Following his sides 1-0 defeat at he hands of 10-man Cobh ramblers, a dejected Owen Heary spoke of his bewilderment of what he witnessed from his side after dominating large proceedings of the clash at Tolka Park and coming away with nothing. “Over
Following his sides 1-0 defeat at he hands of 10-man Cobh ramblers, a dejected Owen Heary spoke of his bewilderment of what he witnessed from his side after dominating large proceedings of the clash at Tolka Park and coming away with nothing.
“Overall I thought we played very well, created a lot of chances passed and moved well but its happened again, just like it has a couple of times before at home this season, we’ve dominated against yet another team and have come away with nothing. And just one mistake has cost us the game so it’s hard to take.”
With one eye potentially on next weeks mouthwatering Dublin Derby against Shamrock Rovers in the FAI Cup, the Shels boss made a few changes and was quick to praise his side despite the result, stating: “We made a fair few changes and it didn’t disrupt the team at all, I thought the players were excellent. For example, Dylan Kavanagh hasn’t played much and put in a great performance, same with James O’Brien. If it wasn’t for the one mistake we come away with a 0-0 draw. There were a few players carrying knocks so I think, with two massive cup games coming up, it was right to freshen things up. So the emphasis is firmly on (Shamrock) Rovers next week from now.
“Its great that we have such a big Dublin derby to look forward to, if I’m honest, we probably would have preferred one of the weaker teams!! But the lads will be up for it and we’ll have to work hard this week because we know Rovers are a very good side and as they're the Premier team we’ll have to be at our best to beat them.”
Heary was also quick to praise referee John McLoughlin for his retracting of Derek Prendergast’s straight red card. The big centre half, just inside the half way line, was late on goal scorer Cian Leonard as the front man played a one-two with wing back Charlie Fleming, but the referee consulted with his linesman and gave the offside instead.
“I was definitely worried, but in fairness to the referee, he went and consulted with his official and deserves credit for it. They are there to help him out and it was good that he talked to them and got the decision right. I don’t think it should have been a red card anyway because I think he’s far enough from goal but they got the decision right in the end.”
