For a while last week, it looked like Dundalk FC were going to go into liquidation. The club was founded in 1903 as Dundalk G.N.R., the works-team of the Great Northern Railway. They joined the League of Ireland in 1926 and in the 1932-33 they were the first provincial club, i.e. outside Dublin, to win the League of Ireland championship and now have 14 wins to their credit, second in the all-time list to Shamrock Rovers.
Just a few seasons back Dundalk were playing in the group stages of the Europa League. So supporters are naturally asking where did the money go; it certainly wasn’t spent on the Astro pitch at Oriel Park, which is one of the worst in the League. The season before Stephen Kenny was appointed manager Dundalk were also involved in a play-off against Waterford which they won to ensure they played in the Premier Division in 2013.
Under Kenny the club had a great record, winning the League four times in five seasons and it looked they were in the money. After Kenny was appointed Irish under-21 manager job Vinny Perth took over and when he was sacked Peak6 appointed little known Italian coach Filippo Giovagnoli, who didn’t have the proper UEFA coaching badge for European games.
Peak6 eventually got disillusioned and sold out to a Dundalk consortium led by Anthony Connolly. Last November the County Louth club was bought by Dublin-born Brian Ainscough, who had been an investor in First Division Kerry FC the previous season. Ainscough has spent a lot of his life in the USA where he was player and later coached the soccer team at Northeastern University from 2005 to 2014.
Last week Dundalk FC confirmed that a takeover of the club had been agreed between Ainscough and a group of investors led by local barrister John Temple. Temple is leading a consortium that has agreed to pay the players’ wages until the end of the season and now has an 80 percent share in the club with the other 20 percent held by investors brought in by Ainscough.
Temple says his consortium will also ‘‘examine the viability of the club and its facilities going forward.’’ Dundalk face a battle to avoid automatic relegation and we are likely to have an unusual situation on Nov. 1 when the last series of games are played in the League of Ireland Premier Division. It could mean that the losers of the Louth Derby between Drogheda and Dundalk that night could be relegated automatically while the winners could qualify for a play-off with the First Division play-off winners.
CASEMENT EPISODE A
‘PANTOMIME’: BURNS
GAA president Jarlath Burns has described Casement Park’s aborted staging of Euro 2028 games as “a pantomime.” Burns claims the current British Labour government had run out of time and money to get the West Belfast venue completed to stage tournament matches in four years’ time. He highlighted that it was the Conservative government who had approached the GAA about Casement Park hosting Euro 2028 matches. Speaking on BBC Radio Burns said: “Right from the word go Hilary Benn was talking positive about the prospect of Casement being built, and for a time our pessimism changed to optimism. And even at the recent Farmleigh talks with the Irish government we were starting to get optimistic that there was going to be a major announcement there.
“But obviously there has been a lot of bad news given out by the UK government in the past few weeks,” added Burns in reference to its number of cuts by the new Labour government, including pensioners’ winter fuel payments. “I think they have come to the conclusion that there is very little money left and they had to make very difficult decisions. I suppose it’s the way in which it happened that is disappointing. We in the GAA feel the damage was done back in March whenever the tender documents weren’t issued because we were really up against the clock at that stage.”
The GAA president disputed the £400 million (€475m) cost that was put on constructing the stadium by the Tory government, claiming it was benchmarked against EPL stadia specifications when the GAA’s requirements were “more modest.” The wasted process means the costs the GAA now faces in building Casement Park, which hasn’t hosted a game in 13 years, have risen, according to Burns. We know that the cost of construction, all these things have risen exponentially against inflation. Ulster GAA, and all of us, have lost out and wasted a full year because of the pantomime we have had.’’
CITIZEN AKI
New Zealand-born rugby player Bundee Aki was last week conferred with Irish citizenship. The 34 year-old father of four, who has been living in Ireland for 10 years, has won 57 Irish caps. He was among 3,600 people who were granted Irish citizenship during three ceremonies at the Convention Centre in Dublin on Sept. 16. The Auckland native, who has been playing for Connacht since 2014, said: ‘‘It’s a huge privilege and an honour as well to be able to call myself an Irish citizen now. It’s been 10 years since I have been here so I thoroughly enjoy the Irish people, the Irish culture. I have been in Ireland for a very long time. I have enjoyed my time in Ireland and embraced the people and the people have embraced me and my family as well.’’
MEATH, MONAGHAN
GET NEW MANAGERS
As expected, Robbie Brennan has been confirmed as the new manager of the Meath senior footballers. Brennan, who has had much success with Dublin club Kilmacud Crokes, replaces former Meath star Colm O’Rourke who didn’t have much success with the Royals during his two years in charge. Also Gabriel Bannigan from Aghamullen has been confirmed as the new manager of the Monaghan senior footballers, where he replaces Vinny Corey.
Former Mayo star Andy Moran, who managed Leitrim last year, will be part of Bannigan’s backroom team. And former Armagh star Tony McEntee has committed to stay on as Sligo manager for two more years, but says he is going to freshen up his backroom team.
EASTERBY TAKES
CHARGE ON DEC.1
Interim Irish Rugby coach Simon Easterby says that current coach Andy Farrell will “step away completely” during his sabbatical with the British and Irish Lions. Easterby will take over from Farrell on Dec. 1, after the Autumn internationals, for the Six Nations campaign and the summer tour to Romania and Georgia. Ireland has never gone into a Six Nations campaign without a head coach, a scenario Wales faced in 2013 and 2017 when Rob Howley stepped while Warren Gatland was away with the Lions. Easterby said: ‘‘Andy has a lot to get through in terms of the Lions. I’m sure he would be on the end of a phone if needed, but as far as we are concerned he is stepping away completely and leaving us to crack on and get on with it.’’
TIME AWAY FROM
RDS COULD DOUBLE
Leinster's residency at the Aviva Stadium could last two seasons while the RDS is being redeveloped. The province had hoped that their temporary move to Lansdowne Road while the Anglesea Stand is being reconstructed would be for one year, but the job could take twice that long. A notice circulated by the RDS to local residents indicated that the €50m project to build a modern 6,775 capacity stand with enhanced corporate facilities and dressing-rooms will take approximately two years.
Hoardings have been erected at the venue and the building work is believed to be imminent, with Leinster playing the majority of their home games at the Aviva Stadium starting with their URC opener against Dragons on Friday next. Leinster also have the option of using Croke Park for bigger games and will host Munster there on Oct. 12.
Leinster CEO Shane Nolan recently said that the province had sold 15,000 tickets for the season ahead. However, no matter how successful the move to the Aviva Stadium proves, Leinster will return to the RDS having signed a 25-year lease in 2022. Leinster have great support and last week they confirmed that 50,000 tickets for the game against Munster at Croke Park on Oct. 12 had been sold.
FITZGERALD
QUITS CLARE
Clare’s senior footballers are searching for their third manager in as many seasons after Mark Fitzgerald left to join Tomás Ó Sé’s backroom team with the Kerry under-20 team. Fitzgerald succeeded long-time boss Colm Collins for the 2024 season and he led them to the county’s second successive Munster senior football final where Kerry once again prevailed. The Tralee-born coach said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with his native county.
