Cabinteely player/coach Daire Doyle scored for the first time in over 3 years in their dramatic 3-3 draw with UCD on Friday night, but felt that even though they finished the game with only nine men, they could have nicked all three points.
Doyle told theleagueofireland.com “Although UCD had more possession, we looked very dangerous on the break and really should have been leading 4-1 when Joe Doyle missed a very good chance when 1 on 1 with their keeper. It would have been very difficult for UCD to come back from that.”
“Overall, there is a sense of disappointment there having led 3-1 in the game with less than 20 minutes to play.”
“We had looked to start the third series of games by picking up 3 points going into the break.”
Two red cards in the second half had a huge bearing on the outcome of the game, “The sending offs changed the game particularly Mick Kelly’s red. We had to change the team and formation, and being down to 10 men it was backs against the wall stuff.”
“UCD put the pressure on and came up with 2 goals to level the game. We can be thankful we hung on for the draw but in saying that we could have scored late on ourselves with Marty and Jack Watson having chances.”
On the 90th minute dismissal of Christian Lotefa Daire said, “Christian’s sending off was very late in the game and he will be very disappointed with that. It was a challenge he didn’t need to go into, having already been on a yellow, and we will really miss him now as he has been great for us.”
As for scoring in the game, Daire was delighted saying, “On a personal note, it was great to get on the scoresheet. It was a brilliant ball in from Evan Galvin and thankfully I was able to glance it in. My last goal was a League Cup goal for Drogheda in 2014 so it has been long overdue.”
Daire also had a bit to say on the recent announcements by the FAI regarding two big friendlies in Dublin. He feels that the FAI should be doing more to promote the League of Ireland rather than pushing friendly games involving English teams.
“Yeah, I just get annoyed at the lack of promotion / ideas to improve and increase the support and interest in our league. A lot more needs to be done on the FAI’s part.”
“They are quick enough and loud enough about promoting the Liverpools and Man Utds of this world when they come to Dublin.”
He Tweeted the following regarding an idea for promoting the league, it involves two big days in the Aviva Stadium during the Summer months;
1/2 Idea for @FAIreland – @AVIVAStadium to host 2 separate wkends of @league_ireland games each Summer. 3 games over 1 day pic.twitter.com/81qkLFxJYR
— Daire Doyle (@dairedoyle80) June 1, 2017
Daire went on, “Two separate weekends of big LOI games would really showcase the talent that is here on the biggest stage, and encourage the younger generations to aspire to follow.”
“Fresh and new ideas are needed to promote our league. Changing the league structure to 10 team leagues is nothing new. It begs the question – How much do the Fai really want to do?”
Photo Credit: Paul Lundy