We should all be very angry today. Every single man, woman and child with an interest in Irish football should be trembling with rage today. It’s not the time for tribal rivalries.
It’s not the day for sneering at the breaking hearts of thousands of Dundalk FC supporters. Stomachs are churning and tears are being shed at the grim uncertainty surrounding the status of a club that, for over a century, has been at the heart of this border community. Will there be a Dundalk FC by the end of today? That this is even a question should fire up the fury of anyone with a passing interest in the beautiful game.
READ MORE: D-Day for Dundalk FC: When plug could be pulled, club debt, money needed to get to end of season & how table would look with results expunged READ MORE: Dundalk ‘could go out of business within the next couple of weeks’ - fears for League of Ireland giants raised at FAI AGM We should be angry that there is even a chance that the book is about to close on 121 years of history, on a club with 14 League of Ireland titles, second only to Shamrock Rovers. We should be angry that their fans feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness today. We should be angry that the money they raised to pay for matchday costs last Friday - to get the team fed and down to Waterford - could count for naught.
We should be angry for John Murphy, a Lilywhites playing legend who, just 35 years younger than his beloved club, still climbs the steps of the crumbling old Oriel Park Main Stand to sit in his regular seat and commentate on games for Dundalk FM. We should be angry for Gerry Malone, a veteran Dundalk Democrat journalist, one of the great characters in the press box, whose dad Jim served the club with distinction. We should be angry for the late Jim McLaughlin, the manager who delivered three league titles, three FAI Cups and two League Cups while Jim Malone was serving as vice-chairman.
We should be angry for Jimmy Hasty, the club’s famous one-armed striker who, after scoring 103 goals in 170 appearances for Dundalk, was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries at the age of just 35. We should be angry for Stephen Kenny, whose four league titles arrived in only the last decade, and whose European heroics should have set the club on the pathway to financial stability for decades to come. Yet even after a second Europa League group stage qualification four years ago, Dundalk find themselves on the brink.
Kenny was in Waterford last Friday to watch his son Eoin line out for the Lilywhites. The former manager spent his time approaching old friends and colleagues, asking about their wellbeing. We should be angry for the familiar faces who sit in the same seats, home game after home game.
We see those faces time and again from our perch in the press box. Parents with their children, grandparents with their grandchildren; generations brought together by a love of their football club. The chats before kick-off as friends catch up, the cheers, jeers and groans, and the handshakes and slaps on the back at the end of the night.
‘See you next time,’ they’d say to each other as they head for the exits. We should be angry that there might not be a next time. We should be angry that there was a loophole in the FAI's licencing regulations that, given the timing of the takeover, meant it wasn't subjected to the type of rigorous oversight that is meant to protect clubs from themselves.
We should be angry that an end to Dundalk would upend the league table, sending leaders Shelbourne into second place. Their crime? Being more successful over Dundalk this season than Derry City. It would also punish Waterford in their quest for Europe.
As with Shelbourne, 10 points would vanish in the blink of an eye. Galway United would lose nine. We should be angry that anger is such an energy-sapping and negative emotion, yet it feels like the only appropriate one today.
We should be angry for so many reasons today, because most of us know how it feels to fear for the future of our beloved club. It’s not that long ago that Shelbourne were on life-support. The same goes for Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Waterford.
Cork City went through a painstaking rebuild to become Dundalk’s bitterest of rivals during the Kenny era. Clubs have come and gone in this flawed league that we love so much, while others have limped from crisis to crisis. But there is something different about today, as a community waits to hear whether its heart will be ripped from its chest.
This is Dundalk. This is 121 years of history, of characters, of glory and pain, of European adventures. And it’s 121 years of people.
Ordinary folk who have cherished this football club and the unforgettable moments that have come with supporting it. Today is not the day for sneers or for tribal rivalries. It’s a day to feel angry.
And to hope for a miracle. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts ..
