The Commentary Box: Dundalk are on a great run

Friday was a strange day in one respect for me. I arrived in Oriel Park for a top v bottom clash between Dundalk and Athlone Town, which would have a big bearing for both sides.

That morning, Paul McLaughlin had delivered oil to me as I get ready for the approaching Autumn. Paul, of course, is the son of Dundalk's greatest manager, the late Jim McLaughlin.

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The last time I spoke to Paul was the day Jim slipped away from this world after a long illness. Paul had just left when the word came through two hours later that his dad had passed.

I never realised that I would be sympathising with Paul on his dad's death, just later that day, when news passed around Blackrock that Jim had died. That was on Thursday, 15th August 2024.

Nearly a year later, I found myself speaking to Paul again. I said to him that it was nearly a year since his dad passed. He seemed surprised that I knew.

But how could any Dundalk supporter from the 1970s and 1980s ever forget that great man, who did so much to revive a great club phoenix-like from the ashes to the playing fields of European success.

He had bred a team that came within inches of a post to qualify for the quarter-finals of the European Cup, where Real Madrid awaited.

Those memories will never leave me as long as I live in this crazy, messed-up world. As I entered the old stand in Oriel, many of the people who brought success to Dundalk shot through my mind.

I thought of Eamonn Hiney, who died in a tragic road accident at the age of 47 in February 1996. Eamonn directly funded the great teams of the third most successful manager of Dundalk, when Turlough O'Connor was boss.

When Eamonn passed, Dundalk went into a nosedive and the club were relegated only three seasons later. There was a training ground named Hiney Park named after Eamonn when he died.

However, the training ground was sold off by the then Co-Op, who were running Dundalk in the noughties. It was sold to local businessman Gerry Mathews.

Gerry soon afterwards took control of the entire club. It's believed that he bought Hiney Park for around 700,000 euro. The Co-Op were verging on the brink of bankruptcy. But for Gerry Mathews' purchase, the club faced liquidation.

But Hiney Park was to have a chequered history. It was seized by NAMA when the country went into a serious economic downturn from 2010. The government body then put Hiney Park up for sale. That was in 2013.

The price of property around the country had crashed. Hiney Park was put up for sale by NAMA. It was for sale at a knock-down price of 47.000 euro. Dundalk had another new group of owners at the time.

Andy Connolly and Paul Brown brought in the second most successful manager Dundalk ever had, Stephen Kenny. Taking over Dundalk was a massive job for the two local businessmen.

But Hiney Park was bought for a gift prize of 47,000 euro by the local Grammar School. The ground went for a song. The Grammar School have a very good relationship with the club.

They have always allowed Dundalk to use the amazing landbank around Oriel for training. Dundalk are currently using part of the school's property as a training pitch.

But it was a mistake not to buy Hiney Park at the price it was sold for. Sadly, with the disappearance of Hiney Park, the tribute to Eamonn Hiney disappeared. I thought of Enda McGuill as I was climbing the steps of the old stand.

Enda was an icon at Oriel and left a huge legacy when he left the club as a director after 40 years. He was very close to Jim McLaughlin of all the managers he dealt with.

Enda was the father-in-law of Barry Keogh, who was one of the most talented players to ever come out of Oriel. I remember Barry scoring fabulous goals against Pats in the FAI Cup semi-finals in Inchicore.

That was in April 1988. Barry was hit with cancer nearly at the start of his playing career. He battled against it and overcame the disease a number of times.

I remember Dessie Gorman and the late Barry at the front of the bus carrying the double-winning team through the town in 1988. Tommy McConville came through my mind as well.

Tommy won so much with Dundalk in the 1970s and early 80s. He was a player of the 1960s, too. He won a number of international caps for the Republic of Ireland. He had a great career.

Manchester United came in with a substantial bid for Tommy when he was with Waterford in the late 1960s. Waterford turned down the offer, thinking they could get more for the Dundalk native.

United did not budge on the offer. Sadly, Tommy's chance of playing with England's most famous club never became a reality. Tommy passed on 25th October 2013.

He was very close to Dermot Keeley. The two could be seen walking around the town in the years up to Tommy's death. He was only 67.

Barry Keogh had trials with both Manchester United and Manchester City. He recovered from cancer twice. He also had heart surgery, which he also recovered from. He played with Dundalk 250 times and scored 40 goals.

He won a league and cup double with Dundalk and a league title in 1991. He played eight times in European competition. Barry passed away in October 2002 at the age of 40. It was a tragedy for the town of Dundalk and football in general.

I knew Barry very well. He always had a smile on his face. I remember when he passed. I got a call from a close friend of Barry's to say he had died suddenly. I was in a friend's car when I got the call about Barry.

I was very upset at the news. I had worked as advertising manager on an autobiography for Barry. It was ghostwritten by Pat Darcy, a teacher in Dundalk CBS secondary school, now Colaiste Ris.

It was called My Most Difficult Opponent. It was about his battle with cancer. They were written in Barry's own words. It was written for a Republic of Ireland game v a Dundalk selection.

Jack Charlton was manager of the Ireland team. The game was a fundraiser for Barry and his family. Barry was married to Enda McGull's daughter Adrienne.

She owned and managed the Lisdoo bar and restaurant until recently. She is a tower of strength. She lost her dad, Enda, not long after Barry passed away. Her mum, Noreen, lived for some years afterwards but passed away quietly in the end.

Barry died while playing golf at a local course. He was forever a person who played any sport. Brian McConville, a brother of Tommy's, was also a legend of Oriel.

I thought about how Brian won a league and cup winners medal in 1976 and 1977. He won the cup medal in May 1977 and the league medal the year before.

On Sunday, January 28th 1978, Brian returned to Dundalk having played a league game against Pats in Dublin. It's believed Brian went out to his yard at the back of his house to get coal for the fire.

He took a massive heart attack. He was just 34. His wife, Mary, passed away in 2010. She was left to rear four young children, Colm, Brenda, Sandra and Allison.

Mickey Fox, Dundalk FC's most famous groundsman, came to my mind also. Mickey devoted his life to looking after the pitch at Oriel and his beautiful garden at his home on the Ardee road. I knew Mickey very well.

He was a great friend of my Da Jim Malone, who himself played a big part in the history of Dundalk FC. Mickey was a straight and honest talker. If he had a point he wanted to make, he would say it.

If a Dundalk manager wanted his team to practice on the pitch, they had to get Mickey's permission. Many a time, he would say no if the pitch was not in a suitable state.

No manager would ever challenge Mickey.was also close to former manager Tommy Connolly. Both worked in the S+S factory on the Ardee road for a period.

Mickey worked in Oriel as groundsman for over sixty years. Mickey saw the good, the bad and the ugly side of Oriel. He held Turlough O'Connor in great esteem.

Alan Fox and Jim McLaughlin were also great managers, and Mickey had a lot of time for. Jim McLaughlin.He was a workaholic. He would be in Oriel every morning at 6.30 and would never leave until at least 7 pm in the evening or later.

He did go home for his dinner on the Ardee Road. Mickey had his own boot room where he got the items he needed for work. He brewed his tea there and had biscuits. Some said he made a special brew of tea there.

I knew Mickey for over thirty-five years. He was a very private person. He shared a lot of Dundalk's history that had never been written about. Mickey would not tolerate fools.

There were many hanging around Oriel then when he was alive. Fools can still be found anywhere. Mickey was very good at reading a person's character. In essence, their character DNA genes.

He either talked to a person or he did not. When my da died on 11th October 1996, Mickey asked me if he could look after his grave in Haggardstown.

I said no problem and that I knew my dad would have been very happy for him to look after his grave. Mickey was heartbroken when my dad died.

There was a time he would cry when he saw me. He would chat about how much my dad meant to him. I took this as a great compliment.

Mickey started working in Oriel during the Second World War in 1942. He passed away in March 2008. Mickey went home for his lunch on the Ardee Road. He went out to his garden while at home.

When he did not come back inside, his sister found him dead in the garden. Both lived in the same house. She was heartbroken when I paid her a visit. She explained in detail as much as she could what happened.

But she said he suffered no pain. He died in his beloved garden. Mickey's bicycle would never again be seen in Oriel. In the weeks and months after his death, I would meet referees and linesmen at games all over the country.

They would speak about how well he looked after them in his boot room, giving them tea, coffee and other refreshments. Mickey went to 7am mass every Sunday. Any time I was there, I would see him.

Gerry Mathews was the owner of Dundalk at the time of Mickey's passing. Not long after his death, a fantastic portrait of Mickey appeared in the boardroom at Oriel. I have no idea if it is still there, but I certainly hope so.

Des Denning was also another legend I thought about. He was chairman at Oriel for four years. He appointed former player Martin Murray as manager. Murray guided Dundalk to the First Division title at the first time of asking in 2001.

The following season, the FAI decided that three clubs would drop to Division One. Dundalk went straight back down, finishing third from bottom. If the old system had remained, Dundalk would have stayed up.

They were at least 13 points clear of the second-from-bottom team. A week after being relegated, Dundalk won the FAI Cup, beating Stephen Kenny's high-flying Bohemians.

Martin Murray only lasted five games with Dundalk in the new season. After being beaten by Athlone in an interview with myself, I asked him if he was considering his position and would he be resigning.

He told me to give him a pen and paper and that he would resign on the spot. He did hand his resignation to Des Denning, which came as a shock to many but not to me.

The previous Saturday night, after a game with Cobh, Murray had decided it was time to go. He tendered his resignation. Des understandably refused and asked Martin to think about it.

After that same game, Martin Murray shouted over to me did and said did I not want to ask him if he was under pressure. I said no. But when I saw Martin reacting to the Cobh result like this, I knew his time was up.

I was sad to see him go. He was a good manager, but just decided he had had enough at Oriel. Des as chairman had to follow up a search for a new boss.

The Dundalk board chose Trevor Anderson. He was an icon at Linfield and won all there was to win in the Irish league as manager and player.

Dundalk's fortunes plunged as Trevor could only muster a small number of wins over two and a half years as manager. Trevor and myself had quite a number of exchanges in interviews during the two and a half seasons he was in charge.

Anderson refused to stand down. Des and two other directors did. That was in 2004. Anderson had a three-year contract. He would not leave early unless his contract was honoured in full.

Anderson did depart. Des Denning had given his all to Dundalk football club. I do not think supporters understand how much of his life Des gave to Dundalk. He maintained his contact with the club.

In November 2009, Dundalk owner Gerry Mathews asked Des to help in the search of a new manager after the departure of Sean Connor. Des came back to Gerry Mathews with a very talented young manager in Ian Foster.

Ian brought Dundalk to the final of the Setanta Cup. They were beaten by Shamrock Rovers. Foster was appointed in December 2009.

The entire soccer community was shocked with the news that Des passed away five years later on 2nd September 2014. Des did a lot for Dundalk when the club had little or no money.

I have no doubt that Des must have gone through a lot of stress during his time at Oriel. He gave his life to the club. I remember when the foot and mouth disease broke out in 2001, all fixtures were cancelled.

They gradually came back, but were still cancelled in Louth as the outbreak of the disease was in Cooley. The fixtures first returned on a behind-closed-doors basis. The only people allowed to attend games were teams and the media.

But there was an understanding that a small number off club officials could also attend. The first game Dundalk faced after some of the bans were lifted was a visit to Gortakeegan against Monaghan.

Amazingly, Monaghan refused to allow Des and three of his Directors into the ground, citing the foot and mouth rules. It was ridiculous.

Des also saw his dear friend Gerry Prendergast, a former sports editor with this paper, being hit with a very serious illness. Des maintained close contact with Gerry, whose life was greatly restricted after becoming ill.

The stress of what happened to Gerry must have taken its toll on Des as well. Des was a decent man who devoted his life to Dundalk and his close friends. It's great that we still have Gerry with us. But it's so sad that Des died so young.

There are many others who, of course, I could and will mention in the future. Dundalk are on a great run in Division One, having won their last three games. T

hey beat UCD in Belfield, followed up by a four-one win over Longford at Oriel and a six-one win over Athlone. Eoin Kenny was man of the match in Dundalk's last two games.

He scored twice in Friday night's game. Rohan Vaughan got two, and Keith Ward got a blockbuster. Gbemi Arubi also got on the score sheet. Dundalk started the game nervously enough.

But Eoin Kenny ripped the Athlone defence apart on six minutes. He had the Athlone goal in his sights. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he was blocked by Kyle O'Connor.

Dundalk found themselves a goal down to the bottom team just after eight minutes. Gideon Tettah had the Dundalk defence in tatters. He got to the byline. His cross went across the face of the Dundalk goal.

Enda Minogue stayed on his line when he should have come out for the ball. The ball came to Jason Follarin Oyenuga. He fired home. I was not surprised at Athlone's start. The Dundalk defence were on edge in the early stages.

Had they been playing a team like Bray or Cobh, the game could have been over before it began. In fairness to Dundalk, they steadied the ship very quickly.

Dundalk levelled on eleven minutes. Horgan's corner on the right was headed down by Eoin Kenny in the Box. Gbemi Arubi skilfully fired home.

Dundalk were in front on 27 minutes. Kenny collected a McDaid throw-in from the box. He beat three players with utter skill and fired to the net.

Dundalk were awarded a penalty shortly after that. Daryl Horgan took the spot kick. His spot kick was not the best. It was saved easily by Duggan.

Athlone came roaring back at Dundalk. Oyenga had a glancing header saved by Enda Minogue. The Dundalk keeper lost possession of a cross, letting it slip out of his hands on the ground, as he dived for it.

Enda recovered the ball well when other keepers might have panicked. But again, a mistake like that could have been punished by a more skilful team.

The game was over on 58 minutes. Eoin Kenny's first shot was blocked by Omorehomwan. The ball came back to the young player. He blasted the ball to the net. Harry Groome got the initial cross in from the right.

Ciaran Kilduff made three changes on 58 minutes. Rohan Vaughan replaced Arubi. Andy Paraschiv replaced Declan McDaid, while Dean Ebbe replaced Harry Groome. Dundalk nearly got a fourth goal on 76 minutes.

Vinny Leonard had a strong header come back off the post. Dundalk then put on a late goal display. Horgan slipped the ball to Paraschiv on 81 minutes. His pass came to Vaughan and saw him fire home to the corner of the net.

Vaughan looks like the typical old-style striker that are priceless. He was top class from the time he came on..Eoin Kenny was replaced by Keith Ward on 84  minutes, and Norman Garbett replaced Daryl Horgan.

Norman played for Dundalk in the second part of last season. But he picked up a very nasty hamstring injury, which put him out for the rest of the season. He is from New Zealand.

A real Roy of the Rovers book may be written about this young man yet. He was injured again against Treaty United early into this season at Oriel.

He had injured his hamstring again. He battled back against all the odds against the horrific injury, and now he is back playing.

Keith Ward got his second goal in two games in the 90th minute. He fired a 40-yard free to the net. It was one of the best I have ever seen in Oriel.

Dundalk got their sixth goal three minutes into injury time. Norman Garbett was fouled as he came towards the edge of the box. The referee played advantage.

The ball came to Vaughan, and he shot home.In the end, it was a convincing win for Dundalk. But it did not look like that early on.

Eoin Kenny was again, as I said, the man of the match. Rohan Vaughan is showing all the class of being a superb striker, while it was great to see the return of Norman Garbett.

He is a brave young man to come as far as Ireland to play soccer. To battle against two awful injuries and return shows just how brave he really is.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff says it was a fine performance from his team, but that he was not going to get carried away. "We went one down, and if you had said to me then that we would score six, miss a penalty and hit the post, I would have found it hard to believe.

"The most pleasing thing of the night for me was the impact of the subs. I thought we got weaker when we used subs against UCD and Longford. Tonight, that was very different. We were excellent.

"I have no doubt that if we had played for another ten minutes, we would have got more. I am so proud of Eoin Kenny. He was top class tonight, getting two goals and doing a whole lot more.

"Statistically, there was probably an issue for Eoin. I remember there was probably a period some time ago when he was coming to me looking for advice, asking me can I boost your numbers.

"I keep saying the same thing about Eoin. Nobody is harder on Eoin Kenny than Eoin Kenny. But he is brilliant. I love working with him. And there is a player in there that can be worth the admission money alone to see what he can do.

"He can be absolute magic at times. Again, I repeat, I love working with him. There is a player in there that has so much potential. I have a great rapport with Eoin.

"I was joking with him before the game that he was wearing the number 16 and that his dad gave me the number 16. I told him that he will have to give it to my son when the time arrives.

"Eoin has the capability that is there to see by everyone. When he is like that, as he was tonight, he's pure magic. He scored some big goals for us this week.

"He got two goals and an assist on Monday. He got two more goals and an assist tonight. What more can anybody ask of him?
The manager confirmed that Dundalk are on the verge of signing a full-back.

"But he warned that there was a bit of work to do before he can sign him. Nothing is done until it is all done. There is a lot of paperwork to be done yet. It's more on his end. There is nothing we can do.

"We might have to wait for a couple of weeks. But we are running out of time. If we are going to bring somebody in, it has to be soon. It is one that is being monitored. But it is far from done."

And so the race for the Division One title goes into its final round of nine games. There are really only two teams now who are genuinely in the race for the automatic promotion spot.

That's Dundalk and Cobh. Their impressive win at the Carlisle grounds over Bray leaves the Cork side breathing down Dundalk's neck. They are still only six points behind Dundalk, with nine games to play.

Many of Cobh's players are made up of the Cork City side that won promotion last season. They have also bought very well in the window and have strengthened the team.

To add to the stability at Cobh now is the fact that they now have new owners. US-based group Digital Athlete Ventures stepped in three weeks ago, ending three weeks of unnecessary uncertainty created by the withdrawal of former owners FC22.

They were also foreign owners. Failure to land a suitable backer would have led to a serious crisis at Cobh. It would also have led to a crisis within the league as well.

Jon Daly is back in League of Ireland football. Jon took charge of Dundalk for the second half of last season. But there was nothing he could do to prevent them from going down.

The rot and lack of confidence had set in among the team long before Jon arrived at Oriel. He also had to manage a club he knew had a very good chance of going out of football as its crippling debts became clearer.

Jon was a gentle man. But he departed the club at the end of the season after they were relegated. The future of the club remained in doubt for months afterwards. Daly was right to leave with the future of the club so much up in the air.

Jon is the new assistant manager of Galway United. The Western side have struggled of late and could easily get dragged into the relegation zone.

Jon replaces one of the great characters of the League, Ollie Horgan. Ollie left Finn Harps at the end of 2022 after a long association with the Donegal outfit for years as manager.

He joined Galway and became John Caulfield's assistant in 2023. He helped Galway get promotion to the Premier Division. That 2023 side hammered Dundalk by four goals to one at Eamonn Deacy Park in the quarter finals of the cup.

It was regarded as a real shock by the Dublin media and by Galway United supporters. It was no shock to me. Dundalk were in a rut even then.

There was no doubt Dundalk would be knocked out of the cup. Morale had steadily been ebbing away from that team. It continued in 2024 and ended in relegation.

Olly's departure from Galway has been met with great regret from the owners down to the supporters in Galway. I wish Jon Daly every success. The entire soccer community wishes Olly well.

Pat Hoban was due to start his Irish League career with Glentoran on Saturday. He recently left Derry City. Pat had a slight injury, and it was decided not to risk him. He was a happy man, though, as his new club got a 1-0 win over Portadown at Shamrock Park.

The PSNI have confirmed that the recent violence seen around the Derry City and Bohemians game at the Brandywell was pre-arranged. Have a great week. Please look after each other. And remember to please be careful out there.