The Commentary Box: A look back on the career of lilywhite legend Mick Doohan

Mick Doohan will always be a hero at Oriel Park, as it was his and Tom McNulty’s goals on the last day of the 1994/95 season against Galway that won the league for Dundalk. Oriel Park has seen many dramatic days. The last game of the 94/95 season was as dramatic as any of them.

The Lilywhites went into that last day in 3rd place, knowing they would need Derry City and Shelbourne to slip up in their games. And they had to win themselves to see the title arrive back in Louth.

Dramatically Dundalk did win the league. Against all the odds Derry failed to beat already relegated Athlone. They also missed a penalty. Shelbourne slipped up in their game. But Dundalk won their game to get the three points and snatch the title at the death.

It was a great achievement by manager Dermot Keely. It was a great achievement by a group of players few gave a chance of lifting the trophy.

Tom McNulty got the first goal to set them on their way midway through the first half. Mick Doohan got the second goal 12 minutes from time as they went to the top on the live table.

Derry just needed a draw. But when the final whistle blew at Oriel, there was seven minutes left in Athlone. Derry were still level. Suddenly, Gabriel Egan’s commentary for RTE bellowed out over Oriel.

Players and supporters listened agonisingly to the end of the commentary. As the final whistle blew, Oriel erupted in jubilation. Fans and players celebrated together.

Captain James Coll had to be presented with an imitation League trophy as the real one was in St Mel’s Park, where everyone thought Derry would win the title.

Dundalk Arrival

Mick Doohan was signed by Turlough O’Connor before the start of the 1993 league season as a centre half in place of Ronnie Murphy, who had been a great player for the Lilywhites. Mick had decided he was leaving Bray Wanderers, where he had already won a cup winners medal in 1990.

He revealed that Pat’s had contacted him and asked him to sign. He signed on the dotted line at Inchicore. However, within hours Dundalk were in touch with him and asked him to sign for them.

Mick contacted the then boss of St Pats, Brian Kerr. They met face to face. He told Kerr he was no longer interested in playing for Pat’s and that he wanted to go to Dundalk.

Brian Kerr had the form that Mick had already signed with Pats. To say it mildly, Kerr was very unhappy about the development. But he did not stand in Mick’s way. Mick signed for Dundalk and was delighted to be playing for Turlough O’Connor.

Sadly, Dundalk had a poor start to the season. Manager Turlough O’Connor decided to call it a day after a home defeat against Monaghan United.

Turlough had indicated to the then Chairman Eamonn Hiney that he was calling it a day the previous season, just before the 1993 cup final. They were beaten 1-0 by Shelbourne. O’Connor decided to give it a go one last time.

He was gone by the end of September after that shock home defeat by Monaghan United. Former manager Jim McLoughlin applied for the job, as did former centre half Dermot Keely.

The board of directors were split down the middle over their two choices. Chairman Eamonn Hiney had the casting vote and he opted for Dermot Keely.

The decision caused much shock among many in the Dundalk soccer community. Yet many felt the younger man Dermot Keely deserved his chance. He was a legend at Oriel, every bit as much as Jim McLoughlin.

He played on Jim’s team that won Dundalk’s first double. He won everything there was to win as a player at Oriel. He did the same as a manager, winning a league and cup double at Shamrock Rovers when he took over from Jim McLoughlin for the season 1986/87.

Move forward to September 1993 and Mick Doohan signing for Dundalk. Mick made 163 league appearances over his next six seasons. He got 19 goals. Doohan made 22 league appearances, getting two goals in 93.

He also made 12 FAI cup appearances for Dundalk. He got four goals. In total he played 208 games for Dundalk and scored 26 goals.

Mick signed for Bray Wanderers in 1988. He began as a left winger, before moving to the centre of defence. He won his first of two cup medals when Bray beat non-league St Francis in the final.

Bray won promotion back to the Premier Division the following season in 1991. They also held Turkish side Trabzanspur to a 1-1 draw in the European Cup Winners Cup.

Mick moved to Dundalk in 1993.He departed in 1998 when the club was facing financial oblivion and all the players were put on the transfer list. His last game for Dundalk was in November 1998.

They beat Pats that night, but it was too little too late for the club. Jim McLoughlin was manager. Dundalk were relegated that season, in May 1999. The club was taken over by a coop made up of supporters. They saved the club.

In 1998 Mick Doohan departed Oriel for Bray for £7,000. Bray were also relegated with Dundalk that season. But Bray won their 2nd FAI Cup, despite dropping into the First Division.

When he finally called it a day with the Wicklow club, he had made 400 League appearances with Bray and Dundalk and scored 46 league goals.

Dermot Keely

Dermot Keely singled Mick out with as being an outstanding cog in his side’s 1995 league winning success. His versatility enabled Dundalk to cope successfully with the different crisis situations caused by suspensions and injuries.

And Keely quipped that his jokes were very useful as well. Mick told me that naturally his main achievement at Oriel was winning the league in 1995. He says he was only at Oriel a few weeks when Dermot Keely arrived.

He found Dermot a very tough, but fair manager. Mick was studying for three of his last four accountancy exams. He was on the bench most of the time up to January 1994.

In that month Dundalk played Galway United in a cup replay at Oriel. The first game at Terryland was 0-0. Dundalk won the replay by 4-3, with Mick being taken off the bench and told by Dermot Keely to play up front.

Doohan stressed that night was a huge turning point in his career. He was a centre half and had never played as a forward. He struck for the winning goal and sent Dundalk into the next round.

The League Title

Mick says winning the league a year later was the crowning glory of his career. Dermot Keely told them all to go out and do their own job and not to worry about Shelbourne and Derry.

He was shocked to hear how Derry were doing when his own game was over. He says when the final whistle blew in Athlone and it was clear Dundalk had won the league, the celebrations were sensational.

Fans and players stood together on the pitch, waiting for the whistle to blow. Mick added the celebrations on the pitch between the players and the supporters was something he would never forget.

The season 1994/95 was a remarkable one off the pitch. The club were in major financial difficulties in October 1994. The company running the club folded and that saw Enda McGuill take over as chairman.

The late Eamonn Hiney was not amongst the new consortium. Outgoing Vice Chairman Jim Malone was asked to stay on, but he stood down. He became the President of the club.

Talking to Mick, it’s clear the players had no idea how bad the financial situation was at the club.Luckily the team were virtually oblivious to the desperate financial plight the club remained in.

Mick says there was a great blend of youth and experience in the team that won the league. He played up front with Peter Withnell in the second last game of the season against Sligo at the Showgrounds.

Withnell’s second half rocket of a volley gave Dundalk the points and set up the final day as a battle of the titans for the league. Mick said the team did everything together.

The senior players like John Coady, Mick Byrne, James Coll and Joe Hanrahan were phenomenal. Mick says it’s spine tingling, even today, to think of the 1995 title win.

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Training Woes

Doohan had just one accounting exam left to do in December 1993. He recalled how Turlough would let him go off and do his studies.

Dermot would not allow him to do night classes for his exams. He says he had to train Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday or Sunday mornings. Mick was a bit stressed by November.

He says Dermot Keely told him after a Pat’s game in Inchicore that two managers were outside wanting to take him on loan.

He told him one of the managers was Damian Byrne, but he had no interest in signing for Ards on loan. He took Keely aside and let him know he was going nowhere.

Dermot Keely respected him for that. It was all different for him in January 1994. His exams were complete, and he really got stuck into things. The training with Keely was rugged. It was so different than with Turlough O’Connor. He says Keely would run his players hard.

Once he had the exams over, he loved Keely’s training. He worked very hard. He wanted to prove a point to the manager.

The Later Years

Keely left Dundalk before the end of the 1996 season. Tommy Connolly took over as acting manager. Mick says he really got to know Tommy then and found out he was the backbone of the team.

John Hewitt took over as boss for the 1996 season. The former Aberdeen player, who won the Cup Winners Cup under Alex Feguson, never really got his team going.

In February 1997 Hewitt got the sack and Eddie May was brought in. Mick says he got on well with John Hewitt but did not take to Eddie May.

Dundalk had to play a relegation/promotion play off with Waterford in April 1997. Dundalk won it over the two legs. The following season Jim McLoughlin was back as manager. It was 14 years since he was last at the helm.

Mick was about to move to Finn Harps, as he was so unhappy under Eddie May. He met Jim in the boardroom at Linfield, where Dundalk had just played a pre-season friendly. McLaughlin asked Mick what were his plans.

He said as he had no offer from Dundalk and he was thinking of going to Finn Harps. Jim just turned round and told him he was going nowhere.

Mick says he was just elated by Jim McLaughlin’s words. He was also able to get a signing on fee. Director Nobby Quinn handed Mick a cheque before he left the Linfield board room. It only took one minute to sort his future out.

Mick would’ve died for Jim McLoughlin. The season 1997/98 saw Jim bring great stability to the side.Dundalk were nowhere near the play off zone and finished the season well.

Sadly, it all went pear shaped for Dundalk in 1998/99. This was the season they were relegated in. The players were all put on the transfer list in November 1998. The club had serious liquidity problems.

Nobby Quinn came in and told the players the club could not pay them and that they were all transfer listed. Dundalk were about to move into fifth place in the league.

Mick says he was devastated that his time at Oriel was over. He went to Bray and won the cup with them. Mick said at his first training session back at the Carlisle grounds, he was pulled aside by Bray boss Pat Devlin and told he was the captain.

The Current Squad

Doohan still travels down to Oriel to see Dundalk. He says Stephen O’Donnell is right not to spend money on new players for money’s sake. They are still a work in progress, and He feels the season 2024 will be the one when Dundalk make a serious challenge for the league.

Mick noted how Pat Hoban has come to the mature phase of his career and that he needs somebody there to challenge him for his position.

He feels Dundalk need around three players next season. In his opinion, Stephen O’Donnell is a different manager to what he has witnessed before. Mick says Stephen O’Donnell watches everything. He directs his players so well.

The former Dundalk centre half stressed that O’Donnell has a different style to what he would have. He says O’Donnell is a very calm and kind person. He has his side playing patiently.

Mick noted how Dermot Keely always says in your first year as manager you clear out the players you do not want. In the second year you bring in the players you want. In year three, that is when you go for the League.

Doohan says it was a shame the way the club was run in 2020 and 2021. The club let great players go and this left a huge gap. Money was wasted over those two seasons.

Mick loves going to Oriel Park. He loves walking up the Carrick Road, where he gets a spine chilling feeling. But he when he gets to pitch, he feels it’s so sad to see the state of the ground.

With all the money that went through Dundalk in the Kenny/Perth era, it’s shocking to see nothing has been done to the ground.

The Lilywhite legend is a coach now at a schoolboys and girls team called Granada. He coaches the girls under 16 team. He only came back to soccer in August. The last time he was in charge of a football team was the girls teams in Oriel around 10 years ago.

I hope everybody has a very happy New Year. And remember, please be careful out there. Look after each other and I will talk to you in 2023 God willing.