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'It hurts when any other team wins the league' - Boyle seeking title redemption with Dundalk

Andy Boyle, top, celebrates with Dundalk team-mate Sonni Nattestad after he scored their side's first goal during the FAI President's Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium last week. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile Expand

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Andy Boyle, top, celebrates with Dundalk team-mate Sonni Nattestad after he scored their side's first goal during the FAI President's Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium last week. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Andy Boyle, top, celebrates with Dundalk team-mate Sonni Nattestad after he scored their side's first goal during the FAI President's Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium last week. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Andy Boyle, top, celebrates with Dundalk team-mate Sonni Nattestad after he scored their side's first goal during the FAI President's Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium last week. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

The year of the pandemic was also the year when Dundalk surrendered their Premier Division title, and defender Andy Boyle says the "hurt" of seeing Shamrock Rovers wrest control away from them is a driving force heading into the 2021 season.

Dundalk have 24 hours to assess how Rovers are shaping up this season as, while the Hoops are in action tonight, Dundalk don't play until tomorrow, away to a Sligo Rovers outfit who were a bogey side for them last season, so there space there in the is a getting-to-know-you phase, especially for Dundalk who have such a new-look side.

Dundalk's clash with Rovers in two weeks' time is already shaping up as a key game in the title race, tension evident in the fiercely-fought President's Cup clash last week.

"Over the past few years that needle has grown, as you saw on Friday it boiled over a bit but it was a healthy respect between the two teams, it was one of them games we wanted to win and lay down a marker," says Boyle, keen to make sure that Dundalk do not have to see Rovers lifting the title again.

"We have become accustomed to winning trophies and it hurts when any other team wins the league, at the start of every season we want to go and win the league, we'll have to make sure we start in the right way as we're not always known for our great starts in a season," says Boyle.

"The league is the bread and butter, it hurt last year in the manner where we tailed off in the league, I know winning the FAI Cup and going through in the Europa League was great for the club but the league is the one that everyone wants to compete in at the start of the season and this season is not different."

The Dundalk story over the last eight years has seen players come and go without too much interruption to the club's rhythm, like the way Boyle eased back into life at Oriel Park after his unfulfilling spell at Preston. Up to six players could make their Dundalk debuts tomorrow but Boyle feels the new faces will settle quicky.

"It's a challenge but the lads who came in are good people and good characters, they have been good around the place, it's difficult when you have four, five, six new lads but we have done a lot of work on the training pitch which will be important and then it's about bedding in, the more games you play together the more relationships you can build on and off the pitch," he says.

"It's the natural cycle that lads move on and you have to replace them, we probably went a bit further afield, getting lads in from all over Europe but you can see in the glimpses already that the lads have good quality."

The changes will be most evident at the back as, since the end of last season, Sean Gannon, Sean Hoare and Dane Massey have all moved on.

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"There is a lot of change in that area, with the lads moving on but it's about building relationships and getting used to what the new lads are good at. We have done a lot of work in that regard so we understand each other's games," says Boyle.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed in the last 24 hours that Latvia have called up Raivis Jurkovskis for their three World Cup ties, against Montenegro, Holland and Turkey.

He will miss next week's meeting with Finn Harps due to international duty as will Sonni Nattestad, in the Faroe Islands squad.

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