Inside Track: John Murphy’s right – Oriel Park is alive again

The roads in and around Dundalk were crowded at around 7 o’clock on Friday night, tailbacks with traffic going this way and that.

Your writer, heading home, took to The Ramparts Road. No better here than it had been in Hill Street. So it was back up River Lane.

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The pavements were also teeming in Park Street, men, women and children heading in the one direction. Most were wearing football colours, walking with a pep in their step. The numbers were bigger than usual.

If you didn’t know already, it was evident there could be something special happening on the Carrick Road; Oriel was sure to hold its biggest crowd of the year. And it did, the 3,000-plus gate matching the best that had been there for Stephen Kenny’s team.

Dundalk had to win to make sure there wouldn’t be a nervy trip to Cork the following week. This situation had arisen in the past.

Thirty-four years ago, Turlough O’Connor’s side headed southwards looking for a couple of points to clinch the biggest league title.

Scottish-born Tommy McNulty did the business – at Turner’s Cross – for his adopted town’s team, scoring the only goal of the game to lower Cork City’s colours.

If there are buses, trains, or maybe planes, going to the other end of the country this weekend for the last game of the season, passengers will be only to take in a lap of honour.

The First Division is in the bag, thanks to a flagfall to finish the winning run, culminating in Friday night’s 3-0 win over Finn Harps.

And to think that this time last year there was a danger of soccer being lost to Oriel Park, Dundalk in a trouble that had been accumulating for some time.

Former government minister, Dermot Ahern, an avid Oriel fan, used his influence in Abbotstown, and John Temple stepped in to take control of the boardroom. The club was saved.

All that mattered after that was success on the field. Ciaran Kilduff, a former Oriel favourite on the playing field, was given his first League of Ireland managerial job. The Dub will take huge satisfaction from what has been achieved.

In a way, history is repeating itself in the county. Soon after Louth won the 1957 All-Ireland, Johnny Robinson collected the FAI Cup for Dundalk, and Clogherhead’s Philomena Garvey won the British Open golf title.Dundalk rugby team also chipped in, winning the Towns Cup.

What we’ve had this year is a Louth Leinster success, Caolan Rafferty completing a golfing nap hand, and Dundalk bringing up the hat-trick. What more could local sportspeople ask for?