MANAGER SHANE KEEGAN insists Dundalk players and the coaching team can get their campaign back on track. 

Enduring their worst start to a season in a decade and a half, the Lilywhites were beaten by Bohs at home last night, thanks to a Georgie Kelly penalty. 

Dundalk next face a ‘must-win’ clash against St Pat’s, who they trail by nine points already.

And after a string of disappointing results, Keegan again faced questions about the unusual management arrangement with Filippo Giovagnoli taking a reduced role in the set-up this year, alongside the experienced former Wexford and Galway boss.  

“I think [owners] Peak6 will hold everyone at the club responsible for not doing as well as we should be doing at the moment, simple as that,” Keegan said after last night’s game, when asked about perceived pressure on Giovagnoli and the coaching ticket.

“I think they’ll hold the players responsible, I think they’ll hold every manager in the management team responsible. 

“As a management team we bear the responsibility. It’s not good enough, it’s 100% not good enough. As a collective, everyone involved with the club, we’re all trying to fix it, believe me; if anything is wrong, we’re trying too hard, not too little.

“There’s not one thing that needs to be fixed, there are four or five things that need to be fixed. Some of those fall on us, some of those fall on the players and there’s nobody ducking out, trying to avoid responsibility, I can assure you of that.

He continued: ”I think all we can concentrate on is ourselves. We’re not members of Peak6 and all we can concentrate on is ourselves as a management team, ourselves as a group of players. 

“There’s been a big chat in that dressing room about getting it right and we’re doing to do everything we can to get it together. 

Despite the poor start to the campaign, Keegan insists the quality within the squad is there to target a league title win. 

“They are a really, really good group, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “I’ve been in that dressing room for a long time after the final whistle tonight and as you can imagine, there’s a lot of stuff being talked about.

“The quality that’s in the dressing room means that this is a team that’s literally able to go on a 10-game winning streak. They’re that good and there’s that much quality in the dressing room. 

“We need to fix the things that need to be fixed, we need to get our confidence back. And if we do that are they capable of going on a run? 100% they are.”

- reporting Niall Newberry