this one in a game that we didn’t play in.

“I think the ending was better than the game which wasn’t great but Drogheda aren’t a bad side and are tough to play against with quality all around the pitch,” he continued. “I think they can feel hard done by as we probably didn’t deserve to win it.

“But to be honest, performances don’t mean anything at this stage of the season. It is all about results.”

He may have hit the crucial goal in the derby and has the honour of scoring the goal that put Shamrock Rovers into the group stages of the Europa League but was modest in his assessment of the strike and was just pleased to see the net ripple.

“I wouldn’t be a prolific scorer,” the former Bohemians man laughed. “I was quite a way away from the goal but I just wanted to take it early because I thought the ‘keeper might have expected me to come in further with it so I thought it might take him by surprise.

“I knew that [McNally] was going to get the ball and at that stage I thought we were sitting too deep and I didn’t want him to have all the time in the world so I just wanted to pressure them and luckily it worked out my way.”

The double-chasing Dundalk were not at their best on the night but O’Donnell believes that in games such as these, it is not the display of the team that people will remember but rather the fact that they picked up the points but also does not think the impending game against Saints will ultimately determine the destiny of the title.

“I don’t know what the performance was down to but it is hard to play well every week and the key is when you don’t play well still to get the three points so we did that and how many times do you see all of the top teams not play well but grind out the result which is what we did and nobody really remembers the performance at the end of the season and it is all about results from now on in,” the 27-year-old insisted.

“I think that there will be more twists to come even after the Pat’s game so although it was important, I am sure further swings will happen and I do not think the Pat’s game is a winner takes all one, definitely not but it is great to be going there after getting the win and being level.

“Maybe if we had gone in behind them then the onus would have been on us to go out and win it but now we go there even and we will just see how it goes.”