Stephen Kenny says his side were denied a definite penalty as 10-man Dundalk slumped to a 2-1 against title rivals Cork City at Turner's Cross.
In front of a crowd of 6,746 people, Cork landed the first blow of what promises to be an engrossing title race and had Karl Sheppard to thank for his two goals in the opening half. Despite pulling a goal back through David McMillan, Ciaran Kilduff was sent off in the final five minutes to dent any hopes of an unlikely comeback.
Speaking to Newstalk Sport's Oisin Langan after the game, the Dundalk boss gave his assessment of the game.
"I didn't think it was a game we deserved to lose," he said. "I didn't think it was a good game of football really, it was very frenetic. On a technical level I thought the game was disappointing.
"Defensively we weren't great for the two goals we conceded. There was also a couple of key moments. Obviously with Ciaran Kilduff, it's a clear penalty. Mark McNulty has taken him down with his feet and that would have made it 1-1.
"The disallowed goal and then the sending off. Three big decisions went against us and I was really disappointed with that... I don't know about the disallowed goal but the penalty is a cert."
Commenting on Karl Sheppard's opening goal, he said: "Obviously, we've over-committed on our own corner[...] We left ourselves one-on-one and Karl Sheppard was free in the box.
"The second goal, he got in behind Dane Massey and he shouldn't have been, so that's disappointing. I think the players showed their character and David McMillan getting the goal, they showed a lot of fight in that last 20 minutes.
"At 10 men it looked like we might get it back, but it wasn't enough. We just have to accept that."
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