Retrospective

FROM THE ARCHIVES: RETROSPECTIVE

Tonight’s match is Dundalk FC’s 3928th match in senior football since 1926. Today’s President’s Cup is an FAI affair, but the original for many years.

Our overall record is Won Lost Drawn For Against 1797 1263 867 6904 5465

This is our 2450th league match Played Won Lost Drawn For Against 2449 1113 759 577 4164 3244

Dundalk v Derry City All Match Record Played Won Lost Drawn For Against 90 41 25 24 124 104

First Encounter April 26th 1944 Dundalk 1-0 Derry City Inter-City Cup Dalymount Park

The first ever match between the sides took place in an end of season cross border cup competition. The two legged tie took corners won into account to decide on matters if all ended as a draw – hence the GAA style scorelineDerry wasted three clear early opportunities to take the lead. Hughie Kelly hit the crossbar twice for Dundalk before, in the last minute, a Paddy Barlow corner was headed back across the six-yard box by Johnny Leathem for Sam Cullen to head to the net. The second leg took place in Grosvenor Park in Belfast five days later and Derry won 2-0 after a Leathem own-goal and a second half effort from Feeney.

Derry’s First Oriel Park League Match Monaghan United 0 Derry City 2 First Division 9th November 1986

The next time Derry City played at Oriel Park in a competitive fixture was in their second season in the League of Ireland. Monaghan United, managed by our own Tommy McConville, requested the

use of Oriel Park as their own Belgium Park was unsuitable for such an influx of fans. 5,000 Derry fans made the trip to Oriel Park for this game to see their side win by 2-0. Paul McLaughlin gave Derry a first half lead before a controversial goal by Yugoslav striker Alex Kristic made the points safe.

Monaghan: Ward, Forde, Donnelly, Flanagan, Quinn, G Turley, N Turley, Madden, Gilliand, Houlihan, Conlon. Sub: Finnegan for Gilliand, Reynolds for Conlon. Derry City: Roberts, O’Neill, Gauld, Keay, McLaughlin, Mahon, Harrison, King, McKechnie, Krstic, Da Gama. Subs: McGuinness for Gauld.

From the Archives: 30 Years Ago

Dundalk played Derry City on two occasions in quick succession thirty years ago this month. The first match was an entertaining 0-0 draw in the Brandywell on January 31st. This match marked the first use of the new Brandywell Stadium floodlights. On the 11th February, the day that Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Dundalk hosted Jim McLaughlin’s reigning league champions in front of 2,500 spectators. Both sides were under pressure for points as Brian Kerr’s St Pats were top of the table. Unfortunately for Dundalk, this match ended Turlough O’Connor’s hopes of bringing the title back Tony Cousins and Mick Neville 1990

to Oriel Park. Derry took the lead in the 28th minute when Paul Curran scored via the underside of the crossbar. Derry extended their lead after 68 minutes when Felix Healy’s cross was dummied by Alex Krstic and John Coady picked his spot to give Alan O’Neill no chance. Dundalk responded immediately and Martin Lawlor headed powerfully into the roof of the net past Tim Dalton from Gino Lawless’ corner kick. However, Dundalk’s hopes of a point ended in the closing minutes when Paul Doolin combined with Paul Hegarty to score. The teams that afternoon were:

Dundalk: O’Neill, Lawless, Lawlor, Coll, Malone, McNulty, Cleary, Shelley, Cousins, Eviston, Newe.

Derry: Dalton, Vaudequin, Brady, Neville, Curran, Carlyle, Coady, Healy, Speake, Coyle, Doolin. Subs: Kristic for Coyle, Hegarty for Brady.

From the Archives: 25 Years Ago

The two sides also played two matches in quick succession in March 1995. With both sides challenging for the Double, the FAI Cup ¼ Final match on March 9th ended in disappointment for Dundalk when, on a horrendous night, Dundalk keeper Jody Byrne’s clearance was blocked by Peter Hutton and the ball fell kindly for Liam Coyle to score with an amazing finish from 30 yards into the empty net. Dundalk’s season threatened to come off the rails a week later at the RDS against Shamrock Rovers when a terrible defensive performance led to a further defeat. Perhaps it was Martin Lawlor’s scathing comments in the media about that performance that inspired Dundalk to produce one of their best performance of the season when Derry returned to Oriel on Thursday 23rd March. Dundalk had chance after chance saved by Dermot O’Neill in the first half. Eddie Van Boxtel, recalled to the side, made several saves of his own when Felix Healy’s side upped their game. Dundalk got the breakthrough in the 63rd minute when John Coady’s long throw was knocked on by Mick Doohan and Peter Withnell lashed the ball into

the net from 15 yards. Given that Dundalk were to pip Derry to the title with the narrowest of margins one month later, Van Boxtel’s save from Harry McCourt, diving at his feet to make a magnificent last second block, was season defining. Soon afterwards, Dundalk sealed the points when Doohan converted Brian Byrne’s corner from six yards when his shot into the ground looped over the defenders on the line into the roof of the net. Eddie Van Boxtel

On the day Eric Cantona was sentence to two weeks in prison for his famous kung-fu kick, the teams that day were:

Dundalk: Van Boxtel, Purdy, Coady, Doohan, Coll, Whelan, McNulty, Hanrahan, Withnell, Kelly, Byrne. Subs: Britton for Withnell

Derry: O’Neill, Vaudequin, McLoughlin, Curran, Gauld, Carlyle, Doolin, McKeever, Hutton, Coyle, McCourt. Subs: Kinnaird for McKeever.

From the Archives: 21 Years Ago

This week in 1999, Dundalk were showing some signs of fight against relegation that would ultimately prove unsuccessful. This month 20 years ago, Dundalk travelled to the Brandywell for some respite from League troubles with an FAI Cup 2nd round match. A large travelled support witnessed a brave yet unsuccessful battle against the Candystripes. The match was settled by four minutes of mayhem. After 24 minutes, Eddie McCallion split the Dundalk defence to set Michael McHugh free on the left. His cross was of no danger to Dundalk but Padraig Gollogley’s attempted clearance ended up being drilled past Steve Williams for an horrendous own-goal. Minutes later, indecision in the Dundalk defence led to McHugh setting up Liam Coyle to finish calming past Williams to make it 2-0.

Mick Doohan The teams that day were: Derry: Platt, Darren Kelly, Michael Kelly, Hutton, Curran, Hargan, Doherty, Hegarty, Coyle, McCallion, McHugh. Subs: McCaul for Coyle, Gallagher for McCallion. Jonathan Speake

Dundalk: Williams, Reddish, Crawley, Melvin, Gollogley, McNulty, Dunne, Campbell, Martin, Ward, Sharkey. Subs: Harte for Dunne, Byrne for Martin. Colin Casey unused sub.

Season Openers: The Best of Starts: 1996/97 30th August 1996

The highlight of the 1996/97 season was the opening match on the 31st August. With ex-Aberdeen and Glasgow Celtic star John Hewitt appointed as playermanager, optimism was high that Dundalk could challenge to regain their title. Several new recruits arrived into Oriel Park and pre-season had progressed well. The opening match of the season pitted Dundalk up against St Patrick’s

Athletic, who had won the league at Oriel Park on the last day of the 95/96 season. Dundalk overcame the odds on the opening day of the new season to win 1-0. New goalkeeper Les Fridge produced a stunning debut with several saves, the most incredible of which was a stunning tip over from Ricky O’Flaherty’s close-range header. The Napier-Doohan partnership in centre of defence, supported by young full backs David Crawley and Sean Murphy, held firm to keep the clean sheet. The winner was a fluke: Packie Lynch’s attempted back-pass to Gareth Byrne seemed harmless but the keeper took his eye of the ball and it slipped under his foot and into the net. That was the end of the good luck for the most part, as Hewitt was gone by February and Dundalk needed to survive a relegation play-off.

The Dundalk team that day was: Fridge, Murphy, Crawley, Doohan, Napier, Nesbitt, McNulty, Hewitt,

Les Fridge Liam Coyle

Hanrahan, Byrne, Campbell. Subs: Browne for Byrne, Patterson for Hanrahan. comeback, but O’Brien was to get his second of the night when he headed home Brennan’s free kick. A night that was set up to help erase memories of that FAI Cup Semi-Final had ended in disaster. Not to worry, within two months Dundalk beat Drogheda 7-0. This was also that night that Simon Kelly was sent off – along with his ex-Dundalk team-mate Philly Hughes – for a half-time tunnel skirmish. This would lead to one of our more bizarre stats – as Simon ended up having more red cards than actual appearances in the 2014 season.

Season Openers: The Worst of Starts: 2014 7th March 2014

In 1990, Shelbourne came to Oriel Park on the opening day of the season and romped to a 5-1 win. Dundalk recovered to win the title. A similar feat was achieved in 2014 when Dundalk recovered from the bizarre spectacle of a heavy defeat on opening night to Drogheda United to win our first title in 19 years. With Daryl Horgan and Sean Gannon making league debuts, Dundalk fell behind to an Eric Foley free kick just before the break. Early in the second half Gavin Brennan made it 2-0 after Alan McNally hit the crossbar. It soon became 3-0 when Fabio O’Brien swept a loose ball into the net after Daire Doyle’s shot was blocked. Pat Hoban pulled one back on the hour mark to threaten a The Dundalk team that night was Cherrie, Gannon, Massey, Boyle, Shields, Higgins, O’Donnell, Towell, Hoban, Byrne, Horgan. Subs: McMillan for Byrne, Meenan for Higgins, Mountney for Gannon.

Peter Withnell