The Commentary Box: Dundalk intend to go full time next season

The Commentary Box can exclusively reveal that Dundalk intend to go back to playing full time football next season when they return to the Premier Division.

The news was exclusively revealed to this column by manager Ciaran Kilduff less than 24 hours after he returned from Budapest, where he was training for his Pro Licence.

READ NEXT: Inside Track: Global racing sees Irish horses at their best

Dundalk had to switch from full-time football last season to part-time after they were relegated to Division One at the end of the 2025 season.

It's a good move by Dundalk as they need to be full-time if they are to have a chance of stabilising their place in the Premier Division.It's been three weeks since Dundalk won the First Division when they clinched it against Finn Harps at Oriel Park.

Manager Ciaran Kilduff was a very happy man, as he felt that he would be ahead of other clubs in recruiting new players and begin to mould his team that would be a force in the Premier Division next season.

But things didn't go as the manager planned. A sort of civil war broke out in the club, with the minority shareholders calling on club owner John Temple to go.

Ohio-based Chris Clinton was one of the minority shareholders who called on Temple to stand down.

The pressure was further added to by the executive committee of the Dundalk FC 1903 calling for members to vote for a motion calling on Mr Temple to go also.

In the midst of all the confusion, rumours swept through the club that the manager had had enough and that he was quitting. This turned out to be a rumour. But Dundalk neither confirmed nor denied the story until last Friday week.

Ohio-based shareholder Chris Clinton flew into Dublin last  Thursday week. He met the manager the next day, and a new two-year rolling contract was worked out with the Dundalk boss.

It was great work by Chris Clinton. In a matter of a couple of hours, he had tied the manager down to a new contract. That was the most important matter to be dealt with.

Then a statement was issued by Dundalk stating that both Mr Clinton and Mr Temple would work together as part of a mediation process in order to get various issues resolved in preparation for the new season.

Media reports then stated that John Temple had departed Dundalk FC and that Chris Clinton was the new owner of Dundalk FC. There was supposed to be another statement issued by the club by midweek.

But that came and went. The manager spent most of the week in Budapest, where he was training for his Pro licence. He was very relieved that the situation regarding his future at Oriel had been resolved.

He can now look forward to plan on getting a panel of players together that will keep Dundalk in the Premier Division next season.

It's also been confirmed that the manager at no stage decided to depart the club. His old contract did run out on 6th November.

But Dundalk are now battling hard on keeping their place in the new Premier Division. I understand that a lot of hard work has been ongoing on the application for a Premier Division licence.

The club are also reported to be very close in signing deals with chosen contractors once the tenders go out. The club will choose what they feel is the best tender. This is for the new astro turf pitch and LED floodlights.

It will cost just over 500,00 euro for both projects. Dundalk have 454,000 euro as part of the Sports Capital grant. The remainder will have to come from within the club itself.

With Chris Clinton at the helm at Oriel, I am sure that he will be very interested in the  Dundalk FC Trust. They collected over 100,000 euro last season in a bid to help the club.

However, then owner, John Temple, would not have any dealings with this organisation. Mr Temple had his own reasons.
As I have said for weeks now, the trust is run by an executive of business people locally of the highest integrity.

The Trust has the ability and willingness to help Chris Clinton in whatever way they can to get the club ready for the new season.

Dundalk will not get a licence unless they have the pitch in place by a certain date in February. The lights will also need to be ready. I can not see the FAI issuing a licence to Dundalk unless they have both matters sorted.

They have had the Sports Capital grant for use for some time now. Up to now, neither the lights nor the pitch have appeared. The situation is so serious that I would be very worried if there are any more delays, as it will scupper any hopes Dundalk will have of playing Premier Division football next season. But the Dundalk manager is now as certain as he can be that all will be ready for the new season.

Ciaran Kilduff spoke to me at the weekend. "It's been a mad couple of weeks. With the FAI cup final only finishing on Sunday, the off-season has really only begun now officially. It's been a busy time.

"We are trying to assess things now, as a result of us being back in the Premier Division. We are going through a transition. It's been busy now that we are back in the Premier Division. Obviously, I still have a lot of players to talk to.

"I am only back from Budapest. I was out training for my Pro Licence. This coming week is going to be a big week for me in terms of players and staff matters.

"We only won the First Division a few weeks ago. Now we are on to Premier Division matters.

"Getting my contract last week was so important, as now I can clearly plan for next season. It's great for everybody, as we now have security. We are really trying to build something special here, particularly with the young talent we have here.

£We have a big group and a big staff. My signing will hopefully allow us to continue on the trajectory we started to build from last season. We had a really exciting season last year. We will hopefully move on from that.

"We know the manner and the task that is ahead of us, being back in the Premier Division. Obviously, getting my own contract sorted gives me the security I now need.

"It's more than a two-year contract. It's a two-year rolling contract. Hopefully, I will have many years ahead at Oriel.

"The period of uncertainty while I was waiting to get my contract sorted was difficult. There was a lot of noise over my future at Dundalk. But now I have got that over the line,  it's great.

"Once my future was sealed at Oriel, the rest of the staff had security as well. While it was great to get the contract over the line, I probably wanted it over the line sooner. But these things take time, and I understand.

"I will have the majority of the backroom staff with me at Oriel next season. We are going to a more full-time model. Some people may struggle with that. That is going to be my work this week, sorting all of that out.

"I will have Ken back with me. He is someone who I have always worked with. I have always worked with Ronan Murray, and he is as good as back as well. I am hopeful in the coming weeks, I will get whatever contracts that need sorting sorted.

"Contracts with staff and players are all ahead of me from Monday. Hopefully, it will be sorted in the coming weeks. We are aiming to go to a full-time set-up for next season. We must close the gap between part-time and full-time.

"We will be as close to full-time as we can be. We may have to adjust some of the training times as we will have players who are also full-time students.

"I want to give Gbemi Arubi the option of continuing with his studies and also being a full-time footballer. I might have to be a bit flexible as to how the full-time model works.

"If we are going to compete, we will have to adapt to this full-time model as much as possible. I am hoping to keep more than half of the players I had last season. It was only last Monday that I had 100 per cent agreed I would stay on.

"I was away abroad on my pro-licence course last week. So it will only be from this Monday that I will be able to get down to business. I am hoping to keep more than half of last year's team at Oriel.

"I have to sit down with everybody, whether they are staying or going. I want to sit down with each person and have a proper chat with them. I want to thank everybody who were with us last season.

"I will obviously then get down to negotiations with those that are staying, but who are out of contract. There are a lot of young players. I will most certainly be hoping to keep all of them.

"We are going to lose players that we do not want to lose. But we will be signing new players. And we have Daryl Horgan, Aodh Dervin and Vinnie Leonard.

"These players are all contracted for next season. The players I want to keep and who are out of contract will take a little bit more work to put in. But I am hopeful of getting there.

"Some of last year's players do have rolling contracts if we got promotion. But there is an awful lot of stuff to get through. But there are players, like JR Wilson and Gbemi Arubi, who are at college and who also have jobs.

"I will have to wait and see how the full-time setup suits them. They will have to weigh this up how suitable it will be in their own personal lives as to whether full-time football suits them. I have the same with some of my backroom staff.

"Some have jobs, and they will have to make their minds up as to whether they will want to opt for a full-time set-up at Oriel or stay at their outside jobs. I am putting things together and hoping it will entice these lads to stay.

"I have players in mind who  I want to come to Dundalk. I have not been in a position to talk to many potentially new players up to now. But I have spoken to some and their agents.

"I will be sitting down with some of the new prospective players in the coming weeks, and of course, existing players as well. I will be using up every minute of every day. But it's great.

"We are an attractive club to come to now. We have had a couple of turbulent weeks, especially with reference to the licence.

"Hopefully, we will get issues related to the licence over the line in the next couple of days. We are back in the Premier Division now, and that opens up a whole new world to players.

"We have to look that the last time we were in this division, we were relegated. We are after getting ourselves back up. We want to give ourselves a fighting chance to stay there. The Premier Division is a full-time league.

"It's not like when it used to be years ago, when there was a handful of part-time teams and a handful of full-time teams. We want to be able to compete successfully in the Premier Division next year.

"There is a huge gulf between the First and the Premier divisions. The First Division was a very hard one to get out of. The reward is for us to be able to work more hours together in a full-time set-up.

"Yes, look, it's going to be a big job. It's a job I wanted to have when I was looking at the task that faced us in the First Division. We have made it to the Premier Division. We now have to go and compete in the top division, and we will.

"We will be giving it a big go. We will have more hours together being full-time. It will be a great boost for us. We will be able to expect more of each other being full-time.

"It's a big job. But it's a job I wanted to have this time last year, when I was staring down the First Division and hoping to go up at the first attempt. And we did.

"Now it's really trying to make a good fist of next season. I do not have any concern that the new pitch has yet to be installed, or indeed the new floodlighting for next season. I have enough to worry about in terms of things on the football side.

"I try to switch off from those issues, as we really have great people working on them. There is a lot more hours being put into this club than in other clubs. And this battle has been like that since I walked into this club a year ago.

"I believe that the issues in relation to the pitch and the lights are progressing well. I do believe we are going to get there. Unless someone tells me I have to worry about them, I will not be worrying.

"Some issues that have arisen may worry people. And yes, it's true that a new pitch and lighting system have arisen have arisen recently.

"But on the positive side, they have only arisen because we got promotion. Had we not got promotion at all, they would not be on our radar.

"There have always been issues to deal with at any club. Dundalk is no different. It was great to get away to Budapest last week on the Pro-Licencing course. I was able to clear my head and look at things from a different sphere.

"Going from a part-time set-up back to a full-time setup does bring its own problems as well. There have been problems in relation to licensing.

"But look, we are finding our way again, and we are on course to get all of the issues in relation to getting promoted sorted. Last season, when we were relegated, we went from being a full-time club to that of a part-time club.

"Now we have gone from being a part-time club heading to being a full-time club. Last season, we were able to kick the issues of a new pitch and floodlights and a new pitch down the road.

"Now we are back in the top flight, we will deal with them now. The problems we have had in relation to licensing have come about as a result of our success. We will get through them.

"I have been delighted to see how the Republic of Ireland U17 team has been doing in the World Cup. Vinnie Leonard has played for the full 90 minutes in both games that Ireland won.

"Sean Spaight, who is only 16, came on as a sub in the first game. It's great to see our lads contributing so much for the underage international team. Vinnie has been top class in the two full games he has played in.

"They are the type of young players who got their chance of first-team football last season in the First Division. Now they are out there flying the flag for Ireland.

"They are also flying it for Dundalk as well. Our coaches, Ken, Daryl and Grimsey have put a lot of time and effort in helping to develop these young players.

"I am texting both Vinnie and Sean before and after their games. They are really enjoying the experience. They will come back even better players than when they left.

"The training for the pro-licence in Budapest went off very well. We went over to Robbie Keane and his own team, Ferencvaros. They gave us complete access. It was brilliant. We were in watching their training sessions.

"We saw them beat Ludogorets in the Europa League by three goals to one on Thursday night. We also went to Kentiga Budapest, who are another professional team. ]

"We got a great education in regards to coaching drills and, indeed, football in general. But I am now looking forward to getting back to my players and also recruitment. I am also looking forward to pre-season and getting friendlies arranged.

"The Leinster Senior Cup has thrown up three pre-season games for us already. We play Shelbourne. Athlone and Saint Peter's Athlone. Do not forget we only won the competition a couple of weeks ago. So we are the defending champions."

There was more off the field trouble for Dundalk last week when it emerged that the club kit supplier Playr-Fit have begun legal proceedings against the club over an unpaid debt of 130,000 euro.

"The company claim Dundalk have also broken an agreement which relates to the issuing of a licence to compete in the First Division of the League of Ireland last season.

Playr-Fit have been working with Dundalk for the past three seasons. This is a time, of course, when the club has been in dire financial straits. This is especially so for season 2024, when Dundalk were nearly wound up.

Ominously for Dundalk, a statement from Playr-Fit owner Kieran Quinn says that the payment plan over the debt, which was also promised under the FAI's Independent Licensing a year ago, has not been adhered to.

Mr Quinn feels the issue should place a licence in doubt for the coming season unless the matter is addressed. He says the licence granted to Dundalk for the 2025 season was issued on the basis of an agreement to repay the debt over a specified time period.

The Playr-Fit owner has claimed that Dundalk had reneged on the agreement and failed to make any payments whatsoever in the 12 months since.

The FAI clearly states that their licensing system places necessary importance on the protection of creditors to ensure clubs settle their liabilities promptly, and also to ensure better cost controls and to encourage clubs to operate on the basis of their own revenues.

Legal proceedings from Playr-Fit against Dundalk FC have been issued through a court in the north. I am confident Chris Clinton can steer Dundalk away from these choppy waters.

Dundalk FC were due to issue a statement on the change of ownership and other important issues. The statement was due by Wednesday evening. It never came.

It was hoped it would come Thursday. It never arrived. Hopefully, by the time this article appears, the situation will be much clearer.

Waterford held on to their Division status with a 2-1 win over Bray Wanderers in the promotion relegation match on Friday night. Bray took a deserved early lead. But Waterford levelled midway through the first half.

Waterford controlled much of the rest of the game and went ahead in the last fifteen minutes. Bray did have their chances, but could find no way through a strong Waterford defence.

It was a very exciting game as both teams went at each other from the start. First Division Bray were a great advert for the lower tier of the League of Ireland. There was little difference between Waterford and Bray skill-wise.

Some of the Dublin media attending the game were surprised at how talented Bray were. Maybe they will start giving the First Division the much-needed attention it deserves.

It's a disgrace that the national media do not even mention the fixtures when they are on. RTE are particularly culpable for this.

But not even the tabloids who do give League of Ireland games such good coverage totally ignore the First Division. It's not right.

Eoin Kenny has been called up for the Northern Ireland U21 squad for their upcoming Euro Qualifiers against Latvia and Greece this week. The call-up came last week.

The FAI AGM has backed a motion from Bohemians to instruct UEFA to immediately suspend the Israeli FA from all UEFA competitions. The vote was carried by 74 votes to seven.

It accuses the Israeli FA of failing to stamp out racism and allowing Israeli clubs to play in the occupied Palestinian Territories. I would totally agree with this.

Look at the mass genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza, killing over 65,000 men, women and Palestinian children. International arrest warrants have been issued for the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and most of his cabinet.

Shamrock Rovers beat Cork City in the FAI Cup final at the Aviva on Sunday in front of a crowd of 35,000 people. It's their first league and cup double since 1987.

Have a safe week. Look after each other. And please remember to be careful out there.