History of Dundalk F.C. (1903–1965)


The History of Dundalk Football Club briefly describes the introduction of association football to the town of Dundalk, Ireland in the pre-World War I period, then subsequently covers the period from the formation of the Dundalk G.N.R. Association Club in September 1903 to the takeover of the club as a public limited company in January 1966. This page also includes short articles about events and people that were an integral part of that period of the club's history.

Football's origins in the town (1885–1914)

Contemporary records of organised association football in the Dundalk area between the late 1880s, and the end of the World War I, are incomplete. The earliest reference to a Dundalk team playing in competition appears in the Belfast Newsletter of 2 October 1889, stating that "Dundalk" had been drawn to play Newry Wanderers in the First Round of the Irish Football Association Irish Junior Cup – the third year of the competition. This side was a team from the Educational Institution. They had adopted the game under their principal Thomas A. Finch, who had played while a student at Trinity College Dublin. Older references to "Dundalk F.C." and "Dundalk Football Club" actually refer to the modern day Dundalk Rugby Club, formed in 1877.
In 1892, a new team called "Dundalk" was formed. The Dundalk Democrat reported on a match that had occurred on Saturday 3 December 1892, which was the fifth encounter between Dundalk and the Institution 2nd XI, after four previous draws. This club established itself as the premier club in the town between about 1895 and 1909. They were runners-up to Bohemians in the 1896–97 Leinster Senior Cup Final, and were invited to enter the Leinster Senior League for the 1900–01 season in September 1900. For the step up they adopted the name "Dundalk Rovers" and Rovers did not survive the season, however, being requested to resign from the League "owing to their inability to fulfil their engagements". The club continued to compete in the cup competitions, however, reaching the Leinster Junior Cup Final in 1903, where they lost out to St. Patrick's of Inchicore.
Before the 1904–05 season commenced, an attempt was made to amalgamate the clubs of the town under the "Dundalk Association Football Club" banner in order to give the town a better chance at success in the cup competitions. The representatives of the Nomads club insisted that the "Rovers" moniker be dropped, to show that the new club was to represent the whole town. The amalgamated club reached the Leinster Junior Cup Final that season, being defeated by Shamrock Rovers. The following season they became founder members of the inaugural Dundalk and District League alongside Drogheda, St. Nicholas's, St Mary's College, Carrickmacross and the Great Northern Railway. To "save ambiguity" they became known as Rovers again, and formalised the name change the following year.
St Mary's College won the DDL in its first season, with British Army sides winning it for the following three seasons. The League appears to have been inactive for the four season 1909–10 to 1912–13, at a time when Gaelic football had become dominant in the county, and Rovers were replaced by St Nicholas's as Dundalk's representatives in the Irish and Leinster Junior Cup competitions in those seasons. The DDL was reformed in 1913–14, and Rovers returned to the league and to contest the Junior Cups. But that was their last season of competition before World War I broke out. After they failed to fulfil a 1914–15 Irish Junior Cup tie with Dundalk G.N.R. in November 1914, Rovers disappeared from competition until 1924, by which time it was "the Railwaymen" that had become the preeminent football club in the area.

Dundalk G.N.R. in junior football (1903–1922)

The Dundalk Great Northern Railway Football Club was established in 1885, initially as a rugby football club. In September 1903 it switched codes to association football, setting in motion its journey to become the modern day Dundalk Football Club. The new club, known locally as "the Railwaymen", adopted the Dundalk Athletic Grounds as its home ground. At first they played challenge matches against other teams in the area, including sides from British Army regiments garrisoned in the town, then became founder members of the DDL in 1905–06. There are no records of the club being active between the 1907–08 and 1912–13 seasons, however it rejoined the local league in 1913–14. The DDL was dormant during World War I, but Dundalk G.N.R. did compete in both the Irish and Leinster Junior Cup competitions of 1913–14, 1914–15 and 1916–17; while another side, Dundalk Town, competed in the 1917–18 and 1918–19 competitions.
In 1919 the founder of the Dundalk Town club, P.J. Casey, lead the revival of the Dundalk and District League, and affiliated it with the Leinster Football Association. The G.N.R. club appears to have been inactive in the 1917–18 and 1918–19 seasons due to the war, but it re-formed too, and its members decided to enter every competition available to them that season – joining both the DDL and Newry and District League. A victory over Dundalk Town in the Irish Junior Cup of 1919–20, was a prelude to the G.N.R. team becoming the local scene's dominant side for the next three seasons. They had two wins and one runners-up finish in the DDL, and also won through to represent the district in the Junior Cup competitions each of those seasons. In 1920 they reached their first final, the Leinster Junior Cup Final, losing out to Avonmore after two replays.

Stepping up (1922–1931)

Early successes (1932–1949)

With Wright still in charge, Dundalk became the first team from outside of Dublin to win a league title in 1932–33. Indeed, they were the first team from outside Dublin or Belfast to win a league title in Ireland since the inception of the Irish League in 1890. In the process they secured their first league victories over Shelbourne and Bohemians – Dublin's two original Irish League clubs. A shot at a League and Shield Double was spurned, when three defeats in a row towards the end of the Shield programme saw them slip to a runners-up spot. After Wright departed in 1934, the club became notorious for the number of cup final defeats suffered. There were FAI Cup and Leinster Senior Cup final defeats in 1934–35, and Dublin City Cup and Leinster Senior Cup final defeats the following season, which was their last season at the Athletic Grounds before the committee decided to move to land made available by P.J. Casey on the Carrick Road, naming the new ground "Oriel Park".
In 1936–37, the first season at their new home, they finished as runners-up again in both the City Cup and Leinster Senior Cup, as well as in the League. The search for cup success now became something of an obsession for both the club and the people of the town. Dundalk Rovers had lost one Leinster Senior Cup and two Leinster Junior Cup finals during their time as the town's premier side; while Dundalk G.N.R. had lost a Leinster Junior Cup final prior to joining the Leinster Senior League, and, in their final match competing as "Dundalk G.N.R.", they were defeated in their first Leinster Senior Cup final. The number of cup final defeats now stretched to eight across three tournaments since joining the Free State League. They had lost two Dublin City Cup finals in a row, so when they won the 1938 City Cup, defeating Cork 2–1 after extra time in the final, there was much rejoicing. "Dundalk have at last won a Cup Final!" exclaimed the Irish Press.
Following on from the City cup win, they lead the Shield midway through its schedule, but, despite only losing once, they fell away due to the number of matches drawn. There was a similar story in the League, where they had the best defensive record and thrashed eventual champions Shamrock Rovers 5–1 in Glenmalure Park, but a run of three defeats saw them fall two points short of the title. Ironically, the losses to two of those teams – Sligo Rovers and Waterford – were followed by victories over both in the FAI Cup, to set up a final against St James's Gate – the third of those teams to defeat them in the League. The City Cup win hadn't changed their final day luck, however, as a third FAI Cup Final defeat followed. Another opportunity to win their first Shield was spurned in 1939–40 with a final day home defeat to Sligo Rovers, when a win would have sealed it. With the club still heavily relying on gate receipts from cup ties to cover costs, a first round defeat to Leinster Senior League side Distillery in the FAI Cup was a huge setback. Within days a number of players had been transferred to cut the wage bill, and trainer Gerry McCourt played a number of matches – despite having retired three years earlier. So a promising League season, which had seen them lead midway through the programme, petered out with Dundalk slipping to fourth after a number of defeats.
They were runners-up in the City Cup again in 1940–41 and, by this stage, supporters had come to believe that the club was jinxed. So when they finally won their first FAI Cup in 1942 by defeating Cork United in the final in Dalymount Park, a crowd said to be in the thousands greeted the team at the railway station on their return, cheering them through the streets during an impromptu parade. Five weeks later they were unofficially crowned "Champions of All Ireland", after winning the inaugural Dublin and Belfast Inter-City Cup. Having defeated northern sides Glentoran, Distillery and Belfast Celtic, they overcame Shamrock Rovers in the final. The following September, in the new season, a second Dublin City Cup was added, with victory over Drumcondra in the final, but they couldn't keep up the momentum and missed out on forcing play-offs by a single point in both the Shield and the League.
For the next few seasons they lay in mid-table, while the management committee relied on player sales to English clubs to bankroll the club. But, with an improving squad, came a succession of near misses. The Shield remained elusive – they finished as runners-up to Drumcondra by a point in 1946–47, when the latter equalised with minutes remaining in their final match to secure the point they needed. Then, in 1947–48, they just missed out in both the League and the Dublin City Cup by a point. So the committee decided to invest its surplus from transfer dealings that season on a player-coach, and a number of full-time players, in an ambitious attempt to win the trophies that had been beyond reach. The investment immediately paid off when the City Cup was won at the start of the new season by topping its league format unbeaten; while the club's second FAI Cup was delivered with victory over Shelbourne in the final. But the new team fell short in both the Shield and the League, and, despite the Cup double and improved gate receipts, the additional income was not enough to cover the increase in costs.

League decline and recovery (1950–1965)

The attempt to maintain a full-time squad hadn't paid off and, as a result, the team was broken up. A surplus from transfer dealings prevented a more serious financial crisis arising, and, despite the large turnover in players, Dundalk finally won the Leinster Senior Cup for the first time in 1950–51, with victory over St. Patrick's Athletic at the death in the final - a match noteworthy for being the first held in Ireland to use a white ball. But the cutbacks were starting to tell, and they finished second from bottom in the League in 1951–52. However, they went on a memorable FAI Cup run - coming from 3–1 down in the semi-final replay against Waterford to win 6–4 in extra time; following that up with victory over Cork Athletic in the final, to deliver the club's third FAI Cup. Dundalk's opening goalscorer in the replay, Johnny Fearon, was the only survivor of the 1949 cup-winning side.
Midway through the 1952–53 season, Club Secretary Sam Prole left to take over at Drumcondra. Prole, a Great Northern Railway employee, had essentially run the club since its G.N.R. days, and had been primarily responsible for its transfer activities. Player sales tailed off after his departure, and the subsequent drop in income left the club struggling to make ends meet. As a result, obliged to focus on controlling costs, Dundalk spent most of the decade around the bottom of the league table. A first round FAI Cup defeat to Transport in 1954 was notable for being their first defeat in an FAI Cup tie in Oriel Park, 18-years after the club moved to the ground. The nadir was reached the following season, when they finished last in both the Shield and the League, and were knocked out of both the City Cup and the FAI Cup in the first round. Slowly, things started to turn around, and a cup run in which no goals were conceded ended with victory over Shamrock Rovers in the 1958 final, giving them their fourth FAI Cup. Inside-right Hughie Gannon broke his jaw in the process of scoring the only goal of the final and missed the celebrations, having to spend a week in hospital.
The following season was another write-off, but the committee were finally able to put together a balanced squad for 1959–60, and some of the best results in years saw Dundalk go into 1960 at the top of the League table, finishing three points off the top that season. The club's highest finish in 12 seasons lead to optimism that the lean years might be coming to an end, and, to help make the case, a second Leinster Senior Cup was picked up in 1960–61. Then, with trainer Gerry McCourt having to manage a squad split between separate training bases in Dundalk and Dublin, they won their first League title for 30 years in 1962–63 in nerve-shredding fashion. In the final game, away to Bohemians, they had to come from two goals down to score twice in the last five minutes, securing a point. They then had to wait a full week for a fixture backlog to clear, with Shelbourne, Cork Celtic and Drumcondra all in the hunt. All three faltered, confirming Dundalk as Champions.
Following that success, they entered European competition for the first time, where they became the first Irish side to win an away leg of a European tie by beating FC Zurich 2–1 in the 1963–64 European Cup, inspired by forward Jimmy Hasty – who scored one, assisted another and hit the crossbar with a chance to level the tie. Dundalk couldn't manage to retain the title that season, finishing as runners-up to Shamrock Rovers, but did prevent Rovers achieving an unprecedented clean sweep of competitions by winning the season-end Top Four Cup. The two seasons 1964–65 and 1965–66 saw the team fall away again, and by the end of 1965 it was clear that the debts, the condition of Oriel Park, and the need to rebuild the playing squad, were challenges beyond the membership-based ownership model. A new public limited company took the club over in January 1966, after the voluntary liquidation of the old company.

The anatomy of Dundalk: a history in stubs

Year founded

The official year of formation of Dundalk Football Club is up for debate. Each of the following has grounds for consideration:
Owing to the lack of contemporary records retained by the club, they themselves have quoted each of 1919, 1922, and 1926 as foundation dates in various programme notes and publications, while the latter date is often used by external sources. Following extensive research by club historian, Jim Murphy, the true year of formation is either 1903 or 1919 - indeed, the Double win in 1979 was celebrated as having taken place in the club's Diamond Jubilee year. The answer depends on whether the G.N.R. club formed in 1919 is considered a new club or a continuation of the old club, despite appearing to have been inactive in the 1907–1913 and 1917–1919 periods. Murphy's work indicates it's the latter, giving a year of formation of 1903 – the year the G.N.R. Football Club switched codes from rugby to association football.

The works teams

A works-team, or factory-team, is a sports team created and run by a business. Dundalk F.C. were founded as the works-team of the Great Northern Railway in 1903. When the club joined the League of Ireland in 1926, it was one of four works-teams in the 10-team League - the others being Jacobs, St. James's Gate and Fordsons. Another railway works-team – Midland Athletic of the Midland Great Western Railway – had competed for two seasons, but became defunct when the company was merged into the Great Southern Railways Company. Another side, Transport, joined the League in 1948–49 but, after they failed to be re-elected for 1962–63, Dundalk were again left as the only surviving club in the League with works-team roots. The football club outgrew the G.N.R., becoming a membership-based limited company in 1932. The works themselves became Dundalk Engineering Works Ltd in 1958 with the demise of the G.N.R.. Employment at the works dwindled over the subsequent years and the company eventually went into receivership in 1985 with the loss of the remaining 300 jobs - at a time when unemployment in the town had reached 26%.

All-Ireland Champions!

Following the split between the Belfast-based IFA and the Dublin-based Leinster Football Association, who founded the FAI in 1921, both associations claimed to be the representative body for football on the island of Ireland. Both competed as "Ireland" on the international stage and both selected players from both jurisdictions for matches. This situation had partly arisen because the four UK associations had withdrawn from Fifa between 1920 and 1946.
Despite the split, there were numerous attempts at reconciliation. Dundalk's Sam Prole lead many of these endeavours on principle, but also because competing against Northern sides was felt to be in Dundalk's interests commercially. With the onset of World War II the League of Ireland and particularly the Irish League were suffering financially due to a lack of matches, and administrators from both associations agreed to the creation of a cross-border competition - the Dublin and Belfast Inter-City Cup. It was the first time there had been formalised all-Ireland competition since the partition of Ireland and the first 'true' all-Ireland competition, given that the original Irish League only contained two teams from outside what became Northern Ireland - Bohemians and Shelbourne of Dublin.
In the competition's first season, six of the 10 League of Ireland sides were matched up with all six Irish League sides in a two-legged knockout format. Dundalk defeated Glentoran in the first round, Distillery in the second, and Belfast Celtic in the semi-final - all northern sides. Dundalk then defeated Shamrock Rovers in the final to become Irish football's first 'All-Ireland Champions'. The competition survived until the end of the decade, but a combination of factors saw it discontinued.

The Scottish Team

Dundalk had finished as runners-up in the League in 1947–48, unbeaten at home, and with a healthy surplus from improved gates, friendlies against Everton and Luton Town, and transfer dealings. This allowed the management-committee to make some much needed improvements to Oriel Park that summer. However the appointment of Ned Weir as the team's new Head Coach, a Scottish physio, and the signing of six Scottish full-time players, represented a gamble by the club. As things stood, gate-receipts did not match wages, and player transfers to England in the years following World War II were keeping it afloat. So the investment was an ambitious attempt to bring the club to a new level of competitiveness and success, and the hope was that gate-receipts would follow. The City Cup was won at the start of the new season by topping its League format unbeaten; while in the League and Shield they were competitive without really threatening to win either competition - finishing third in both. But the club's fourth FAI Cup was delivered with victory over champions-elect Drumcondra in the semi-final, and Shelbourne in the final. They reached the final of the last Dublin and Belfast Inter-City Cup, where a tired side that had played four games in six days, then four more in 11 days after a short break, were defeated in the final. But, despite two cups, the gamble hadn't paid off. Between 1946–47 and 1948–49 income had doubled, however wages and costs had almost trebled in the same period, and the cash surplus had become a significant debt within a year. It didn't help that on the day of the cup final the players demanded a 20% increase in the win bonus, refusing to tog-out until it was agreed. As a result, the "Scottish team" was broken up at the end of the season, and the dream of maintaining a full-time squad was over. Only one player, Newry man Johnny Fearon, would still be at the club for its next FAI Cup success three seasons later. He would later become the team physio during the 1970s.

The names heard long ago

Samuel Robert Prole

Sam Prole was the Secretary of Dundalk F.C. from 1928 until 1952. In his role at the club he had a reputation for doing whatever it took to "keep the show on the road". Prole was a Great Northern Railway employee from Dublin who joined up to fight in World War I, before moving to Dundalk to the G.N.R. Works on his return home. He played with the re-formed football club from 1919 until a broken leg ended his playing career in 1923. Prole had already joined the management committee of the club by the end of his playing days, and it was his driving ambition that saw the club step up into the Leinster Senior League and later the Free State League. Without his efforts - in particular in the player transfer market - it's unlikely that the club would have survived its early years in the League. Prole was also a long-term member of numerous FAI and League of Ireland committees throughout his career as a football administrator, including serving as Chairman of the FAI Council, and it was he who lead most of the efforts during the 1930s and 1940s to reconcile the FAI and the IFA after the split of 1921. He was also an advocate for the betterment of the League and Irish football as a whole. For instance he was calling for a close season for the League in winter and playing into the summer as early as 1937, and was critical of RTÉ in FAI meetings in 1965 for scrapping its soccer highlights show and the broadcaster's lack of publicity for its replacement.
During his years at Dundalk he was the G.N.R. 'Works Manager's Chief Clerk'. After retiring from the G.N.R., and because Dundalk was still a membership-based club, he decided it was time to strike out on his own. So he joined the board of Drumcondra in February 1953, before taking the club over from the Hunter family with his sons. Over the following 19 years they had considerable success. But, after a period of decline, Drums agreed to be taken over by Home Farm in 1972, ending the Prole family's association with the club. Sam Prole vacated the role of Chairman of the FAI Council the same summer, bringing his 50-year career as a football administrator to a close. He died in 1975.

Eddie Carroll

Eddie Carroll was Dundalk's first star player. From Bessbrook in Northern Ireland, he joined the club from Dundee United for Dundalk's second League of Ireland season and, over the following two seasons, he scored 75 times in 65 appearances - including a hat-trick on his debut, the first by a Dundalk player in the League. Nominally a centre-forward, he was reputed to have played in every position including goalkeeper at least once for the team Following a dispute with the club, after an argument with Dundalk's first Irish international Bob Egan, he left for Newry Town, then joined Dolphin, but returned in 1932 for Dundalk's first League winning season. Now playing as a right-sided winger he still chipped in with another 37 goals in 101 appearances, including becoming the first player to score four goals in a League of Ireland match. He left again early in the 1935–36 season to return to Dolphin, who went on to win their only League title that season. He had one more short stint at Dundalk in 1937 as a player, scoring one more goal, and trained the team's Dublin-based players until 1940. He holds the club record for most goals scored in the League of Ireland Shield and the joint-record with Jimmy Hasty for most goals scored in the Leinster Senior Cup.

Billy O'Neill

William 'Billy' O'Neill holds the club record for the most Ireland international caps while at Dundalk, earning 11 caps between 1935 and 1939. O'Neill made 330 appearances for Dundalk between 1934 and 1944. Despite starting out as a full-back, he scored 16 goals in 20 games when pressed into service at centre-forward in his debut season, including a hat-trick in his first match in the position. He also scored in all four rounds of the 1934–35 FAI Cup, including in the 4–3 loss to Bohemians in the final. But he would play most of his career at right full-back, which was also his position in the Irish team. His first cap came aged just 19 in a defeat to the Netherlands in December 1935, after which 'Socaro' of the Irish Press wrote: "The score at the end was 5–3 - but for that small margin thanks, in the most lavish terms, are due to O'Neill, our right full back... was brilliant." The outbreak of World War II cut short O'Neill's international career when he was just 23 years old. A 1–1 draw away to Germany was his 11th and last cap in Ireland's final match before the war, a game that saw two Dundalk full-backs play. By the time Ireland played again he had already retired from football, aged 28. O'Neill never won a League title at Dundalk, but did receive winner's medals in the club's first four cup victories, including the 'jinx' breaking FAI Cup victory of 1942. His record with Ireland: won 5; drew 4; lost 2 – and only two other League of Ireland players have made more international appearances.

Jimmy Hasty

One of Jim McLaughlin's first tasks at Dundalk, after being appointed player-manager, was to play in a Dundalk-Drogheda selection for the Jimmy Hasty benefit match in Oriel Park on 13 December 1974. A favourite of Dundalk supporters, Hasty had been murdered in a sectarian shooting near his home in Belfast on 11 October.
Jimmy Hasty signed for Dundalk in November 1960, making a scoring debut against Cork Celtic at Oriel Park then, five weeks later on St. Stephen's Day, he scored the only goal in Dundalk's second ever Leinster Senior Cup final win. Hasty had only one arm, having lost his left arm in a factory accident aged 16. But his reputation as a goalscorer, who had learned to use his disability to his advantage on the pitch, had attracted Dundalk Director Jim Malone. When Malone saw Hasty play for Newry Town he was so confident in Hasty's ability that he paid him a signing on fee with a personal cheque, vouching for him in front of a sceptical board. But Hasty instantly became a star, with spectators flocking to grounds all over the League to see him play. By the time Hasty left the club in 1966, he had won League, Top Four Cup and Leinster Senior Cup medals. He was also joint top-scorer in the 1963–64 season and had assisted the first goal and scored the second in the famous match in Zurich - the first away victory by an Irish side in European competition. Over six seasons he made 170 appearances, scoring 103 goals. His final goal in the League of Ireland came in February 1967, when he scored for Drogheda against Alan Fox's Dundalk side that would go on to win the League that season. In recent years Hasty has been the subject of documentaries on both RTÉ and BBC.