A round-up of Dundalk FC’s community activity during October.

Youth Reach Blitz

Dundalk FC, in conjunction with An Garda Síochána, hosted a Youth Reach Blitz in Oriel Park, where six Youth Reach Centres from around the Dundalk area took part. Everyone attending the event enjoyed it and the weather was great!

Down Syndrome Futsal Tournament

On Sunday 6th October, the League of Ireland Down Syndrome Futsal Festival returned for the second series at the National Sports Campus in Abbotstown.

Before commencing the tournament, all teams held a minute’s silence in honour of Mark ‘Maxi’ Kavanagh. As a mark of respect, the lads also wore Head in The Game armbands to raise awareness for mental health.

After narrowly missing out on victory earlier this year, Dundalk displayed impressive form in the group stage. Placed alongside Sligo Rovers, Cork City and Derry City, Dundalk started strong with a 6-1 victory over Derry. David O’Hare led the charge with four goals, while Michéal McCloy and Aaron Connolly scored one each.

Next up, they secured a 4-1 win against Sligo, thanks to goals from McCloy, Jamie Linden (2) and Jonathan Evans. Dundalk completed the group stage with a 1-1 draw against Cork, with Linden finding the net, ensuring they topped the group with seven points.

In the semi-finals, Dundalk triumphed over Wexford FC 2-1, with Kevin Trainer netting both goals to send the team to the final for the second time.

Facing Finn Harps once again in a rematch of June’s final, Dundalk came up short, losing 3-2 despite Trainer’s two goals. Harps’ goalkeeper made three outstanding saves in the closing minutes to secure the win, and Dundalk finished as runners-up in the Cairdeas Cup for the second time.

Dundalk FC: Declan Donaghy, Conor McGuinness, Jonathan Evans, Aaron Connolly, Adam Nulty, David O’Hare, Jamie Linden, Conor Halpenny, Kevin Trainer, Michéal McCloy. GK’s: Goalkeeper against Derry was Kevin, against Sligo was David, against Cork was Michéal, against Wexford was Kevin and then David for the final.

Huge well done to everyone involved, especially their coaches, Aoife Burns, Luke Murphy and Noah Linden.

The initiative is a collaboration between the FAI Football For All programme and the League of Ireland via the Clubs’ Football and Social Responsibility (FSR) Officers and provides players with Down Syndrome countrywide with an opportunity to line out for their local League of Ireland clubs.

6 October 2024; The Dundalk team with Republic of Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, goal-keeping coach Gudmundur Hreidarsson and assistant coach John O’Shea during the FAI League of Ireland Down Syndrome Festival at the National Indoor Arena Futsal Courts in Dublin. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile.

Not Around Us Campaign

Dundalk FC has partnered with the “Not Around Us” campaign (NAU) funded by Healthy Louth. We are making sure that key areas like the family zones, shop and vendor spots on matchday remain smoke and vape-free, creating a safer and healthier environment for all fans, especially our youngest fans.

Our half-time games on matchnight are funded by the NAU campaign, where our young players will be wearing bibs with the NAU logo, reminding everyone to respect smoke-free zones. The NAU campaign also funded our booklet for the Trí Little Birds School Football Programme, which has some fun activities like a colouring competition and t-shirt design contest, all centred around keeping our community smoke-free. 

School Visits

We visited schools in the Cooley Peninsula in the lead-up to the Derry and Shamrock Rovers game. Rathcor NS, Mullaghbuoy NS, Ramparts NS and Monksland NS were visited by our FSR Officer and some first-team players where they got to do a Q&A with the players, get autographs and photos with them. We also visited St Nicholas’ NS and Scoil Eoin Baiste in the town ahead of the Shamrock Rovers game.

St Brigid’s School Football Team

St Brigid’s School football team came up to Oriel Park in October to watch a first-team training session, have a kick-about together on the pitch, take some penalties on the goalkeepers, and got to meet all the players and get autographs and pictures with them. They had a great afternoon with lads.

Ardee Celtic U10s

We welcomed Ardee Celtic Under-10 boys to be our flag bearers and play a half-time mini-match at the Derry game. The boys were the first to wear our NAU bibs to help us spread awareness of our Not Around Us Campaign which is funded by Healthy Louth.

Trí Little Birds School Football Programme Booklet

The Trí Little Birds School Football Programme booklet is now available to download for free in PDF form by clicking HERE. This booklet is aimed at Primary School children and is funded by the Not Around Us campaign from Healthy Louth. 

Bucket Collections

In October, we had the Louth/Meath branch of Down Syndrome Ireland collect for their sports section and would like to thank everyone for their support. We also had the Dundalk branch of the Irish Wheelchair Association finish off our bucket collections for the year.

If your charity or Not for Profit organisation would like to do a bucket collection in 2025, please send an expression of interest e-mail to aoife.burns@dundalkfc.com. Thank you to our fans this year for supporting all the charity bucket collections – 15 charities and Not for Profit organisations benefited from your generosity.

Halloween Camp

Our Halloween camp was a great success and all the children loved meeting all their Dundalk FC heroes. Keep an eye out on our social media early January for our Easter and Summer dates.