Daryl Horgan puts club before country

As Stephen Kenny was delivering his post-match team talk in the dressing rooms of Oriel Park on Tuesday night, he turned and asked “Where’s Daryl?”.

The Daryl he was referring to was his “special talent” Daryl Horgan whose two goals — the first of which found the net via goalkeeper Mark McNulty — had just helped the champions to a 2-1 victory over Cork City to give them a four-point lead at the top of the table with five matches to go.

The 24-year-old was off collecting his man of the match award at the time but someone piped up with the joke “he’s at the Bernabeu”.

A move to Real Madrid might be a bit far-fetched but it’s clear for many to see the Galway man is destined for greater things.

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill had already departed by the time Dundalk PA announcer Mickey Duffy announced “future Irish international” Horgan as the man of the match but if the Irish boss hasn’t seen enough by now he never will.

“It’s the greatest honour you can get to play for your country and if I ever got the opportunity I’d jump at it but I’d say there’s four or five lads Martin O’Neill is looking at, not just from Dundalk but from Cork as well,” said Horgan.

“It’s not about that for me at the minute. Winning the league is the main ambition.

“Martin might make a decision ahead of the next squad but we’ve five games to win and that’s what I’m solely focused on.

“It’s every young lad’s dream to play for their country but there’s quite a good squad there and they have seven points from a possible nine in the group, which is fantastic. All I can do is keep doing what I’m doing.”

Given Horgan’s form, cross-channel interest is expected in the winger in the coming months and he admitted he would have to weigh up all options put to him, not just from England.

“I’ll listen to any offer that comes my way but I’m really, really enjoying my time at Dundalk.

“There’s very few clubs I could go to where you could play in the Europa League and in these big games over and over.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say England is the only option. If there were options elsewhere I’d have to consider that too. The dream is to play at the highest level I can.

“We’ve had a special year so far but right now the aim is to win the league, win the cup and get into the last 32 of the Europa League.

“We’ve still work to do though. Cork might come out and say the league is over but it certainly is not. There’s not a hope of that. We’ve to go to Tallaght now on Friday and hopefully pick up another three points,” he said.

Meanwhile, Zenit St Petersburg star Axel Witsel insists Dundalk have put themselves on the European football map.

The 27-year-old Belgium international midfielder is ready to take on Kenny’s men in back-to-back Europa League matches.

Dundalk, who narrowly missed on the Champions League group stages, host Zenit next week, and will travel to Russia for the return Group D fixture on November 3.

In financial terms Zenit’s annual budget of €165m dwarves the €1.5m the League of Ireland club usually spend.

The Russians, owned by billionaire Gazprom chairman Aleksandr Dyukov, are in a different stratosphere in cash terms.

But Witsel says there is new-found respect for Dundalk, and is certain there will be no complacency when his team come to Tallaght next week.

He said: “I didn’t know a lot about Dundalk before this season — but of course I have heard about them now with two matches against them coming up for Zenit.

“All I really knew about the club before was the name, and not too much else.

“But we are already studying them and how they have done in the Champions League qualifiers and then the first two matches in the Europa League.

“And like for any team in Europe, we will have our meetings and look at ways to win those games. I have heard that their budget for the whole team for the year is something like €1.5m, but it would be a mistake to think it is only about the money.

“When the players go on out on a pitch the money is not important, it is performance, how well you play, how well you prepare and execute the manager’s tactics on the day.

“Anything can happen in football, as we know.

“Zenit are a big club and we have very good players. We want to be top of the group in the Europa League and there can be no complacency against Dundalk.

“We will be very professional and do everything to get the results.”