Dundalk boss O'Donnell not buying into title race talk

Dundalk manager Stephen O'Donnell is refusing to get carried away with the talk of his side being in a title race, despite their impressive 1-0 victory over Shamrock Rovers.

A fine second-half goal from Robbie Benson proved to be the difference between the sides at Oriel Park as Dundalk had too much for a strangely flat Rovers side.

The Hoops were without the injured Jack Byrne and Gavin Burke and the win for Dundalk leaves the five points behind Rovers with a game in hand.

O’Donnell believes his team were full value for their victory.

"I’m delighted with the win, I thought it was deserved," he told RTÉ Sport. "It was a tough first-half, we controlled the game but they had chances.

"They tried to identify balls over the top and tried to play off Mandroiu and Gaffney getting in behind.

"There were a couple of scary moments, they’re good players but I thought we controlled the game.

"We were a little bit tentative the first-half, the second-half better and we created more and I thought it was a thoroughly deserved win."

Should Dundalk win their game in hand the gap with be down to two points with the sides due to meet again in August, but the O'Donnell is not looking past his side's next game.

"There’s nothing different with regards to me saying something about a title race in an interview or that, that’s all just talk, actions are what we want," he said.

"We were happy with a lot of things, the way we were training when we were getting all those draws and people were saying we were disappointing and then we’ve gone on a run.

"It’s going to be actions that are going to determine anything, it’s not going to be me saying we’re in a title or we’re not in a title race.

"We’re doing really well, we’re on a very good line and that’s the