Eleven Seasons Back

2009-2019 PREMIER DIVISION REVIEW

Part ONE of an extensive compilation of information covering the last 11 years. When Dundalk defeated St Patrick’s Athletic 4-0 on the final night of the 2019 SSE Airtricity League season, it completed Dundalk’s 11th season back in the Premier Division since our promotion under John Gill in 2008.

Our total record in our 11 seasons back in the Premier Division is: Played Won Lost Drawn For Against 378 209 96 72 678 386

First Game Back Our first game back in the Premier Division, after six very long seasons in the First Division, was a live televised match against Bohemian FC on Friday 6th March 2009. Sean Connor’s new look Dundalk side lost 1-0 to a Joey Ndo goal. The team that night was: Chris Bennion, Simon Kelly, Dave Rogers, Liam Burns, Thomas Heary, Michael Daly, Chris Turner, Shaun Kelly, Declan O’Brien, George O’Callaghan, Harpal Singh. Sub: Tiarnan Mulvenna.

Biggest Win/Loss Dundalk’s 8-0 win over Limerick on the 27th February 2018 is our biggest win in this period. Our biggest defeat was the 7-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers on the 27th September 2012.

Most Appearances From Krisztian Adorjan to William Woods, 153 players have represented Dundalk throughout these 11 seasons.

Appearances

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The players with the Top 10 appearances are: Chris Shields 218 Dane Massey 204 John Mountney 188 Peter Cherrie 179 Sean Gannon 175 Brian Gartland 169 Gary Rogers 158 Andy Boyle 137 Patrick Hoban 130 David McMillan 118

Starts

The players who made the most starting appearances are: 1 Dane Massey 199 2 Chris Shields 186 3 Peter Cherrie 178 4 Sean Gannon 168 5 Brian Gartland 165 6 Gary Rogers 158 7 Andy Boyle 137 8 Patrick Hoban 118 9 John Mountney 113 10 M Duffy / D Horgan/ R Towell 96

Let’s Not Forget…. The following players made a single starting appearance in league matches: Steven Kinsella, Barry Conlon, Jordan Keegan, Sean Maguire, Joe McKee, Ciaran O’Connor, Michael O’Connor, Garreth Brady, Ryan Coulter, Keith Dalton, Ger Hanley, Aaron McCarey.

The following made a single appearance as a substitute: Dwight Barnett, Dylan Hand, Mark Hanratty, Christopher Kerr, Mark Leavy, Philip McCabe, Gerard McSorley, Jack O’Keeffe, Michael Osobe, Billy Smith.

Goals

The Top 10 league goalscorers since 2009 are: 1 Patrick Hoban 76 2 David McMillan 51 3 Richie Towell 44 4 Michael Duffy 33 5 Brian Gartland 29 6 Daryl Horgan 22 7 Robbie Benson 21 8 John Mountney 20 9 Dane Massey 18 10 Ciaran Kilduff 17 1 2 3

The top three penalty scorers are: Patrick Hoban 13 Richie Towell 10 Chris Turner 7

Goal Types Dundalk have scored 678 goals since 2009. This chart shows their percentage breakdown.

Most Goals Scored Inside the Area 1 Patrick Hoban 33 2 David McMillan 31 3 Richie Towell 22 4 Michael Duffy 20 5 Robbie Benson 17 Most Goals Scored Outside the Area 1 Richie Towell 11 2 Michael Duffy 10 = Daryl Horgan 10 4 Patrick McEleney 6 John Mountney 6 Mark Quigley 6 Most Goals Scored from Headers (All from within the area) 1 Patrick Hoban 25 2 Brian Gartland 23 3 David McMillan 12 4 Dane Massey 9 5 John Mountney 6 = Ciaran Kilduff 6 = Andy Boyle 6

Goals Scored from Direct Free-Kicks Dundalk have scored 16 direct free kicks since 2009. Dane Massey, John Mountney, Michael Duffy, Mark Griffin, Patrick McEleney all scored two each. Others wers scored by Mark Quigley, Richie Towell, Ross Gaynor, Keith Ward and Ronan Murray.

Goal Scored from Free-Kick Set Pieces Who else? Brian Gartland has scored 10 goals from Free-Kick set pieces, six goals ahead of Niclas Vemmelund.

Goals Scored from Corner Kick Routines Again, Garts finishes clear at the top with 18 goals. He is followed by Patrick Hoban (8), Dane Massey (6), Andy Boyle and Richie Towell (5).

Clean Sheets Dundalk have kept 155 clean sheets in our 378 games. These are divided among four goalkeepers: Gary Rogers (89 Clean Sheets), Peter Cherrie (58), Gabriel Sava (8), Chris Bennion (4). Other goalkeepers who have played for the club are Ger Hanley (1 Appearance), Paul Murphy (5), Matt Gregg (3), Ryan Coulter (1), Aaron McCarey (1).

Red/Yellow Cards Dundalk FC have finished either at the top or near the top of the Fair Play leagues for most of our seasons since 2009. Our worst season was, unsurprisingly, the 2009 season under Sean Connor when we received 86 yellow cards and 17 red cards. One game, against Sligo Rovers in October of that year, resulted in three red cards to Dundalk players. To put those 17 red cards into context, Dundalk FC have received 17 red cards IN TOTAL since 2013. Our yellow card totals have also considerably reduced since 2009. That season we received 86 yellows. It fell as low as 39 during the 2016 season.

Most Goals Scored from Headers The top ten yellow card recipients are: 1 Chris Shields 39

2 3 4 5 6 7 = 9 10 = = Stephen O’Donnell 31

Dane Massey 23 Brian Gartland 22

Patrick Hoban 17

Darren Meenan 16 Ross Gaynor 15 Sean Gannon 15

Daniel Cleary 14

Richie Towell 13 Tiarnan Mulvenna 13

Stephen Maher 13

For/Against The overall distribution of red and yellow cards since 2009 is:

Dundalk Opposition Red Cards Yellow Cards

48 619 71 745

Assists We are being very strict here. Different organisations define assists in different ways. For this exercise, an assist is a deliberate final pass to set up a goal. So not a rebounded shot or deflected pass…. just that crucial final executed pass/cross/through-ball to set up a goal

Catch Part TWO of this compilation in the Cork City Programme - Monday 24th Feb.

43 The top ten assist makers since 2009 are: 1 Michael Duffy 50

2 3 4 5 6 = 8 9 = Darren Meenan 36

Dane Massey 25

John Mountney 24 Daryl Horgan 23

Sean Gannon 19

Ronan Finn 19 Patrick McEleney 18

Patrick Hoban 17

Ross Gaynor 17