Inside Track: Gaels the only Dundalk club to taste recent success

There are six GAA football clubs in Dundalk. It’s a decade since one of them last won the senior championship, Seán O’Mahony’s beating St Mary’s in the 2016 final.

Gaels were the last team to contest a Joe Ward Cup decider – their meeting with Newtown Blues in 2017 ended in a heavy beating. It is as far back as 1952 when the title last rested on The Ramparts.

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Young Irelands most recent win in the county’s top competition was in 1979. They made the final the following year but were beaten by Roche Emmets. Like Gaels, Irelands have tasted success at intermediate on a number of occasions since then.

A golden period in Clan na Gael’s history ended in 1993, a defeat of St Mary’s giving them a fifth win in nine years.

That was the Castletown side’s most recent appearance in the final, and since then they have had no luck in intermediate, losing four finals in the space of seven years.

Na Piarsaigh/Blackrock are the youngest of the town’s clubs, having donned the black-and-amber jerseys for the first time in 1982. They are still waiting for the chance to play in senior. The Rock Road club, however, have had success in junior.

Dowdallshill competed in the very first senior county senior final, in 1887, when known as Dowdallshill Gaels. After that, they had to wait a further 65 years before again contesting the final. Defeat was again their lot, beaten by Gaels in a low-scoring match.

Aside from Gaels’ win in last year’s intermediate and this season’s league in the same grade, it’s been a fairly dismal time for the county town’s representatives in recent times.

Three, O’Mahony’s, Irelands and Clans, have been relegated from either league or championship, while Dowdallshill continued to struggle in junior, this year being the third in succession in which they failed to win a match. Gaels will be the town’s only representatives in senior next season.

Nowadays, teams from the south and middle of the county are dominating, especially in senior. Since 2017, the Joe Ward Cup has been won by either Naomh Mairtín, St Mary’s or Newtown Blues, each of them claiming the trophy three times.

Hunterstown Rovers won the intermediate this year, with the junior going to Drogheda’s Oliver Plunkets. And at underage level, the minors and under-16s made it a memorable year for Naomh Mairtín, winning their respective championships.

There are many who contend there are too many clubs in Dundalk – often cited is the comparison with Portlaoise, which has just one club.

Is amalgamation the answer? Leading Dowdallshill officials sought a permanent link with Gaels last year, but couldn’t get sufficient support from members.

The long-established club has one of the finest grounds in the county, St Brigid’s Park, and that may have been the reason why joining with another club wasn’t a runner for a number of the card-carriers.

It could also be a reason why other clubs wouldn’t be keen to merge. Over the years, all Dundalk clubs have greatly improved their facilities, each of them now with a pitch well capable of playing home games, with some of them used for championship matches.

Clan na Gael Park and St Brigid’s have hosted the senior final on numerous occasions, while championship matches have been played on Gaels’ pitch.

They, and the other three, have worked hard to improve clubrooms and grounds, giving them an identity they might be reluctant to relinquish.

It’s the same throughout the county, making for a picture much different than the one on display back in the middle of the mid-1950s, and for many years before that.

Dundalk’s Athletic Grounds, Drogheda Gaelic Grounds, Páirc Mhuire in Ardee and The Grove in Castlebellingham housed all championship matches, while others were only good for grazing cattle and sheep, but were still important to their clubs.

St Brigid’s Park filled the breach when the Athletic Grounds closed down, and soon after that, in 1966, Clan na Gael Park staged its first games. Since then, well-appointed grounds have sprung up all over the county.

Back to Dundalk. If amalgamation is out of the question, the six clubs will need to concentrate on building a strong underage wing.

It’s the young people who are the future; and while many immigrants, or the children of immigrants born here, are figuring on teams, attracting more into the game could be a way forward to future success.