The Spectator would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the Oriel Park pitch for it's key contribution to Dundalk's recent fluky 3-1 win over midtable Shamrock Rovers. While it should (grudgingly) be acknowledged that Dundalk more than stood up to Rovers' limited, physical game and that Dundalk dominated possession, created more chances, scored more goals and generally played the star-studded Rovers off the pitch, these mere facts have to be taken in the context of one ostensibly funny bounce. It is necessary when considering Dundalk's incosiderate and let's- call a spade a spade- plainly unfair first goal against the Galacticos to ignore the fact that Ken Oman hideously miskicked a clearance, applying enough spin to bamboozle an opening batsman. Such a ball careering uncontrollably off the side of the poor defender's foot would, of course, bounce oddly on any surface, but to acknowledge the laws of physics in such a way just plays into the hands of an evil north-eastern football club hell bent on cheating the rest of the league by playing football on the deck on a smooth, reliable, almost perfect playing surface. Dundalk may have been the better team, but there was only ever going to be one winner- the Oriel Park pitch which singlehandedly ensured Dundalk dominated possession, created chances and bossed the game from start to finish (bar fifteen minutes either side of half time when the pitch lost concentration and allowed a couple of normal grass-like bounces go Rovers' way). Undoubtedly the artificial pitch at Oriel Park confers an unfair advantage on Dundalk. After all they've won 21 points at home but just 25 (from a game less) on the road. In fact if you take home advantage out of the equation altogether and just look at every team's away record Dundalk would plumment down the table from second place all the way down to, erm, first. Clearly it Dundalk's home record, the fourth best in the league (aided by the terrible UEFA-approved pitch), that is keeping them up there. It was interesting to hear the esteemed Brian Kerr get so het up about the Oriel Park surface on MNS. He questioned how the pitch passed the stringent guidelines to allow its use. Put simply the pitch passed because it plays consistently and when it's maintained properly it is arguably the best surface in the country for those of us who actually want to play football on the deck. Indeed Oriel Park is the only pitch in the country subject to such testing. It would be interesting to see how Dalymount, Tolka, Hunky Dorys Park or Kerr's own beloved Richmond Park would get on in a test. Indeed the wonderful Richmond Park surface has suffered two postponements this season alone due to an unplayable pitch. And when the almost poetically beautiful pitch at Tallaght was just a little bit unplayable earlier in the season where was an Ireland underage international played instead? That would be Oriel Park, then.