Fenlon not ready to give up yet
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On a night when St. Patrick's Athletic let their title challenge slip when losing out 3-1 at home to current leaders Shamrock Rovers, current league leaders Bohemians kept their hopes alive when they defeated a dogged UCD side by the same scoreline in Dalymount Park on Friday evening. Bohs supremo Pat Fenlon was obviously delighted to have secured the three points that keeps them on Rovers' tails, but he doesn't believe that it is necessarily a two-horse race just yet.
"No, I don't think so (that it's a two-horse race). We've still to go to Inchicore obviously. I'm sure Rovers will be happy about that. Their two closest rivals playing each other, but it looks like we might play the Rovers game before the Pat's game. We've got to get a little bit closer to Rovers, and then hopefully beat them. if we can't, that should be the end of it I think", Fenlon remarked.
As we approach the end of the season, Fenlon freely admits that the players have been disappointed with the way they have performed this season, and also shouldered some of the blame for the way the team has performed. However, he is not ready to give up just yet, and is hopeful that they can still cause problems for Michael O'Neill's men.
"I think they're (the players) disappointed with where they are. I think they probably know, some of the games here (in Dalymount), they let themselves down a little bit. They're all disappointed with that, and that's something that's probably my fault as well. I've picked the wrong team at times".
"You just have to look at that. All we can try and do now is try and win matches, and see where it takes us. As I say, if Rovers win, there's seven games left or whatever there are, you have to applaud them for that. Not that anyone around here would want to do that, but you have to give teams credit. I know how hard it is to win league titles. So, if they're going to do it, they deserve it. If they don't and we can nick it, then great".
On the game against UCD itself, the former Shels boss was very pleased overall with the way the game went and felt that, apart from a 20-25 minute spell when UCD caused them problems, he thought they were in control. He was also pleased that they gave a good team performance, and weren't relying on any one individual to get them through.
"I thought most of it was fairly good. There was probably about 20 to 25 minutes where UCD, to be fair, they did put us under a bit of pressure. They probably didn't have loads of chances, but they had corners, that's for certain. They put some good balls into the box, and mostly we did quite well. We switched off a bit on the goal, but other than that I thought we were very good".
"I thought they all did well. I wouldn't come off the pitch and say 'he struggled and he struggled'. I thought 1-11 we were decent enough. Goalkeeper (Chris O'Connor) had good hands again, the back four I thought Brian Shelley was very good. Overall, I thought it was a good team performance. I wouldn't be the kind to look at individual performances, but definitely we looked, as a team, to be solid", Fenlon commented.
"No, I don't think so (that it's a two-horse race). We've still to go to Inchicore obviously. I'm sure Rovers will be happy about that. Their two closest rivals playing each other, but it looks like we might play the Rovers game before the Pat's game. We've got to get a little bit closer to Rovers, and then hopefully beat them. if we can't, that should be the end of it I think", Fenlon remarked.
As we approach the end of the season, Fenlon freely admits that the players have been disappointed with the way they have performed this season, and also shouldered some of the blame for the way the team has performed. However, he is not ready to give up just yet, and is hopeful that they can still cause problems for Michael O'Neill's men.
"I think they're (the players) disappointed with where they are. I think they probably know, some of the games here (in Dalymount), they let themselves down a little bit. They're all disappointed with that, and that's something that's probably my fault as well. I've picked the wrong team at times".
"You just have to look at that. All we can try and do now is try and win matches, and see where it takes us. As I say, if Rovers win, there's seven games left or whatever there are, you have to applaud them for that. Not that anyone around here would want to do that, but you have to give teams credit. I know how hard it is to win league titles. So, if they're going to do it, they deserve it. If they don't and we can nick it, then great".
On the game against UCD itself, the former Shels boss was very pleased overall with the way the game went and felt that, apart from a 20-25 minute spell when UCD caused them problems, he thought they were in control. He was also pleased that they gave a good team performance, and weren't relying on any one individual to get them through.
"I thought most of it was fairly good. There was probably about 20 to 25 minutes where UCD, to be fair, they did put us under a bit of pressure. They probably didn't have loads of chances, but they had corners, that's for certain. They put some good balls into the box, and mostly we did quite well. We switched off a bit on the goal, but other than that I thought we were very good".
"I thought they all did well. I wouldn't come off the pitch and say 'he struggled and he struggled'. I thought 1-11 we were decent enough. Goalkeeper (Chris O'Connor) had good hands again, the back four I thought Brian Shelley was very good. Overall, I thought it was a good team performance. I wouldn't be the kind to look at individual performances, but definitely we looked, as a team, to be solid", Fenlon commented.
About Daire Walsh
Daire Walsh began reporting for Extratime in 2009, when he covered Kildare County's games in the League Of Ireland First Division. He currently reports on games involving the league's Dublin sides and also Bray Wanderers. … View Full Profile