The Commentary Box: Thoughts turning to 2023 as supporters enjoy awards night

Dundalk manager Stephen O’Donnell began his planning for the 2023 season last Monday week, just 24 hours after beating Derry City at the Brandywell by 1-0 in a perfect performance.

One man who starred at centre half was Brian Gartland. Brian has won everything with Dundalk. But in the past two seasons he has been crippled with injuries. In the season gone by, Brian played three full games. One of these was at the Brandywell.

Last week I asked Stephen O’Donnell if he would consider signing Brian again next season. Stephen won’t comment on who he is or is not keeping at the club in relation to the players who are out of contract at that stage.

And I have no doubt he would love nothing more than to have the big man back in the dressing room again next season. Brian was immense in the Derry game.

If the medical people can give the boss, the assurance that Brian can do a job for him on the field then I’m sure he will make the big Dubliner an offer.

But then the question arises does Brian want to continue playing football given what he has been through. He has to weigh up the dangers in continuing his career. If he were to keep playing it could come back to hit him in the years ahead.

I would be afraid that Brian could be impacted with other physical difficulties as a result of injuries picked up during his career. That is if he continues.

For example, one condition that players can pick up is severe chronic pain. This is a dreadful condition. It leaves its victims in a 24-hour continuous sequence of pain. There is little relief from this. And it can last a lifetime.

Brian was asked at the Dundalk FC 1903 Supporters club awards night whether he was retiring or continuing his career. He said that at the moment he has yet to make up his mind. He said that he has already been asked about this by the media.

His answer left it in no uncertain terms that he was contemplating the prospect of keeping going. Two weeks ago, I would have said Brian should be retiring. Now I do not know. He was the old Brian Gartland in Derry. He was magnificent. We all await the big man’s decision.

Dave Mackey

Dundalk general manager Dave Mackey was delighted that his side had finished joint second in the league. He told me that the team set about training properly and professionally for the Derry game. This was despite the fact that the team had secured Europe the week before.

Dave explained that given where Dundalk had come from before the start of the season, in terms of the rebuild of the side, it was a magnificent achievement to qualify for Europe.

Dave said that the expectations were so high at Oriel that a squad would be put together to be good enough to qualify for Europe. He says to have achieved that was magnificent.

The general manager stressed it was now a matter of the players taking a well-deserved break and to build on the season gone by for next year.

Dave added that Stephen O’Donnell will certainly be getting no break. He said that the manager was now heading into his busiest time of the year, but that the management team will be there to support Stephen in whatever way they can for next season.

As Stephen O’Donnell does not yet have the pro licence, Dave Mackey will be looked upon as the manager by UEFA for the European games. Its Dave who will have to step forward for all the pre and post-match press conferences.

He will also take charge of the team in the stadiums and dressing rooms. Dave Mackey is a shy man, but he will come into the glare of the media for as long as the team are in Europe next season.

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The former top-class players said he is happy to support Stephen O’Donnell, the club and the players in any way he can. In his mind, it’s a collaborative management team that centres around Stephen.

He confirmed that it’s a good environment that he really enjoys being part of. Dave says whatever contribution he can make going forward and into next season he will be delighted to fulfill it.

He stated that the players have bought in to the project philosophy and vision that Stephen O’Donnell has for the club. He says the club can look forward and that every effort will be made to ensure that the players who have contributed so much this season will be at Dundalk next season.

In relation to what he has learned in his role at Dundalk, he is always learning. This was so when he had to learn with a new team and management structure. This saw him learn to work with players whom he never had to work with before.

He noted that working with Dundalk FC has been a massive learning experience with him in the past year and that he says is the way it should be.

Dave exclaimed that it was not difficult at all for him being back in Oriel. He was a member of the Dundalk league winning team in 1991. Now he is back in a managerial role.

Mackey recalled how ever since he was with Dundalk in 1991, he always felt a part of the club. He says it was a highlight for him to be so successful as a player with the Lilywhites.

Thus, when he got the call asking him to be part of the management team at Dundalk, he was just fulfilling that feeling that he was always part of the club.

Dave says he has a league winning medal with Dundalk to show for his success. He really enjoyed playing with the club so to have the opportunity of being involved on the management side of things last season was fantastic.

The manager stressed that Shamrock Rovers have been the dominant team recently, winning the league for the past three seasons. He says there is an onus on the rest of the teams to build squads to compete with Shamrock Rovers next season and over the next few years.

Under this management team, Dundalk’s goal was to build a squad that can win League championships. Dave says that is what Stephen O’Donnell and his coaching ticket are doing already, even in their first year. Building a league title winning team.

The 1991 league winner believes that it is a little bit too early to talk about Dundalk winning a league title again. He can only really talk about what the team has achieved this season.

Dundalk have worked off a select squad in 2022. In his eyes all of the squad have made a contribution, particularly when a lot of key players were injured.

Dave says that Dundalk, as with any other club in their position, will be striving to strengthen the squad during the close season. But it will be Stephen O’Donnell who will be deciding where to strengthen.

He noted that the club won’t be getting carried away. He says the team is made up of a group of good players and that there is a management team in place that wants to work very hard.

The management wants to create the right environment in the club to push forward on a sustainable basis. This will be followed by a focus on the community.

The management want the team to be challenging at the top of the table. He says Stephen O’Donnell will be pushing forward to achieve top success for Dundalk.

Stephen Kenny

Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny told me that Stephen O’Donnell had done a magnificent job to lead Dundalk back into Europe. He also said Ruaidhrí Higgins had done so well with Derry City.

Stephen says O’Donnell and Higgins were two successful young managers. He thinks both are going to have a great future in soccer. The Irish manager said that bringing European football back was massive. He says the league overall will be good.

The Irish boss believes Shamrock Rovers are the benchmark at the moment as they have done so well. Stephen says Rovers have a formidable squad and added that Derry and Dundalk are getting stronger, not forgetting that Cork City were back in the Premier Division now too.

He went on to say that with Damian Duff in charge of Shelbourne, Tim Clancy at the helm of Pats and John Russell managing Sligo, all augured well for the future of the league. He says they were all emerging coaches and that it was good to see.

Stephen said he wished all the new managers in the League of Ireland well. He added that he still enjoys going to League games.

Brendan Ogle

It was great to see the new Supporters club stage a players award night last Thursday. The last time such an award night was held was November 2014.

Former Sky Sports journalist Andy Burton could not have put it better in a tweet when he said that as a follower of Dundalk FC the best thing about 2022 is seeing the connection between the players and fans return, all united in their love of the club.

Andy says it’s how the club was back pre-2020 and was a rarity in football. Andy went on to say that the awards night organized by the Supporters club was a great example.

The chair of the supporters’ club Brendan Ogle said the fact that Andy Connolly and Stats Sports had taken the club over did mean it was in safe hands. But Brendan says more has to be done. He believes strongly that there should be more supporters involved.

He said the players needed that and the ground needs that. Brendan says it’s all very well for supporters to jump on buses to the Aviva. He says that is brilliant.

He believes that all the fans took the view when the good times were going on in Oriel under Stephen Kenny, that everybody partied. But he says supporters did not get involved in the club.

When things went badly wrong, there was nobody there. He says the people of Dundalk must be there as a help for the owners.

Brendan said the club has a great following in South Armagh, South Monaghan and in parts of Meath. He says that the link between the supporters’ club and the owners needs to be permanent.

The Chairman made the key point at the start of his question and answers session that the supporters club was set up initially to save the club last season. But the takeover of the club by Andy Connolly did make that idea redundant.

He agreed that the model of Sligo Rovers and other clubs who fundraise and help the owners in whatever way they could was one way to go. Sligo is a town with a similar size population to Dundalk.

In his view, fans had got complacent. They were all happy to leave things to Andy Connolly and Paul Brown before they sold the club to Peak6. Things were also left to Peak6.

Brendan says Dundalk are the second most successful club in League of Ireland history, which given the size of the town’s population was an incredible achievement. He believes the club should be lifting silverware every two or three seasons and that they should also be winning doubles. These he says are the expectations.

But he exclaimed that supporters have no right to have these expectations. While pointing out that the success could be obtained by a number of businessmen and good players, he stressed supporters should not just sit back and expect this.

Supporters have to get involved. They must be more supportive. Brendan says supporters should never again sit back and leave the responsibility of running the club to just two or three people.

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Award Winners

The Harry Taaffe Young player of the year award was won by Ryan O’Kane. Ryan’s grandad Tony collected the award for the midfielder who is away on holidays. Ryan did sent a message by Zoom, thanking everybody and hoping that they were having a good night.

The award was sponsored by Harry Taafe’s family. The player of the year was deservedly awarded to Nathan Shepherd. Nathan was fully deserving of the award. He has been a sensation at Oriel this season. The Welsh under 21 international keeper is staying on next season too.

Pat Hoban was presented with the Jim Malone Leading goal scorer’s award. Pat has missed much of the season through injury. Yet the Loughrea man has turned up trumps again for this award. The Galwegian is a prolific goal scorer. He will be a massive boost to Dundalk next season.

Gavin Kerley won the Supporter of the year Award. It was fully deserved as Gavin follows the Dundalk team around the country.

Final Thoughts

The Dundalk FC under 17 women’s team are holding an open training session on 16th November at Oriel Park between 7.30pm and 9pm. Players who would like to take part are asked to submit details via a link on the club’s twitter page. There has already been one open training session. That was on November 10th.

Meanwhile one of the club’s best players this season Lewis Macari says he had a very enjoyable season at the club. Lewis has been on loan from Stoke City.

He said in a message on Twitter that he wanted to give a big thanks to all the players, staff and the fans for everything over the past 9 months. He exclaimed how he loved every minute of being at the club.

Lewis added that he looked forward to watching the club in the future and wished them every success. Have a great week everybody. Please look after yourselves. And remember to be careful out there.