Dundalk FC are delighted to announce Daryl Horgan as our new Club Captain, with the winger calling it a “massive, massive honour”.
With the club having received a licence for 2025 on Thursday afternoon, manager Ciarán Kilduff’s first new signings will be unveiled this weekend, but he first confirmed that Horgan will be his captain, taking over from the departed John Mountney.
A winner of three league titles in a row with Dundalk between 2014 and 2016, a spell which included the double alongside Kilduff in 2015, Horgan returned to Oriel Park in August 2023 after six-and-a-half years in the UK.
Now 32, Horgan had earlier this year penned a contract extension to the end of 2026. Despite relegation to the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division, he always made it clear that he would stay and try to bring the club back to the top flight.
And the Galway native has been rewarded for his loyalty to the club, with his new role as skipper confirmed on Saturday, after which he sat down with DFCTV.
“It’s a massive, massive honour. Obviously, such a huge club, such a successful club, successful captains over the years, amazing people, amazing players, and to be on a list with those people is incredible,” Horgan said.
“I’ve never been a captain before, so it’s a real honour and privilege for me. Obviously, I’m embedded in the town now so I know what it feels like and what it means to be part of this place. I’m buzzing, I’m excited.”
He added: “It was a tough season last season. You can blame behind the scenes all you want – it was a tough season on the pitch. Behind the scenes didn’t come until late, and even then, everyone got paid, so you can blame everything you want, but on the pitch wasn’t good enough.
“We all have to be held accountable for that. I hope everyone is looking at themselves in the mirror and thinking ‘did I do enough?’. That was a very, very disappointing aspect to last season.
“The other stuff, off the pitch, there was a moment where we all thought Dundalk might not be here tomorrow. To have it here and to have the buy-in of the community, the club really does seem to be going in an upward trajectory right now.
“I feel there’s a real positivity around the place and a real kind of change in Dundalk. It’s an opportunity to do that. Sometimes, you have to have a real kick in the teeth to go ‘right, something’s not right here’.
“Now is the opportunity, and for me, to be captain, to be a part of that and hopefully a big part of that, I’m very excited.”
Horgan went on to praise Mountney for his leadership skills during a difficult year, and is looking forward to putting his “own stamp” on the captaincy in the months ahead.
“I always wanted to come back at some point. I just didn’t know if it would happen or when it would happen, you keep it in the back of your mind, you just don’t know how football is going to be,” he said, having returned to Oriel during the 2023 campaign.
“Coming in, there were obviously lads who were very experienced that have been here for years as well. John I felt was a brilliant captain last season, on the pitch and off the pitch, he was a real example of how you should do it. That will be something I’ll be trying to learn from.
“I’ve had brilliant captains in the past that I can take lots of things from, and then hopefully put my own stamp on it. It’s a real exciting time for us.”
On Kilduff, Horgan said: “I know the manager as a player and as a man. He’s a top-class man, he was a brilliant player. He’s obviously had incredible success with Athlone Women. To win the league there was extremely difficult and amazing.
“To have him is a coup for us, I feel. He’s young and hungry – you can feel the enthusiasm and energy coming off him.”
Reporting by Eoin Carpenter, video by Chris Clarke, photo by Gerry Scully.
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