From The Dugout

FROM THE DUG OUT VINNY PERTH

I’d like to welcome Declan Devine and his Derry City players and supporters to Oriel Park for the first game of the new season. Dundalk and Derry City have a brilliant relationship. Both clubs have a lot of shared ideas and face many of the same challenges and I wish them well for the season ahead - after this evening of course!

I think it was disappointing for everyone that last weekend’s President’s Cup game was called off due to Storm Ciara. The only good thing to come out of it was that I was able to sit on the sofa and watch 12 hours of election coverage. I thought it was fascinating to see how the balance of power in many areas was swung by as little as a couple of hundred votes.

Even in our own area, some TDs lost out by narrow margins. If they were associated with our club and they were seen helping our club out would that have made a difference to their numbers? To me, the answer is definitely yes and I feel that some politicians have missed the boat.

As a football community, we need to ask politicians what they are doing for Irish sport and Irish football. We need to challenge them on that, particularly the new TDs who have been elected to the Dáil for the first time. This is an opportunity for football in this country to get the proper support that it deserves and while the previous government stepped in to help the FAI, there is a chance now to put Irish football firmly at the top table in terms of funding. Football can fix so much, from obesity to crime to mental health issues and all the way through. It’s the most participated sport in the country and that needs to be respected in terms of the funding the game receives. Both myself and the players received a lot of personal credit during the off season and each and every one of us would like to thank everybody for that. Personally, one of the highlights of my career was being named the Soccer Writers Association Personality of the Year but, at the same time, I’m aware that all of those awards relate to 2019 and it’s time now to achieve our goals for 2020, starting with tonight’s game. In terms of our squad, we have brought in players like Will Patching, Darragh Leahy, Greg Sloggett and Cammy Smith, players in their early to mid-twenties, and the challenge for them is to try and remove some established players from their positions and make the jersey their own. Ultimately, that competition is what drives our group on. What makes our established players better is young players coming in to challenge them and I think we have done that really strongly this year.

The success we achieved last year was built on three things. Firstly, the support I received from the club, second, the quality of our players and third, the support we had from our fans. I think we made a good connection with the community during the off season by bringing the trophies out. It was our way of saying thanks for the support and we will definitely need it again this season. Numerically, we might not have the biggest town or club in the country but we can certainly be the loudest and we want you all to show that again this season.

Finally, I would like to wish Mike Treacy, our former chairman, all the very best in the future. Bill Hulsizer, our new chairman, is a real positive influence at our club but it would be wrong of me not to mention Mike. He has been somebody I was able to lean on and this time 12 months ago he gave me the support to become the manager of this club and I will always be grateful to him. Enjoy the game. Vinny Perth “ I think we made a good connection with the community by bringing the trophies out during the off season. It was our way of saying thanks for the support and we will definitely need it again this season.