United aiming to make up
SOCCER
MICHAEL Daly says the Drogheda United team owe their fans a big performance against his old club Dundalk at Oriel Park on Sunday (4.30).
The Boynesiders kicked off the new League of Ireland season with a disastrous 3-0 home defeat by UCD, one of the teams fancied to be battling to avoid the drop this year.
Speaking yesterday afternoon ( Tuesday), Daly said the whole team had to take responsibility for Friday's result, and a Louth derby on live television might just be the game to ignite their campaign.
'Everyone was down on Friday as you should be. There would be a problem if we weren't,' he said.
'You can't just point the finger at defenders. I don't think anyone can look at themselves and say they played well. I know I can't, so everyone has to take their share of the blame.
'It wasn't good enough, but we sat down on Sunday and had a meeting about what went wrong, and hopefully we can put that behind us, get the fans behind us and beat Dundalk.'
Daly, former Man City youth, got a taste of what to expect going back to Oriel Park when he was booed during the recent friendly there, but he insists he has no problem with the Lillywhites faithful.
'I have a lot of friends in Dundalk and a few mates playing for them, and I get enough slagging off them when we don't win. If the fans boo me, that's football, but they can boo me for the whole game as long as we win.
'I heard Dundalk got lucky on Friday when Bray should have beaten them. They have some very good players and they'll be tough in Oriel Park, but I don't think there's any team we should be fearing.'
Daly's decision to move down the M1 raised a few eyebrows, but the midfielder feels he made the right decision.
'In the off season I met with a couple of people, but Alan Mathews rang me a few times and put a deal on the table.
'Drogheda train in Westmanstown during the week, right beside where I live, and part-time football suits me now that I have a job.
'I'm enjoying it. Friday was a setback, but you can't read too much into one match.'
- Marcus
