The high standards that the Dundalk squad impose on themselves were all too evident when head coach Vinny Perth spoke to RTÉ Sport just minutes after the Oriel Park outfit retained their SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title on their home patch on Monday night.
Seán Hoare, Robbie Benson and Michael Duffy were all on target in a 3-2 win against Shamrock Rovers as the Lilywhites landed a fifth league crown in the last six seasons.
Perth and his charges could be forgiven for resting on their laurels - at least for one night - but that would seem to be alien to the man who filled the hot-seat vacated by Stephen Kenny at the end of last season.
"I want to forget the last 15 minutes because that wasn't the Dundalk way," he said.
"We’ve got to fix that because we’ve got a little bit more to do this season and we want to do that.
"But it’s tremendous for the players. They’ve driven this, it’s been a big six or seven years at this club and a lot of big players have driven this.
"I’m really proud of them, they were outstanding this season and they really helped me."
"Tremendous for the players, they have driven this. They have been outstanding this season and have really helped me." - The Dundalk head coach lauds his players as they claimed the title. pic.twitter.com/WokuKkHymS
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 23, 2019
While Kenny’s departure was arguably the greatest challenge the club have faced in recent seasons, Dundalk fans have long been accustomed to seeing their side shorn of its leading lights in the off-season.
However, they’ve somehow managed to replace those stars with players who burned just as brightly.
Perth attributes that to a nucleus of players with a winning mindset, saying: "We’ve lost big players over the years - Richie Towell, Pat Hoban, Daryl Horgan, Andy Boyle, Ronan Finn, and whoever else, and we lost Stephen but there’s a core group here who drive this.
"They’re just brilliant people and they’ve pushed this on to a new level this year.
"We weren’t vintage Dundalk in the last 15 minutes, but winning trophies is vintage Dundalk and we want to continue doing that.
"We’re very happy tonight," he added.
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