We won’t go into excuse mode, says Perth

Dundalk boss Vinny Perth has said that Dundalk will not get into “excuse-making mode” about the shock loss of Chris Shields through suspension for the FAI Cup final against Shamrock Rovers.

But the Lilywhites head coach said he will wait until after Sunday’s big game before getting into the mechanics of how the midfielder was left exposed to the risk of picking up what proved a hugely costly yellow card – his eighth of the season — by playing in what was effectively a dead rubber league game for the champions against Cork City two weeks ago.

“I have always been open and honest with the media but I think that I can leave the ins and outs of it until after Sunday,” said Perth, who revealed that he only learned about the suspension last Saturday morning.

“Look, there are loads of different things that could and should have happened. As head of the football club I take responsibility for it, the football part of it. I’ll go into the ins and outs of if after Sunday.

"I don’t think that we need to get into excuse-making mode in any way, shape or form. We accept it and move on.

Chris is extremely disappointed but there you go, we have accepted it and the rest of the squad has. Remember, I look after 24 players in the squad and another seven or eight members of staff.

"There are 24 people looking forward to this weekend. It’s just unfortunate for Chris as a person. I think that we are known as a free-flowing football team with a lot of skilful players — Duffy, McEleney, Hoban’s goals.

“And he is slightly different than them but he is Mr Dundalk at the same time so it’s very disappointing for him.”

Replacing Shields will not be straight-forward, he conceded.

“It’s probably the one position where we don’t have an exact replica,” he said.

“But we’ve dealt with not having Chris at the start of the season. He was missing for the first four games of the season with a knee ligament, so we’ve coped before.

“The one thing we do is we train in a structured way where we work on different scenarios. We’re prepared for this. It will be a big noise for everyone else, and it will be the chatter of the town. But we’ve accepted it over the weekend and we move on.”

Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley expressed sympathy for Shields and suggested that the rules should be changed to wipe yellow cards for the cup final.

“I’m disappointed for him, to be honest, because he’s a top player,” said the Hoops boss.

Players like him deserve to play in games like this and occasions like this. It’s about showcasing the league, it’s the best two teams in the country and you want the best players on the pitch — and he’s one of them. I feel for him as an individual, I genuinely do, he’s earned the right to play here.

Although Bradley only learned of Shield’s suspension just before attending a cup final media day at the Aviva Stadium yesterday, the Rovers manager insisted the midfielder’s absence won’t affect how Rovers approach the task of trying to dethrone the holders on Sunday.

“It doesn’t alter anything, how we’ve prepared, nothing. I only found out about it when I came here but it doesn’t alter anything we do. He’s obviously a big player for them and they will miss him no matter what way you cut it up. You’d like to see him on the pitch, he’s a good player.

“They (yellow cards) should be wiped for the cup final but the rules are there, aren’t they? It’s happened a few players over the years. We had to be careful because Ronan (Finn) was very close to missing as well, so the last few weeks we’ve had to be careful with Ronan.”