Dundalk FC manager Ian Foster was “proud” of his young players after their performance deserved more than the 2-0 defeat they suffered by title-chasing Derry City at Oriel Park on Saturday afternoon. Foster’s team contained six players aged 20 or under, with three in the backline and three in midfield, with the side showing an overall average age of just 22.18. Bob McKenna, 17, and Conor McDonald, 16, also came off the bench, with the Liverpool-born boss revealing that the latter had come into training during the week in his school uniform.
Pleased
“I was pleased with the performance,” Foster told dundalkfc.com. “Don’t get me wrong, I hate losing, I’m a bad loser and I’ll be sulking all week. But when we look at the grander scheme of things, I thought it was a fabulous effort from a young, inexperienced side, at the very highest level in this country. We chose to go against the elements and try to dig in and try to compete in the first half. We were almost, in a strange way, pleased that it was 1-0 and that we would have a right go at them for 45 minutes, and we certainly did that. We threw the kitchen sink at Derry in the second half. The first 15 minutes, we were fabulous and they couldn’t get out. They had a wee spell after that, but we came back into it and we were in the ascendancy for long periods. We’re obviously disappointed to concede from a set-piece where one player switched off and didn’t do his job.”
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