Dundalk F.C. - History

History

The first newspaper reports of organised football in Dundalk appeared in the Dundalk Democrat on 17 December 1892, when an article about a match that had occurred nine days previously involving a club named Dundalk featured. The Dundalk team had beaten Institution 2nd XI 1–0. The sport gradually took a foothold in a developing town, which held strong ties to both the military and the railway infrastructure given its location between Dublin and Belfast, as well as links to local ports. Affiliated to the Leinster Football Association before the start of the 20th century, a team from Dundalk, commonly known as Rovers, took their place in the Leinster Senior League in 1900–01 for the first time. The club continued to exist (as the town’s most established club) until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

However, other clubs also began to make their presence felt in the locality. One in particular, the Great Northern Railway Association Club, otherwise known as the Dundalk GNR, founded in September 1903, spawned the modern-day Dundalk Football Club. The Dundalk GNR were located at the Athletic Grounds and competed in the Dundalk and District League from 1905 until 1914, although media coverage remained patchy. Sports coverage was re-instated in the local media in 1919, with the Dundalk and District League re-established in time to start a competition during the 1919–20 season. Included among the teams was a selection representing the Dundalk GNR. The club were also partaking in the Newry League at the time, but political change at a national level was to affect this. Following the formation of the Football Association of the Irish Free State (FAIFS; later to become the Football Association of Ireland or FAI) in Dublin to govern football in the Irish Free State the control of footballing matters in Northern Ireland was left to the Irish Football Association (IFA).

The Dundalk GNR were not involved in the fledgling Irish Free State Senior League (later to become the League of Ireland), which kicked off at the start of the 1921–22 season. It involved only Dublin-based clubs; all of which has stepped up from the Leinster Senior League. This ultimately opened the way for the Dundalk GNR to move up to the Leinster Senior League. They were the only club from outside of the capital to compete in the 1922–23 season. Their first game was played on 7 October 1922 against Inchicore United and ended in a 2–1 loss. Nevertheless, the club established itself in the top rank, and a third-place finish in the 1925–26 season paved the way for the club’s election to the ten-team Free State Senior League at the expense of Pioneers F.C., and ahead of Bendigo F.C. and Drumcondra; the two clubs that had headed the Dundalk GNR in their final season in the Leinster Senior League. The first game in the League of Ireland ended in a 2-1 loss to Fordsons F.C. on the 21st of August. Within four seasons, the club had moved from the Dundalk and District League, through the Leinster Senior League, and were ready to establish themselves in the elite Irish Free State Senior League, which included the likes of Shelbourne, Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers. The club, still known as the Dundalk GNR, and continuing in the black and amber kit from their pre-War origins, travelled to Cork to face Fordsons in their opening match on 21 August 1926. The match ended in a 2–1 defeat.

The club were renamed Dundalk F.C. in 1930 and became the first provincial team to win the league title in 1932–33. The club has an unbroken membership of the League of Ireland, a record shared with only two other members from that time; Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers. The club moved to their current home venue, Oriel Park, in 1936. In the 1970s and 1980s, the club had an impressive record in European competition at home, going undefeated for five years, playing against top opposition in the form of PSV Eindhoven, Hajduk Split, Celtic, Porto and Tottenham Hotspur. With almost fifty trophy-wins, including nine league titles, one First Division title and having contested fourteen FAI Cup finals, the club has one of the most successful histories in League of Ireland football. Almost one hundred of the club's players have gained representative honours for Ireland and the League of Ireland.

Since 1999, and in conjunction with Irish League side Linfield of Belfast, the club has been engaged in a peace and reconciliation programme, known as the Dunfield Project, which through the medium of football is facilitating the coming together of young people from the Dundalk and Belfast communities. In 2002, the club won the FAI Cup for a ninth time. The club operated as a co-operative, with teams competing from school-boy level in Dublin-based leagues to girls and ladies teams, along with the first-team for a period until August 2006, when they were taken over by local business man Gerry Mathews. Dundalk celebrated their 2000th league game against Finn Harps on Thursday 8 March 2007 in Oriel Park to a crowd of 3000 spectators.

A local rivalry is shared with Drogheda United, their Louth neighbours, who entered the League in 1975.

On 15 November 2008 Dundalk won promotion back to the Premier Division.