Saturday 30th July 2022
HIS first goal was a whodunnit. His second was an open and shut case.
But Declan Byrne insisted there was no mystery about who opened the scoring for Dumbarton in today’s 2-0 win over Stirling Albion.
He was the man who stabbed the ball home at close range within the opening 60 seconds, before drilling home an angled drive just three minutes later.
It was a league debut for the striker to relish, and made it three goals in two games after he found the net at Irvine Meadow XI in last week’s friendly match.
Speaking to dumbartonfootballclub.com, Declan said: “It’s definitely two goals for me and I’m delighted.
“We went out to get out of the traps early and try to get ahead of the game, and we showed we were ready to go.
“We had a bit of revenge on our minds as well after losing to Stirling in the cup. We knew we had to go out and get the job done and we had the right mindset to do that.
“The manager has tried different things during pre-season and we feel we are gelling as a team.
“It is starting to come together in games and training and it was a really positive pre-season for us.
“It’s definitely great to get three points on the board straight away, but we will just take it one game at a time. We will train Tuesday and Thursday and get ready to face Albion Rovers next week.”
The trip to face Albion Rovers is a journey Declan knows well, having played for the Coatbridge team twice, the more recent spell being last season.
With the league season off to a successful start, he hopes the positivity can continue.
He added: “It will be good next week – I am looking forward to going back.
“We are ambitious at the start of every season. If you don’t start looking to be successful you shouldn’t be in the game.
“We are just looking to see where we can go. If we play well and stick together, there is no reason we cannot be in amongst it.”
Dumbarton Football Club