Revamp of Oriel will see new floodlights and pitch

New owner Brian Ainscough held a very successful public meeting with supporters at Oriel last Tuesday night. The news emanating from the meeting was honest and straightforward. The Irish owner who is American based pulled no punches.

He said Oriel was a pig sty. Yes, Mr Ainscough was the first owner of Oriel in years to really hit out at the way the famous old stadium had deteriorated. He experienced the state of the grounds at first hand when the seat he was sitting on broke from under him as he watched the Longford game over two weeks ago. Luckily he was uninjured.

He apologised to fans at the state the ground was in. Rubbish going back to the end of season 2023 had not even been cleared. The state of the toilets were also criticised. One supporter said there was no lavatory paper in the ladies toilets. Brian apologised for this and said there would be a big clean up of the grounds before the next home game which is the Leinster Senior Cup against Bohemians next Monday evening at Oriel.

The new owner confirmed that the first major infrastructural changes to Oriel since the Youth Development Centre (YDC) was built will take place at the end of the season 2024. The floodlights which were installed in the summer of 1967 will be removed and replaced by a new state of the art floodlighting system.

To maintain the current system is just too expensive and the bulbing is so old that they are very difficult to obtain. But these floodlights have really served their purpose. Dundalk were the first club to have floodlights outside of Dublin. In the old days, they had to play all European games in Dublin as they had no lights.

The famous European Cup game between Dundalk and FC Zurich in 1963 had to be played in Dublin instead of Oriel. Dundalk were beaten in the first leg at Dalymount. But they won the second leg in Zurich. Even though they lost the tie on aggregate, Dundalk became the first Irish side to win a European game away from home. Jimmy Hasty, John Murphy and Francie Callan were all part of that very famous team.

The first floodlit game played at Oriel was the European Cup game between Dundalk and Vasas Budapest of Hungary. The game was played in the newly redeveloped Oriel Park. Vasas won the Oriel game 1-0.They won the second leg also, inflicting a very heavy defeat on Dundalk. But it never shattered the confidence of a club that was led by possibly the most forward thinking board of directors the club has ever had.

But the club was hit by a crisis on 14th January in 1968 only a few months after the new floodlighting had been installed. I remember that fateful day in January. I was only a toddler and had been to a game in Dublin with my Da, Jim Malone. The east coast of Ireland was being battered by a severe storm as we made our way back to Blackrock just outside Dundalk.

The storm sticks in my mind clearly as the wind was so strong. At around 8.30 pm a call came through to our house. In those days all calls were made and put through by a phone operator. There were no dial phones at that time. The post mistress put the call through to the house. She was Kitty McConnon a mad Dundalk supporter and an aunt of the author Declan Lynch.

My Da went to the phone and Mrs McConnon put the call through. The caller was club secretary Norman Sudbury, who told him that six months after the flood lighting had been installed two of the giant pylons supporting the the 14,000 pound flood lighting system had collapsed in the gales of wind.

There were 120 lights installed on the four pylons at each corner of the ground. They had only been put in around mid September 1968 for the Vasas game. The news of the collapse of the lights quickly spread around the town. They were generally regarded as the best flood lighting system in the country. There was huge shock among supporters. Thankfully nobody had been injured in the incident. That was all that mattered.

Norman Sudbury issued a statement to the media on the Monday that the lights were fully insured against storms and that the club would not be at a loss. So the lights would rise again when the two pylons that fell down would be replaced and a new set would replace them.

At the time Dundalk were supposed to play Glasgow Celtic in a friendly at Oriel. It was expected to raise a huge amount of money. As a reporter said at the time, the dream of seeing Celtic at Oriel had been blown away in the wind.
Celtic chairman Bob Kelly was very impressed with Oriel. He informed Dundalk that Celtic would play Dundalk at Oriel on March 19th 1968 in a friendly the day after the Scottish side played a League of Ireland selection at Dalymount. But the big storm had taken care of that.

Another tournament planned for Oriel was also cancelled. It had been hoped that Glentoran, Derry City and Linfield would meet Dundalk in Oriel. But with the floodlights down, Dundalk did lose out on a considerable amount of revenue.
The two new pylons to replace the ones that had fallen were brought in and the full flood lighting system was restored in the summer of 1968. Dundalk were able to play European games against Dos Utrecht, Glasgow Rangers and Liverpool.

Three of the directors at the club at the time remortgaged their own homes to go some way to pay for the original installation of the lights. The money was also used to pay for the old Mullacurry stand. It was not really a stand in the conventional way in that it was not seated. It was a standing stand and was where the shed and Youth Development Centre are located now.

I know that the wife of one of the three directors never knew that her husband had remortgaged his house for the development of the stand, the new pylons and the purchase of a player in 1966.

Earlier the same man Jim Malone paid the transfer fee for Jimmy Hasty in 1962. He was fully repaid by the board within a week when they saw they had a legend of their hands.

Last week's meeting in Oriel was also told that a new artificial surface pitch will replace the current surface for season 2025. It's not known what sort of a  new surface is to be installed. Dundalk may go for the fourth generation pitch. Unlike the three generation pitch at Oriel at the moment, a fourth generation pitch would have no infill within the carpet.

The 5G pitches only have rubber infill within the surfacing carpet. It will cost the club around one million euro to install the new pitch. The current pitch has gone as far as it can go.

Club Chief Operating Officer Martin Connolly told the meeting that the club could not revert to a grass pitch as the one at Oriel has to be used for games and training by all of the underage teams.

The club needs another facility to take the pressure off the Oriel Park pitch. It's a huge pity the club lost the Eamonn Hiney pitch right beside Oriel in 2008 when it was sold by the then owners run by the Coop at Oriel.

It was bought by Gerry Mathews for a fee of €700,000. Gerry took over the club within a short time of this period. 
But when the recession hit in 2008 and became a crash in 2011 -2012 Hiney Park was on the market again in 2013. This time it's price crashed. It became available just as Andy Connolly and Paul Brown took over the club. The asking price was a meagre €45,000.

The then new owners never made a move for the facility. It's such a pity because had they made the move Dundalk would have their training facility back again and today Dundalk could be restoring Oriel to a grass pitch status. The Grammar school could not ignore such a bargain and duly bought the old Dundalk training facility.

Martin Connolly spoke about how close relations had greatly improved between the club and local council and other political representatives. That is good to hear. But as we are on the cusp of a general election, local government election and Europeans one can see why local councillors and TDs would suddenly become interested in the plight of Dundalk FC as they know how much the club means to local people.

I am not doubting the integrity of the local politicians. But it's actions that are needed not words. And very often that's all one gets from them.

I wonder are the club using the experience and knowledge of former TD and government minister Dermot Ahern. The former minister for foreign affairs would know the right people to connect up with the club on a political basis to help Dundalk FC. If I were advising Brian Ainscough, I would be advising him to contact the former Blackrock politician. He has strong sporting connections with the FAI as well.

The installation of new lights and a new pitch installation would be very significant for Oriel in 2025, Brian's commitment to have new shareholders at the club shortly will be a major contribution to add stability to the club next season.

The new owner also brought up the point of  the Youth Development Centre. It is being used by the first team every day. It has a marvellous indoor gym, a canteen and other top class facilities.

It has a magnificent press room where match interviews can be held. It also has an editing room for any recordings TV companies or LOI TV might want to use. But the owner was making a point that it is not being used enough by the community and that at some stage it can be made available to the whole community.

This would be fantastic. A few years ago, the election count was going to be held for the constituency of Louth. The centre had all the facilities needed to be able to do this. But a decision was made at the last minute that the count would have to be moved because of a logistical hitch. That hitch remains. But without any major alterations, the centre can be open to the public.

Oriel will become a major centre for social activities,if the necessary small changes are made. It would be a great facility for the people of Dundalk and surrounding areas. And it has great potential to bring in much needed income to the club.

On the playing front Dundalk's next game is in the Leinster Senior Cup against Drogheda. Stephen O'Donnell's side did win the first game in the group with a 3-1 win over Malahide United by 3-1.

The home game against Bohemians on February 5th should be interesting depending on what side the Dalymount Park side decide to put out. They are an even stronger side than last year when playing their full team. In their first game in the competition they used their youth team mainly against Drogheda.

The Boyne side team had an easy enough win. I think Bohemians  will want to use their senior team against Dundalk. The game is at Oriel and goes ahead next Monday, which is a bank holiday. Kick off time is at 5.00pm.
Dundalk's match against Drogheda will also be taken as the annual Jim Malone Cup. There should be a good crowd for this fixture.

The season starts with an away league game against Shamrock Rovers. This is on Friday 16th February and will be covered live on RTE Television. Dundalk have a very difficult start to the seasons as far as away games are concerned.They have games against Derry City, Pat's and Bohemians.

As Dundalk's away record has not been good under Stephen O'Donnell, they could be under real pressure from the get go.
Dundalk have reached agreement with Raith Rovers for the transfer of striker Jamie Gullan. This is good news as Dundalk badly need a striker since Pat Hoban departed. At the time of writing, the deal has yet to go finally through.

Stephen O'Donnell has also signed a keeper from Raith Rovers. He is aged 23 and has arrived on a permanent deal. Ross Munro is very highly rated from people I know in Scotland who have seen him play. Ross has a hard act to follow replacing Nathan Shepherd who has left the club. I know that all Dundalk supporters wish Ross the very best on his arrival at Oriel.

One person who is a great Dundalk supporter but who has seen Ross play has described him as the Special One. I await with curiosity.

The Belfast Telegraph reported on Saturday evening that centre half Luke Turner was to leave Cliftonville in the current transfer window. The Belfast side have the best defensive record in the Irish League. The 21-year-old 's contract runs out at the end of the season in four months time.

There would just be a minimal transfer fee due to Jim Magilton's side. Bohemians and St Pat's are favourites to sign him, but why should Dundalk not be in the chasing pack. The young Dubliner is the real deal. Pat's and Bohemians have been signing players at a rapid rate over the summer.

Dundalk have not been doing this as much as the Dublin sides. Indeed the club have just signed one League of Ireland player in the close season. Why are they not signing more players from the domestic league and Irish League? Our neighbours Drogheda United have brought in League of Ireland players.

This time last season Dundalk's pre -season's signings also mostly came from outside the country. I have no problem with signing players from abroad. But I see no reason why Dundalk should not make a move for the Cliftonville centre half. Dundalk need another centre half.

Last season Louie Annesley missed a major part of the season through injury and illness. Louie is a good centre half. But Dundalk need another key defender. Andy Boyle is of course an important centre half. But he also missed a lot of the season through injury.  It makes perfect sense for Dundalk to move for Luke Turner. He could really tighten up the Dundalk defence.

Dundalk conceded far too many soft goals last season. A successful team starts with a strong defence. The current one still needs strengthening.

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