REACTION | Kenny left ‘dumbfounded’ by referee McKell’s display

Dundalk FC now nine-points behind Cork City

It was no surprise that Stephen Kenny’s post-match press conference centred on the performance of referee Jim McKell following Dundalk’s 3–1 defeat to Bray Wanderers on Friday night.

Kenny watched on as McKell awarded the visitors two highly contentious penalties either side of a Stephen O’Donnell goal. Both spot kicks were dispatched by Gary McCabe, taking him to the top of the scorer’s chart with nine goals.

Ryan Brennan added a third as The Seagulls condemned the champions to a third league defeat of the season, leaving Dundalk’s hopes of a fourth successive league title in serious bother.

“I’m frustrated and angry,” said Kenny. “I don’t think either of them were penalties and the second one was farcical.

“First of all, it was never a free-kick in the build-up and secondly, when the ball was played into the box, Dane Massey was swung around onto the ground by a Bray player.

“Gary Rogers actually caught the ball,” he added. “It was given nowhere near where the ball actually was! It’s bizarre, really bizarre. I just can’t believe it. I’m dumbfounded after watching it back on TV.”

Kenny said that he tried to speak with the official after the game with little success. He also revealed that his players were left bemused and angered by the Tipperary official’s behaviour during the game.

“All of our players complained about his language in the game. They said his language and attitude during it was absolutely disgraceful and to give penalties like that, I can’t accept that,” said Kenny.

“I tried to speak to him afterwards,” he added. “To be honest, I never really go into referee’s rooms. The procedure here is that there’s an assessor here that you can speak to but apparently he went very quickly so I wasn’t in a position to speak to him. He must have gone very quickly.”

The game arrived just days after Kenny voiced his displeasure at Dundalk’s lack of penalties over the 12 months, a move that he said he didn’t regret.

“Whatever I said was irrelevant in this regard. It should not have had any bearing on what the referee does. There was no element of fairness there today. It was really shocking.

“You’re supposed to take each game on its merits and referee it with an element of fairness. To me, that was one really bizarre situation. I’ve never really experienced it before.”

The result leaves Dundalk nine points behind Cork City, a sizeable gap even with just nine games played.

“We have to digest the defeat tonight and there are things we can speak about later. Obviously, it’s not a situation where we want to be and there’s no getting away from that.

“I’m not saying we played brilliantly because we didn’t. We were in the ascendancy for much of the game but Bray defended well, reduced the amount of chances we created and Tim Clancy, their centre-back, played very well,” said Kenny.

“Bray are a good team and I’m not taking anything away from them. They didn’t really have any play in the game up to that period but they are a good team.

“It’s just hard to accept. You don’t mind being beaten fair and square. It’s hard to accept that the decisions were made in good faith.”

The game arrived just days after Kenny voiced his displeasure at Dundalk’s lack of penalties over the 12 months, a move that he said he didn’t regret.

“Whatever I said was irrelevant in this regard. It should have any bearing on what the referee does. There was no element of fairness there today. It was really shocking.

“You’re supposed to take each game on its merits and referee it with an element of fairness. That to me is one really bizarre situation. I’ve never really experienced it.”

The result leaves Dundalk nine points behind Cork City, a sizeable gap even with just nine games played.

“We have to digest the defeat tonight and there are things we can speak about later. Obviously it’s not a situation where we want to be and there’s no getting away from that.

“I’m not saying we played brilliantly because we didn’t. We were in the ascendancy for much of the game but Bray defended well and reduced the amount of chances we created. Clancy, their centre-back, played very well,” said Kenny.

“Bray are a good team and I’m not taking anything away from them. They didn’t really have any play in the game up to that period but they are a good team. It’s just hard to accept. You don’t mind being beaten fair and square. It’s hard to accept that the decisions were made in good faith.”