Cameron McJannet hails Eoin Toal for making 'one of the best tackles I've ever seen'

Eoin Toal races away to restart the game after finding the back of the net against Dundalk at Oriel Park. Photograph by Kevin Moore.

Toal has been reportedly attracting interest from newly promoted Scottish Premier Division outfit, Hearts and Sunderland in recent weeks and his performance against the Lilywhites at Oriel Park will certainly have enhanced his reputation.

Considering the Armagh man wasn’t expected to be declared fit to play due to a hip injury sustained last Monday, it was a significant contribution in the 2-1 defeat.

Ruaidhri Higgins felt his centre back pairing were ‘exceptional’ on the night and praised both players for ‘leading by example’. And McJannet was equally as impressed with his defensive partner for a dominant display and in particular, his outstanding recovery tackle on Michael Duffy who looked certain to add a third Dundalk goal early in the second half.

"Eoin made one of the best tackles I’ve ever seen to stop it going to 3-0 which was amazing. As centre backs it’s frustrating to play well but then concede unlucky goals but we keep going. It was a good header from Eoin to get us back in the game and hopefully, like me, he can go on a little run now and keep that going,” added the former Stoke City man who has four goals already this season.

McJannet was frustrated with the result which ended an eight match unbeaten run and admitted the first half display was ‘unacceptable’.

“We just came up short but we lost the game in the first half. The first half just wasn’t us. In the second half we came out fighting and that’s more of what we stand for.

“We just started too slowly. We were second to most things and it just wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t acceptable but we showed a little bit of character to at least come out and improve our performance in the second half.

Cameron McJannet pictured celebrating his second goal against Bohemians at Dalymount back in April.

"The penalty, on another day might not be given because he was inches away from it when the ball was hit and the ref said his hand was high. It’s frustrating and sometimes luck doesn’t go your way. The goals were disappointing and they gave us a mountain to climb.

“We will take confidence from the second half performance and hopefully go on another run. We’ve got to believe we can go as high as possible. I think that’s two losses in 14 games. That’s bad at all. If we can change a few of those losses into wins and we could continue to climb.”