It’s time for Dundalk’s owners to start sorting Oriel’s redevelopment

Dundalk's result in only managing a 1-1 draw against UCD in the first league game of the season confirmed my worries that it may be a long year for Stephen O'Donnell, following a lacklustre performance from his team.

But Stephen has been put in a very difficult position because it's clear he was not able to get the players he wanted, as the money is obviously just not there.

Supporters waited all during the close season for word on new signings. Each time Dundalk were linked to a player on the Irish market, they were unable to get them. It was not until the last few weeks of the transfer window that the manager was able to bring in five players, all from the UK. This has now risen to eight after more names were announced this week.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this way of doing business. Already, most of these players seem to be settling in. But the depth in the squad is just not good enough given the injuries. 

The manager only made three substitutions in the UCD game. This was in the last 12 minutes of the match.  One of the subs, Daniel Kelly, is a top-class player, but he is only returning from a long term injury.

That O'Donnell only used the subs in the last 12 minutes of the game suggests to me that both Cameron Elliott and Keith Ward may also have picked up injuries and were only used when UCD scored in the dying minutes.

Darragh Leahy had to withdraw from the squad 24 hours before the game started. He had an illness but is expected to be fit for next weekend's game against Bohemians. 

Dundalk could only muster three shots on target for the entire 90 minutes. This was the same as UCD. They had five shots off target compared to UCD's one. The home team had 51 percent possession during the entire game. UCD had 41. The stats say it all really.

Dundalk also missed a penalty in the first half before they finally went in front. Nathan Shepperd had two saves to make while Lorcan Healy had the same.

To UCD's great credit, their goal scorer Ciaran Behan only failed to score on one day of the working week. That was Thursday, as it was the only day he had off from playing soccer.

On the Monday he played and scored against University of Ulster. On Tuesday he played and scored against UCC. On Wednesday it was Collingwood Cup final day as UCD played the University of Limerick. Ciaran scored in the final that saw UCD beat the Shannonsiders 2-1. 

Last Thursday Ciaran was off. On Friday he broke Dundalk hearts with a top-class goal from a free late in the game that Nathan Shepperd did well to get his hands to. But he could not stop the ball curling into the net.

It was the first time Dundalk had failed to beat UCD at Oriel since 2013. That was the season Stephen Kenny was in charge at Oriel for the first time.

The great-great grandson of the former Dundalk chairman Peadar Halpin, was on the bench for UCD. He is a fifth-year student at a second level school in Drogheda.

Amazingly the result means that Dundalk have failed to win on the opening day of the season for the third year in a row.

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Injury Woes

Robbie Benson missed the UCD game through injury. This is very worrying so early in the season. Robbie missed the final 8-10 games of last season. It looks as if it could be another difficult year for the former UCD player, injury wise.

He was plagued with a pelvic injury for much of last season. Stephen O'Donnell says he will be fit in the next 7-10 days. Robbie McCourt is still recovering from his hernia operation. He will not make the Bohemians game at Dalymount.

Robbie was brought in as a central defender in place of Mark Connolly at the end of last July. He only played three to four games, before being side lined through injury.

He did not impress me in those games that he did play. I was amazed that he was signed on a one and half year contract until November 2023.

The news that all Dundalk fans feared was confirmed by the club with official word that John Mountney is all but out for the season, after he picked up an injury in training on the Oriel Park pitch two weeks ago.

It has turned out as I said last week that John has sustained another ACL injury, this time on a different leg. Two seasons ago while playing with Pats, John sustained an ACL injury on his other leg.

He was signed by Stephen when he came to Dundalk as manager in December 2021, while still having the ACL injury. He only returned to the Dundalk team late last season. Now to be hit with the same injury on the different leg it is a devastating blow for John personally.

John came to Dundalk in January 2011 with Chris Shields. He was at the club until Stephen O'Donnell moved to Pats as manager in 2020. John returned to Dundalk in 2022.

Stephen O'Donnell said the whole club are behind John. He goes for his operation this week. The Dundalk boss says he will be fully supported during his rehabilitation. He also said John will still be a very positive influence to the players around Oriel while he recovers.

Money Issues

The injury crisis from last season is spilling into this season's squad. It was clear that with 10 players out injured over a prolonged spell at the end of last season, that some would still be affected this year.

This is not the players’ fault. Of course it's not. But the people who own the club knew that Stephen O'Donnell was going to have a limited squad, unless they went out and signed a strong panel of players.

Some of the new players show good potential. Even if all five did, O'Donnell would have needed at least four more players. 

The owners came in with over €1.4 million in the bank, which was left by Peak6. But last season it's believed the club made substantial losses. This prompted them to search for potential investors. The Hull City owner is one mooted as somebody interested in taking a large share in the Lilywhites.

The chairman of the club says Dundalk is not for sale. But unless the owners can get their own new investors in without ceding control, the club could be facing real trouble within 12 months. And what stake does Acun Ilical, Hull'e Turkish owner, need to come into the Irish game? Some say it's as high as 70 percent.

A new pitch will be needed regardless. And work on a stadium refurbishment is so badly needed. This cannot be ignored by the owners anymore.

They must go to the supporters and seek their backing to lobby politicians to get the funding needed to at the very least put in proper basic modern facilities for supporters.

Three supporters told me last week they would not be returning with their families because of the state Oriel is in.

Louth GAA got funding of over €14 million for their new stadium from the Irish Government’s Immigrant Investment Programme. This scheme closed last week. 

It's an awful shame the club's owners did not have the opportunity to raise funds through the scheme. The chairman of the Louth County Board Peter Fitzpatrick pioneered this funding opportunity for the new stadium at the DkIT. It was a master stroke.

As our local TD, I would say to Deputy Fitzpatrick he also has a duty to help Dundalk get Oriel refurbished. So has Deputy Ruairi O Murchu and Senators John McGahon and Erin McGreehan. So have all our local councillors.

It is time for the public of Dundalk and surrounding areas to get involved in lobbying our local TD's, Senators and Councillors and ask them how they are going to help Dundalk get the stadium refurbished.

I have seen no drive as of yet from the current owners to set out their plans for the stadium. They carried out a survey among supporters and asked whether they wanted a stadium capable of staging European games or a good league of Ireland stadium.

To me the stadium must be brought up to the standard of staging European games. But at the very least the club must start upgrading basic facilities immediately. It's time they communicated with the fans and let them know their plans.

As far as I am concerned the infrastructure of the stadium must be item number one on the agenda sheet of the owners. I appeal to them to step forward and let us know what they are going to do.

To summarise the owners must ask whether they are the people who can move the club forward amenity wise into the 21st century. If they do not feel they can do so, then they must look for people who can.

And I have no doubt such people exist. I know this is a time of consolidation for the club on the pitch. Off the pitch, proper facilities are needed. The club must go into the community and start fundraising.

The Louth GAA County Board raised a lot of money for the new stadium by raffling off two houses. The owners of Dundalk FC should do the same.

The money raised in the draw would pay for the houses and give the owners of the club a fair surplus to pay for a new pitch next season and help start developing better facilities for supporters.

The UCD Game

On the field last Friday Dundalk started well in the game, as did UCD. It was a reasonable opening 25 minutes. Nathan Shepperd pulled off a great save early on, as did the UCD keeper Lorcan Healy.

Dundalk missed a spot kick when John Martin was fouled in the penalty area following a great free into the box by Pat Hoban. Sadly for Hoban his effort was saved by UCD keeper Lorcan Healy. It was the UCD net minder's first penalty save in the Premier Division.

But Dundalk did lead on 37 minutes. Andy Boyle looked up and saw full back Louis Annesley unmarked deep in UCD territory. John Martin was all on his own in the UCD penalty area. Annesley’s cross was met by the boot of the inrushing Martin, who steered it to the net.

The second half was a non-event. Dundalk failed to kill the game off. And it was no surprise when UCD equalised. Conor Malley gave away a very silly free kick on the edge of the box. The referee got the call one hundred percent right.

Standing on the edge of the box, up stepped the UCD hero Ciaran Behan. He curled a ball spectacularly around the Dundalk wall. It was heading to the top right-hand corner of the net.

Nathan Shepperd got a hand to it, before trying frantically to keep the ball out. There was nothing he could do as it went in. It gave Andy Myler's side a deserved draw.

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Eamonn Hiney

It was the 27th anniversary of the death of former Dundalk chairman Eamonn Hiney last Friday. Eamonn was a well-known businessman in Dundalk.

He brought the third most successful manager Dundalk ever had behind Stephen Kenny and Jim McLaughlin to the club. It was of course Turlough O'Connor.

Turlough won a league and cup double and a league title on its own too. He also won two league cups and led the Lilywhites into Europe on a number of occasions.

Eamonn funded the club out of his own pocket for a number of years. He died tragically at the age of 47. He was killed in an accident just north of Collon. His wife Gemma was in the car with him, but miraculously survived.

He owned the Centre Travel Agency, which still continues today. He also owned a chain of vegetable shops in the region and was a major shareholder in LMFM, which started broadcasting in September 1989.

He still acted as chairman of Dundalk FC when he died. He was buried in Haggardstown. Club Vice Chairman Jim Malone died later in the year at the age of 75. Both are buried in Haggardstown Cemetery. Ironically, their graves are very close together.

Final Thoughts

The great Joe Martin had a minute’s applause at the UCD game in his memory, along with Roy Mackin, who was a great club volunteer. Both sadly passed away in the past few months.

There were two separate minutes of applause before and during the game, also in memory of other people who sadly passed away and who were friends and close to the club.

Finally, former chairman Mike Tracey was a welcome visitor to Oriel Park last Friday night for the UCD game. Mike is still a big supporter of the club.

Have a safe week. Be careful out there and please remember to look after each other.