'I don't know if I've dealt with something like that before. It was scary'

KEVIN DOHERTY DESCRIBED the medical situation regarding Shane Farrell as ‘scary’ during last night’s 0-0 draw with Bohemians.

The Drogheda United manager confirmed that his player ‘seems to be ok’ after undergoing tests at the hospital directly across the road from Sullivan & Lambe Park.

Farrell was conscious and needed the use of an oxygen mask following an incident in the final stages of the Premier Division clash with Bohs.

After initially being involved in a coming together with Senan Mullen moments earlier, Farrell then dropped to the floor around the 87th minute.

Both sets of medial staff – including FAI head physio Danny Miller – were able to attend to Farrell after referee Paul Norton quickly realised the severity of the situation.

“He seems to be ok. I don’t know exactly what happened. That’s the most important thing because it was a scary few minutes for everyone. We’re lucky the hospital is 30 seconds away. He’s getting tests. He was conscious coming off the pitch. He had an oxygen mask on,” Doherty said, before visiting Farrell in hospital.

“To be fair to Paul Norton, he stopped it straight away. Fair play to him. We didn’t know. He needed quick attention and he let me go on the pitch.

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“I don’t know if I’ve dealt with something like that before. It was scary.

“The main thing is thankfully he seems to be alright. It was a weird eight minutes.

“We’d have been sick if we had lost the game. It knocked us back. I told the lads to just get through the next eight minutes because football is not that important but it would have been a kick to have conceded after the performance we put in

“The medical staff to be fair, and the Bohs staff were on as well… I have to give the ref great credit for stopping it straight away.”

Bohs boss Alan Reynolds was serving the first of a three-game touchline ban so it was assistant Stephen O’Donnell carrying out post-match media duties.

The Gypsies remain unbeaten after the first phase of nine games, they have conceded just three times, and are yet to fall behind. “I think that’s a good foundation for any team,” O’Donne said, although three draws on the spin have allowed St Patrick’s Athletic leapfrog them at the top of the table.

“And we’re looking to build on that from an offensive standpoint. But I suppose if you’d offered us, I think it’s five wins and four draws, is it? The first nine games compared to the first series of games last year, we’d be delighted. But we know it’s obviously a quarter of the season, but we need to keep building on it.”

Doherty was also adamant his side will improve as the campaign goes on. The Boynesiders have 10 points from their opening nine fixtures and sit in seventh place, three points adrift of Shelbourne in fifth.

Drogs welcome Galway United to Louth on Easter Monday and Doherty is relishing how the season is shaping up.

“This time last year we were top of the league but we’re getting better. We know exactly what we are and need to improve on. We probably should win that game 1-0 but it’s a really good performance going into Monday against a Galway side who’ve just beaten Derry City.

“This league is unbelievable. It’s a brilliant league because you can’t predict anything. You saw the atmosphere tonight. We’ve been going on about having no fans at away games (due to a pyro ban), the last one being next week in Waterford. There’s one in Dundalk later in the year. You can see the difference it makes.”

Doherty also refused to be drawn on some of the off-field issues surrounding the club during the international break. American owners Trivela Group issued a statement last month confirming that co-chairperson Joanna Byrne had been removed from her position.

Byrne, a Sinn Féin TD for Louth, had been vocal in her stance that the Republic of Ireland should boycott their Nations League fixtures with Israel later this year.

Trivela insisted this was not the reason for the fallout. “I’m satisfied that from now on I’m just talking about football,” Doherty said.

“That might seem a cop out but I talked plenty about it. That’s all I’ll be talking about.”