AFTER A spell in which he scored against Drogheda United, Cork City, Shelbourne and Bohemians, it was no great surprise yesterday when Shamrock Rovers striker Gary Twigg was named as the Airtricity/Soccer Writers Association’s player of the month for March.
Rather more of a bolt from the blue, it seems fair to say, was his side’s hammering last week in Inchicore where St Patrick’s Athletic romped to a 5-1 win. This has left Rovers needing one of the club game’s most precious commodities this evening against Dundalk: a reaction.
“The worst thing wasn’t the defeat but the manner of it,” says Twigg, who had twice before won the monthly award back in 2009. “We’re not used to getting beat the way we did the other night and there were a few words amongst the players.
“We asked the manager to stay out at half-time and the players had a word with each other before he came in. Then the manager came in and had a right go at us and rightly so.”
It didn’t, he admits, prompt anything like the second-half turnaround that had been hoped for but the Scot points to the 5-1 defeat at Oriel Park in September 2010 as evidence of how the team can put such a setback behind them.
“We could have lost 1-0 and it would be the same three points,” he says. “When we lost up there it was a team that wasn’t packed with league winners but we came back from it and won the league that year. I know we didn’t do ourselves proud (at Richmond Park) but we’re looking forward to tomorrow night now because it’s an opportunity to show that that was a freak result.”
Immediately after Oriel Park a couple of years ago, Rovers put six then three past Galway United in cup and league games and Dundalk know they will have to be on their guard.
“Obviously, they will want to come out and make amends,” concedes Dundalk central defender Liam Burns. “But we have got to do what we do and have confidence in our ability that we’re going to go there and get a result.”
The hosts will be motivated too, says Twigg, by the desire of their supporters to mark yesterday’s 25th anniversary of the club’s final game at Milltown (Many are expected to gather at the site of the old ground at 5.0pm and walk the 10 kilometres to Tallaght) with a result that encapsulates the transformation of the club’s fortunes since its arrival at its new home.
“We know as players how big the club is and how important its history is to its supporters,” he says. “The club’s incredibly well run now and stability is a major factor in our success, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be moving around season after season like that.”
They were, indeed, rough times for the club but with much the same squad to choose from again, though – against opponents who will be short Nathan Murphy, Mark Griffin and Eoghan Osbourne – it’s the memory of rather more recent history that Stephen Kenny will be aiming to banish this evening.
