Result not the biggest issue as O’Donnell receives unfair abuse

I have been around the block a good while now and have seen a lot in football. I have to say last Friday night's game in Inchicore where Dundalk dropped three precious points to St Pat's even gave me a shock.

Manager Stephen O'Donnell is a target to be got at by the Pats fans, after he left them two years ago, only weeks on from winning the FAI Cup with the Saints. It's understandable then, that O'Donnell will always get a hostile reaction from the Pat's supporters.

I was there last season when Stephen returned to Inchicore with his Dundalk team. There was hostility. But it was nothing out of the ordinary. The second visit last season was just the same.

But on Friday night it rose to a much higher level. The Dundalk boss was subjected to a vitriol of abuse for the entire game. The personal abuse he got was disgraceful. They hurled abuse about his family at him. It was disgusting.

From the centre of the main stand, one person called him a traveller. This was shouted at him four times during the first half.

The person who called Stephen a traveler saw it as fine to insult the travelling community by using it as a means to belittle and hurt another human being.

I was incensed at this. A reporter beside me said that a man and a woman and two children walked out of the stand when O'Donnell was called a traveller. The reporter could not say if this was the reason why the family had walked out.

But to me it has all the appearances that the misuse and disrespect shown to the traveller community by the Pats supporter, directing it at the Dundalk manager in such a hostile way, more than likely made them vacate the main stand, as nobody would want to see or hear that.

I went to report it to the Pat's authorities at half time. I found a Garda and told him about what I deemed as disgraceful abuse towards the Dundalk manager. I also met a Pat's official who was a great help. I showed them where the abuse was coming from.

They said I was right to report it, as it was not acceptable. There was a Garda presence in the location from where the abuse came in the second half. O'Donnell was not called a traveller again.

But the general terrible abuse continued. The abuse about his family also continued. It was disgraceful. If I was the manager I would have taken the team off the pitch and refused to play on unless the abuse was curtailed.

What's really annoyed me out of all this is that most people think I am making much ado about nothing of the incident. Well, I’m not. I detest seeing another human being experiencing such constant hatred and insult. This is not right.

Have we become a society where it's fine to attempt to intimidate another person and to be constantly verbally abused, insulted and then also see an ethnic community being insulted by using the word traveller as an attempt to insult another person.

If this is fine or ok to do then I give up on society. The intimidation and vitriol continued after the game.

Dundalk did not emerge from the dressing room until 85 minutes after the fulltime whistle. The Dundalk boss kept his team behind to discuss the defeat. Personally I do not know why he decided to do this.

The manager then had to do his post-match interviews. It was two hours or so from the end of the game that the team bus left Richmond Park.

As soon as Stephen O'Donnell began his match interviews, Pat's fans began to sing the song Daydream Believer to words they have made to insult the Dundalk boss. The intimidation singing outside the ground continued throughout the interviews which I felt was disgraceful.

Gardai were at the Dundalk bus to ensure that O’Donnell and team got away safely. As I made my way home I was just filled with disgust at what I had seen and heard that evening.

I went to see a football game. Sure, I knew that the Dundalk boss would be the subject of some abuse. But never did I think it would be on this level.

Afterwards the Dundalk manager, when asked by me what happened, seemed to be unruffled. He said that it was just football. I do not believe the Dundalk boss thinks it's acceptable what was directed at him. But maybe he does.

Well, the abuse he had to take deeply annoyed me. And I took great umbrage that a Dundalk manager was subjected to this type of intimidation. 

Post-Match Thoughts

The manager says he cannot put his finger on why they are giving away such sloppy goals at the moment. He told me that his side will try and improve and that's all they can do.

He said that there was no shouting or raising eyebrows after the game. It was just a good honest chat according to the Galwegian. To me, keeping a team in a dressing room for that long is nonsense.

If I were a player I would have been annoyed, irritated and just wanting to get  home. It was pointless. Dundalk also played like a team that looked like morale was low.

I also believe that Dundalk did leave themselves exposed when they went three at the back. It seemed to give Pat's a revived motivation to go and win.

They got their all-important goal with nine minutes remaining. Thomas Lonergan swung the cross in from the right. Conor Carthy shot home. It was over and out for Dundalk after that. Pats deserved the win.

O'Donnell says morale was good amongst the squad during the week. He told me that six of the starting 10 were not at the club last year. He says he wants to speed up the process. He said it was a first visit for a lot of the players to Richmond Park.

But I have to say this just does not wash with me. This Dundalk team just does not seem to have the killer instinct to go and win games in a place like Richmond.

O'Donnell says a lot of his players are playing first team football for the first time this season. He says that this should allow the team to grow with confidence. 

He says last year's team had a lot more experience than the current squad, but this year's has a lot of talent and a lot of his players are in the same boat. They are learning on the job.

But this should not be an issue in a Dundalk team. This team is only a ghost of the Kenny and Perth teams. Dundalk should be signing top class League of Ireland players. The money should be there for the manager to sign them.

Recruitment

If the owners do not have the money then they should tell the supporters. There are no fundraising activities ongoing at the club. There is no social club like in the old days that raised thousands for the Jim McLaughlin and Turlough O'Connor's teams in their golden era.

The owners must come out and say where they are for money. The chairman Sean O'Connor has spoken as far as I know to the Independent on two occasions. But that's a national paper. It's not a local paper. 

He did speak to the Club website. But he should be open to questions from the local papers and radio.

That's when he will have to come under independent scrutiny. But it's not just the chairman. The other owners should be available as well. They should put up somebody for an interview. 

O'Donnell believes his side can make Europe. He says his side has played all the teams now in the league. He is confident from what he has seen that Dundalk can match most clubs.

The Dundalk manager says he is aware that there are some of the supporters worrying about what is happening. The manager says supporters are emotional and added that they want to see their team win.

In December 2021 he said there were only a couple of players signed. O'Donnell went in and got Europe. This year he says there was a big turnover in players again. He says that just by the way the squad was this year, it was late developing. But this is not acceptable.

Either the club can sign experienced and good young League of Ireland players or it can't. The club let a terrific young player Emmanuel Adegboyega move up the road before the start of the season and sign for Drogheda United. This was a massive error.

The manager emphasised that the way Dundalk are as a club, now they cannot go and sign the best domestic players. Again he says it's where Dundalk are as a club.

O'Donnell says the owners and himself knew it was going to be late when they were going to do their recruitment. He said if you are going to wait to get transfers in the British market, then you have to wait first to see if there are any moves for these players in the UK.

This is the key to everything. The Dundalk manager cannot sign anybody of talent in the League of Ireland. They must go to the UK now and wait to see who is left that has not been picked up by another club.

This is ridiculous. It's not the manager's fault. To me I'm beginning to think that the current owners may have taken the club as far as they can. And that's fair enough.

Stephen answered a question from another reporter and was asked was he happy with the owners in terms of recruitment and the direction the club was going.  The manager said he was very happy with the owners.

O'Donnell says the club was in a far better position than they were last season in regards to longevity of deals with players in comparison to last season. He says last season everyone was on a one-year deal. They are far healthier in regards to longevity going into next season.

The manager accepted that there were teams ahead of Dundalk. He said as far as resources he was not sure where the club were at. But O'Donnell did not want anything misconstrued. He says the owners have been brilliant.

O'Donnell says that with such a young group of players he did envisage the team would go through phases such as they are hitting now. He mentioned the injuries his team have been hit with.

He said he was not talking about the owners finances or businesses when asked about the one €1 million the club lost last season. He said he was concentrating on the football side of things.

Again he says the owners have been very supportive for him in regards to targets. But he admitted that Dundalk cannot go for targets other clubs can go for in the League of Ireland.  O'Donnell told me that this was the bottom line. If that's the case, then the club as far as I am concerned is going nowhere.

They triggered a second-year option this season on Nathan Shepherd that they had and he stayed. But the youngster can go at the end of the season as the current owners did not get him to sign a new two-year contract at the start of this year that would have kept him at Oriel for the next couple of seasons.

The manager says there is a limit to where Dundalk can go and try to recruit. So if Dundalk are limited to spend under this constraint, the club will be very restrictive in terms of who and where they can recruit.

This is not good for the long term future development of Dundalk FC. They need to be able to recruit on the Irish market and beyond. The club also needs to change its approach big time as far as fund raising is concerned. 

Pats Abuse

The Dundalk manager was asked if he noticed the way the song DayDream Believer was played over the tannoy at the end of the game. O'Donnell asked what was that.

Now I find it hard to believe Stephen does not know it's the song Pat's supporters use to have a go at him. Whoever was playing the stadium music as the fans left would play some of the song and that would send the fans into a chorus of not so nice things about the Dundalk boss.

For me personally I have no problem with the fans singing it. But I was shocked to hear the club tannoy being used to whip up the crowds as they made their way out to start singing again about the Dundalk manager.

Stephen said that football was football. It was pointed out to him that it was not only the fans but that it was the club tannoy involved as well. The Dundalk boss dismissed it as anything serious. He said that it was all part of the game.

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Final Thoughts

It was a strange week, results wise for the League. Shamrock Rovers had three players sent off and lost for the second week in a row.

Leaders Derry City were beaten on Saturday night by Sligo Rovers. Drogheda recorded their second win in a row. Dundalk remain in fifth place, despite their defeat.

The team is in danger of slipping down the table if they continue to play as they have been doing. Sligo's win moves them seven points clear of the dreaded play off zone. Dundalk are six points clear of Drogheda United, who are third from bottom. But the Drogs have a game in hand.

Dundalk go to Tallaght on Friday to play Shamrock Rovers. The Hoops have lost their last two games. I do not think they will drop three points against Dundalk. Should Dundalk lose, then that would be just one point out of 12 from four games. This Friday will tell me if I am wrong.

Have a safe week. Look after yourselves and please be careful out there.