Dowdallshill pitch is one of the county’s finest

A glaring omission from last week’s piece on St Brigid’s Cross was the absence of mention of the grounds carrying ‘our’ saint’s name.

First games were played on Dowdallshill’s St Brigid’s Park over 60 years ago. Since then it has housed hundreds of renewals of this county’s biggest games, as well as National Leagues ties in both football and hurling.

It’s also been home for Leinster Championship matches in all grades, and in 1987 was the venue for its most important tie, the All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final between Kilkenny and Antrim.

On the same day, a triple-header had Offaly playing Antrim in under-16 and minor semi-finals. Brian Whelehan, John Troy and Johnny Dooley were on the Offaly under-18 team.

Two years later, an All-Ireland quarter-final in the same competition was played there, Antrim having better luck this time. The Saffrons’ defeat of Kildare by 4-14 to 0-7 came on their way to the All-Ireland final in which they were beaten by Tipperary.

Interestingly, the 1987 fixture wasn’t the first All-Ireland hurling semi-final to be played on Louth soil. It was the third, in fact, the first taking place in Drogheda way back in 1902. Dublin played Derry, of all counties, winning by the proverbial cricket score.

Five years later, Dundalk’s Athletic Grounds was the venue for the meeting Dublin and Antrim, and again, the Dubs (although they were hardly called that at the time) won handsomely.

While serious pressure was being brought to bear on Dundalk Young Irelands Grounds Company Ltd, the owners, to sell the iconic Athletic Grounds in the late 1950s, the Dowdallshill club was in the throes of developing a pitch on the Newry Road.

Despite the best efforts of the Louth County Board to acquire the Athletic Grounds – which had been in use as a municipal park since the late 1890s, housing soccer, rugby and athletics, as well as being the county’s premier GAA venue – shoe company Hallidays (later to become known as Clarks) was given the nod when it came to the sale.

Just as well, then, that The ‘Hill were realising a long-held ambition. Had St Brigid’s not become available, Dundalk would have been deprived of a suitable grounds.

Within a year of its gates being opened for the first time, the county senior final was played there.
St Mary’s, led by the legendary Johnny Ross, took the title, beating Drogheda’s Naomh Mhuire.

Many senior finals have been played there since, the most recent, last year’s in which St Mary’s again got their name on the Joe Ward, this time beating Naomh Mairtín in a thriller.

The venue was good to Cooley Kickhams seniors in the 1970s, the men from the peninsula beating St Mary’s in ’71 to take the title for the first time in 32 years. It was there were they also beat Mattock Rangers on two occasions, matches that came to mind last week with the death of Sally Reid.

Sally was wife of the late Damien, whose name sits atop the list comprising great footballers who never had the honour of winning a senior championship medal.

Clan na Gael was another team to end a long losing sequence at St Brigid’s. Their 1985 win over Roche Emmets was their first in over a quarter of a century. Then, six years earlier, Young Irelands had only a short trip to make from their Seatown base before ending Cooley’s bid for a 4-in-a-row.

And my lot, Dundalk Gaels? We were there for the 1992 final, and while unlucky not to overcome Clans in the first of two games needed to decide the issue, were well beaten in the replay.

Louth seniors were given ground advantage for their 1973 Leinster Championship first round match with Carlow. St Brigid’s was chosen, and it proved a good choice, with the Jimmy Mulroy-coached winning by seven points, before going on to beat Dublin and then miss out to All-Ireland champions, Offaly, in the semi-final.

St Brigid’s has been kept in pristine order by the Dowdallshil club over the years, remaining one of the county’s finest grounds.
While some uncertainty surrounds the new county grounds, one wonders was consideration ever given to developing St Brigid’s. The pitch is one of the best, and with fields to two sides, expansion wouldn’t have been a problem.

But we are where we are, and we can only hope that on one of his trips to Dublin to meet the people with the power and finance, Co Board chairman, Seán McClean, gets a good result.