Andy Boyle was one of the best-ever centre-halves to play for Dundalk

Ciaran Kilduff has continued to re-build his Dundalk squad over the Christmas period that gives him a panel of fifteen players so far. On Christmas Day, Dundalk revealed that Norman Garbett was returning to Oriel from New Zealand.

The 20-year-old international remotely signed a new deal, which sees him returning to Oriel on Thursday week. The 20-year-old international represented New Zealand in the Under-20 World Cup in 2023. He was signed by Dundalk last summer.

He made a total of eight appearances, all from the bench. Garbett suffered a hamstring injury in Dundalk's final home game of the season against Shamrock Rovers at Oriel.

Dundalk also re-signed their versatile academy midfielder, Luke Mulligan. It's Luke's first professional contract of his career. They have also very wisely given a professional contract to Vinnie Leonard, who is also another academy player.

Goalkeeping coach Peter Cherrie has also signed a playing contract for the 2025 season. It's really great that Peter has been kept on as the club goalkeeping coach and also signed as a player as well.

Dundalk's goalkeepers were so poor last season that the four different managers at Oriel last season should have brought the veteran into the first team. They never took that leap of faith.

It was a massive mistake, as Peter would have been a much better choice than who Dundalk had between the posts all season, bar academy keeper Sean Molloy.

Dundalk also re-signed Eoin Kenny. The young striker who featured in the Dundalk first team last season will be a good asset. Five days before Christmas, Dundalk also signed centre-half Mayowa.

There were fears the young defender was heading elsewhere. In the end, the good news is that he is staying. I asked him at the end of the season if he was staying on.

But that was the night Dundalk were relegated, as a result of Derry beating them at Oriel. Mayowa was very unsure then of his future plans. That was perfectly understandable. Now he is staying, there is no doubt that he will be a huge asset.

Six days out from Christmas Day, Dundalk announced the signing of ex-Sheffield United youngster Leo Gaxha. Leo spent the second half of last season with Athlone Town.

The other signings Kieran Kilduff has made so far are Enda Minogue, Dean Ebbe, Conor O'Keeffe, Sean Keogh, Aodh Dervan, Harry Groome, Daryl Horgan and Gbemi Arubi. Kilduff has many young players in his squad. This is a huge asset.

But to get out of the First Division, a team also needs mainly experienced players. The manager has a good blend of youth and experience so far.

This is good. But now I would like to see him sign mostly experienced players, as he finishes off the re-building of his squad.

One player who I was really hoping would stay on at Oriel, was Andy Boyle. He would have been a huge asset to have at the back as he has a wealth of experience. But that was not to be, as Andy moved on to Waterford.

Thus ensuring he was staying in the Premier Division. Ronan Murray is the new Dundalk sports strength conditioning coach. He is the key man for Dundalk to have success. Ronan is from Belmullet in County Mayo. His wife is from nearby Silverbridge in south Armagh.

I caught up with Andy over the Christmas holidays and asked him to reflect on his career in general and particularly his time with Dundalk over the Kenny years and beyond.

I have already said that Andy was one of the best-ever centre-halves to play for Dundalk. He is right up there with such greats as Tommy McConville, Dermot Keely and Paddy Dunning.

Andy told me that going to Waterford will be a massive change. ''Regarding my career at Oriel, I suppose the highest points that stick in my mind are winning the league for the first time under Stephen Kenny on the last day of the season and beating Bate Borisov in the Champions League qualifiers at Tallaght.

The 1-1 draw against Az Alkmaar would be the other highlight. That was in the group stages of the Europa League in 2016. I never envisaged the success we were going to have when I walked through the doors of Oriel in December 2012 to sign for Dundalk.

Stephen Kenny rang me and outlined all the plans he had for Dundalk. He told me he had one big plan in place for Dundalk and amazingly it turned out to be exactly what we achieved. I had seen the successes that Stephen already had.

It was this that brought me to Dundalk. Thankfully it turned out to be the best decision I ever made for my career. What we achieved under Kenny was simply the best football experience I ever had.

I was on my holidays in Florida when he made contact with me. I was asked to touch base when I  returned home to Ireland. He did contact me again while I was still on holidays. When I did get home, he showed me his dream and I went for it.

I started my career in the League of Ireland at a very young age. I had spent a number of seasons with UCD and Shelbourne as a centre half.

When I was only 21 I signed for Dundalk. I have no doubt that it was my experience with Shelbourne and UCD that put me on Kenny's radar to bring me to Oriel.

''I felt that Stephen had a very viable plan for Dundalk that would allow the club to dominate Irish soccer for as long as it did. I felt Dundalk were now going in the right direction as the year before they just survived relegation.

It's really nice to hear that people are saying that I was one of the best-ever centre-halves to play for Dundalk. It's some tribute to be compared to the late great Tommy McConville, Paddy Dunning and Dermot Keely.

Although I was not even born when they were doing so well at Dundalk, I am fully aware of the legacies they left with Dundalk.

I was lucky to make a name for myself at Dundalk as we had such a great team and a marvellous group of players just at the right time. But my career is far from over as I am now with Waterford.

When I reach the end of my career, I will be able to look back on my entire career and have an even greater appreciation of what I  achieved at Dundalk along with the rest of the players that played alongside me at Oriel.

''In 2016 we had our most successful season. I then left the club and signed for Preston. My career over those two seasons did have its ups and downs. I did manage to represent my country at senior international level. I will always be very proud of that.

I was getting my game at Preston until a new manager came in. New managers always have their own views on the shape they want in their team. I was loaned out to Dundee and Ross County during my time in the UK in seasons 2017 and 2018.

I was contacted by a number of clubs in the League of Ireland as my contract came to an end with Preston. One was Dundalk. They had just won the League and cup double in 2018 under Stephen Kenny.

But Stephen had departed after that double win. I re-signed for the 2019 season with the club under the management of Vinny Perth.

Vinny had been Stephen's assistant during all the successful years. I knew we could continue our dominance under Vinny.

''2019 was a great year. We came very close to winning the treble. We won our fifth league title in 6 years. We also won the League Cup. We got to the FAI Cup final to play Shamrock Rovers.

The game went to extra time and then penalties. We lost when one of our penalties came off the butt of the post. Rovers destroyed our treble dreams. It's interesting as this win for Rovers signalled the start of their dominance of Irish football.

The following season they won the league and won four titles in a row the following years. But in 2019 we did very well. It was just a pity we missed out on winning the treble.

We got to the qualifying stages of the Europa League in 2200. One of the teams we faced was Arsenal at the Emirates. It was a fantastic playing surface. The stadium was superb. We held our own very well for the first forty-three minutes.

Eventually, we were beaten in the second half. As in the FAI Cup final, It was so hard to play as it was a stadium that was capable of holding 70,000 people. But there was nobody there because of the COVID ban.

''I will never forget playing in Arsenal's home stadium. To be playing against such stand-out players will always be a factor in my mind to remember.''

The 2021 season was one of great upheaval at the club. Filippo Giovangoli was announced as manager in December of that season for the following year. 

Filippo had been in charge since August 2020.With his position confirmed for 2021 it seemed as if there was stability at the club. However, just before the start of the season, there was a press conference arranged by the club's CEO Jim Magilton.

The media were expecting to meet Filippo. Instead, Shane Keegan who was on the books from the previous season was introduced as the club manager.

Filippo, we were told, was to remain on the coaching staff, this chaos was to be the hallmark for the remainder of season 2021. Shane Keegan departed after a very bad start to the season.

Jim Magilton took over as caretaker manager. It never worked. Eventually, Bill Hullsizer brought Vinny Perth back to Dundalk as boss. Dundalk were well down the table when Vinny returned. His decision not to play Peter Cherrie in goal nearly backfired.

Eventually, Vinny had to turn to Peter to get Dundalk out of the mess they were in. Confidence among the defence was restored. Dundalk climbed up the table and finished in mid-table obscurity.

Andy says there was a real possibility that Dundalk could be relegated that season.''There was major upheaval going on in the background. Having the three managers in the one season meant there was a real worry of relegation in 2021.

But from late August and early September, we bounced back with some good results. We eventually finished the season in a safe position in the league. Peter's return as first-team keeper was a good boost.

Defenders always like playing in front of a good keeper. We liked playing in front of Peter because he was a good keeper. We all had a good relationship with Peter. That was vital.

''I was delighted when I heard that Stephen O'Donnell was coming in  as manager for the season 2022.''

That announcement was made in December 2022. The club was under new ownership. Peake 6 had departed with Andy Connolly and Stats Sports becoming the new owners. With new owners, there was a new manager. Andy says Stephen was a great manager. 

"The way he was able to get things done was so good. Everything was done so professionally. The training sessions were excellent with Stephen and his assistant Padge Byrne. The first season went really well.

We finished joint second with Derry in the league. We had some good loan players and the experienced full-time players combining to do well that season.

The European campaign of 2023 was very disappointing. We advanced through our first win in the first qualifying round of the Europa League. But we lost the next round to an Icelandic side.

''The following season of 2024 we started without Pat Hoban. Pat is a friend of mine. But if the manager told him near the end of the previous season to find another club, then the manager's decision is the manager's decision.

The manager's decision has to be respected. When I saw the players that had been recruited for the 2024 season, I honestly thought we were looking at a good season for 2024.

We started with a good 1-1 draw against Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght. You could see from training that there was a lot of good quality in the squad.

But on the field, we started with some really poor results. The five-nil defeat at home to Sligo obviously hit the confidence of the younger players in the group. A lot worse went on after that. We just did not start well.

''The chopping and changing of managers also did not help as each manager had their own style and expectations about how we wanted to play. I honestly thought that Stephen should have been given a bit more time.

I think Stevie could have turned things around.  But listen, that decision was made from above us. I had a really good relationship with Stephen, going back to the times when we played together.

As a player, It was not for me to criticise the decision by the then-owner Brian Ainscough to get rid of Stevie. As I said, I just thought he would have been given more time to turn things around.

We did have a good period when we went two months without conceding a goal in Oriel. But we should have won more games in that spell which we did not.

The two Zak's were immense as centre-backs at that time. Their departure to their UK clubs at the end of June did not help either.

"But really it has to be said we just were not good enough over the season. That's why we went down. We just managed to win five games over the whole season.

There were many games in the second half of the season that we were just beaten by a single goal. There really was not much difference between any of the sides in the Premier Division.

''When the news broke that the club was on the verge of liquidation, we just knew what everybody else knew. The younger players were coming to me and Robbie Benson asking us what was going on. They knew as much as us.

We were just finding out what was happening as everybody else was. When we heard the word liquidation, none of the players knew if we would be able to report for training the next day. It was a terrible time.

The fans did not know whether they had a game to go to on a Friday. We, as players, had no idea as to what was happening when the threat of going out of football hung over us.

We were expected to go out and get ready for a game on the Friday when all of what was happening hung over us. It did have its impact.

''Amidst all the chaos, we also lost Maxi. That was so sad. He was a Dundalk supporter to the core. Maxi drove myself and Richie  Towell around the town when we arrived first. He was so kind.

It was an absolute tragedy that Maxi died the way he did. It was a shock that stunned everybody. He was there at every home game. He stood by the players, the club and the supporters no matter what was happening.

Maxi's death did have an impact on us as players. But that can never be used as an excuse for us being relegated. The send-off that Maxi got from the club and the community showed the magnificent bond there is between the club, players and supporters. Maxi was a magnificent supporter.

What happened hit us all. Again I just wish to extend my sympathies to Maxi's family and friends. He was a great character.

''Again I want to say that the send-off Maxi got shows the kind of football club that Dundalk FC is. There are not many clubs that would show the support and the esteem Maxi was held in if they lost one of their own supporters in the circumstances in which Maxi died.

He was a very special person who had the respect and love of all the players and supporters. The outpouring of grief that there was showed how much Maxi touched all of our hearts.

''The night we were relegated I was shattered. It was probably the lowest point in my career. Being beaten by Derry that night really hurt. It was devastating. I find it hard even now to put into words to express how I felt the night we were relegated.

In the end, we were just never winning enough games. I just felt for the fans and the whole club. It is a club that has a unique fan base. The fans were behind us the entire season.

They probably would have had a right to have a pop at us, at some stage during the season. But that never happened even once. To be clapped off the night we did go down, was so emotional.

We did not deserve to be clapped off. There are not many clubs where the fans would have given their team such a reception as Dundalk's did after they were relegated.''.

''As the dust settled Ciaran Kilduff did make contact with me about my plans for the coming season. That call was made straight after he had become manager. Jon Daly had spoken to me about staying on when he was manager.

At that stage, news started to emerge about possible takeovers. When Ciaran did contact me, it was felt the best thing was to move on for both parties.

When I returned to Dundalk from the UK, my plan was to finish my career at Dundalk. Obviously, there has been outside stuff both on and off the pitch that affected that really. I had spoken to Keith Long in the past about a move.

He had approached me as had other clubs a few times. To be approached by Keith at the end of the season to join Waterford was an exciting thing. They are a club that are pushing forward in the right direction.

Waterford are a team that plays attractive football. Going to Waterford gave me  the chance of playing for a club that fitted exactly what I was looking for.''

If Dundalk do come straight back up next season, it would be very strange returning to Oriel playing against Dundalk. They will be the first result I will be looking for next season when I finish a game every Friday.

I really hope that the club are successful again. They have appointed a manager in Kieran who is young and hungry. There is no doubt that he will get the best out of his team. I wish Ciaran and the entire club and fans the best of success.

I will be a fan of Dundalk FC for life. When I can, I will be coming up to watch Dundalk on a Friday. It's great to hear Daryl Horgan is staying on. The quality that man has will prove invaluable to Dundalk. On and off the pitch Daryl is top drawer.

It's great to see Ciaran in as manager. He will be a great asset. With all the departures from the club, Daryl is the kind of person that will greatly help the new players coming in as well. His vast experience will be a huge help on the pitch as well as off.

Andy Boyle is a player who will always have the respect of Dundalk supporters both on and off the pitch. He was right to move to Waterford and go to a club in the top Division in Irish soccer.

He is a gentleman both on and off the pitch. Even in the worst of times, he never refused the media an interview. I wish him every success at Waterford in the coming season.

2025 will be the last year Bohemians will play in the old Dalymount Park. The ground will become a beautiful new stadium when the builders move in. Bohs will move to a temporary ground. The new stadium will have an all-seater capacity of 8,000.

Bohemians were the biggest recipient of the government's Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund announced in October, they got 24.7 million euro. Sligo Rovers got 16.4 million euro while Wexford got 2 million euro.

Oriel Park is crying out for the same kind of funding that Bohemians and Sligo have received. The ground continues to deteriorate badly. But that must be put on hold. Supporters are just grateful that they have a club.

Dundalk has never before come closer to going out of football as it did near the end of this season. John Temple and his other shareholders have done a remarkable job in saving the club. For that, fans will be forever thankful.

The hard work to keep Dundalk out of SCARP must also be commended. I honestly thought the club was going to the wall. It's a miracle Dundalk FC are still in football.

It will take time for the new owner to fully consolidate issues at Oriel. He has the support of all the club's fans.

The 1903 Supporters Club were magnificent in funding the costs for keeping the Academy on the road. If that had stopped then everything at Oriel would have ceased.

The Dundalk FC Supporters Trust can also play a key part in the development of the club. Six weeks ago they had already built up a support fund for the club of just over 100,000 euro if needed.

That figure may even be greater now. The Trust is made up of ordinary Dundalk fans who have donated their hard-earned money to be used by the club if and when needed.

So as we come to the end of the year we can look at the negative side of things easily enough. But we must be positive. Dundalk are alive to fight another day.

They are still a League of Ireland club. They will be successful again. And who knows, hopefully, we will be annoying the Dublin media again very soon by getting promotion and returning to Europe.

Happy New Year everybody. Have a great week. Please remember to be careful out there. And remember please Look after each other.