I HAD THE pleasure of attending Oriel Park on Friday night and I think the SSE Airtricity League decider lived up to expectation.

As I was covering it for RTÉ, I got down there early and soaked up the atmosphere. There was a great buzz around the place and real tension in the ground before kick-off. It was obvious there was a lot at stake.

In fairness to both teams, the quality of the game was really good with high intensity so from a neutral fan’s perspective I think it was great to watch.

The different styles of play from these two young teams was fascinating – Dundalk playing possession-based football with build-up in their approach play while Cork were a lot more direct.

They were even enough when it came to chances created but the big difference was obviously that the home side put theirs away. Stephen O’Donnell getting that first goal at the start of the second half was a key moment as it settled them a lot and heaped the pressure onto Cork.

The Lilywhites were asked the question and they answered it with their captain putting in a exceptional performance. To come back from such a serious injury in the same season would have been a huge challenge for him physically and mentally.

It’s brilliant to see and I can’t emphasise enough the amount of work he will have gone through to get back into that condition. I’ve been in that situation before and a lot of players can often go missing on nights like that but he was tremendous right down to winning headers in the centre of the park in the 90th minute.

He led by example and huge credit to him. It’s not luck or coincidence the big players step up in the important games.

Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

Dundalk will be still celebrating this week but Stephen Kenny will know that he will have to get his players focused right from the start of pre-season because next year will be a totally different story. As St Patrick’s Athletic discovered this season, there is a lot more to retaining a title. He will also have to add to the squad and freshen it up and possibly replace some departures.

Richie Towell, who has been the league’s best player this year, is in action with Cardiff City tonight as he looks to earn a contract with the Championship club. I thought we had gone beyond the days of trials and I’d be interested to know what would happen if, God forbidden, he got injured there.

There are no doubt a couple of others Dundalk players who would catch the eye at clubs across the water so Stephen will surely be keeping tabs on a few new recruits. It’ll be interesting to see what the mindset of the players after winning the title but, for now, congratulations to them on the achievement.

As mentioned, St Pat’s missed out on back-to-back Premier Division wins but they have the chance to claim some silverware against Derry City in Sunday’s FAI Cup final. The Aviva Stadium tends to be a bit of a leveller as you have to cope with playing in such a big stadium.

Going back to when the teams met at the same stage two years ago, Pat’s gave away goals with defensive mistakes that you wouldn’t have expected from them at the time. They have leaked far too many goals this season mainly due to the fact that they haven’t been able to keep the same back four and I think that is the only issue that would stop them winning here.

FAI Cup finals in recent years have tended to be quite tight but if they can overcome that, I see them winning this game comfortably as they’re a far better team.

End of season awards

Player of the Year – Richie Towell (Dundalk)
Manager of the Year – Stephen Kenny (Dundalk)
Goal of the Year – Colin Healy (Cork City) v St Patrick’s Athletic

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