Updated at 15.32
PRE-SEASON GLAMOUR friendlies aside, the idea of an Irish team taking on Real Madrid these days is virtually unthinkable.
However, in the 1979-80 season, Dundalk, then a part-time League of Ireland side, narrowly missed out on a European Cup quarter-final with arguably the world’s biggest club.
A Setanta Sports documentary, ‘Once in a lifetime – Dundalk 79/80,’ which airs at 9pm this evening, tells the story of that incredible campaign.
The season encompassed a number of memorable nights for a famous Dundalk side that took on Linfield, Hibernians of Malta and Celtic in an impressive European run.
The director and producer is Shane Tobin, an experienced documentary-maker who has previously worked on films about Hill 16, Thomond Park and a series on Irish referees, ‘Men in Black’.
The original plan was to film an entire series focusing on various notable achievements involving Irish sides in Europe, but when that idea fell through, Tobin decided to turn his attention solely to Dundalk’s story.
“It was very straightforward,” the director tells The42. “What made it easy was the co-operation I got from Dundalk. They opened up their archive for me, which allowed me to build the story of that season, and the previous seasons.
“It really is the story of [manager] Jim McLaughlin and how he transformed that club and turned it into the real powerhouse that it is now.
“They won the league a couple of seasons earlier and then he had his team decimated. Some top players were sold. He had to rebuild the team again. I think the mark of a good manager is one who’s able to rebuild a team and win again.
“Jim McLaughlin’s record stands the test of time — what he did with Derry, what he did with Shamrock Rovers right afterwards [backs it up].”
Having won the league the previous season, Dundalk were paired with Northern Irish side Linfield in Europe. The fixture could hardly have taken place at a more tense time in Irish life from a political perspective, and featured two sides who were seen as having respective Republican and Unionist links.
Just two days before the first leg, Lord Louis Mountbatten, a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth, had been murdered by the IRA while holidaying in Sligo, while other relatives were also killed after a bomb exploded in his boat.
Later that day, 18 British soldiers and one civilian were killed, while others were seriously injured, after two bombs exploded in the town of Warrenpoint — it was deadliest attack on British soldiers during the Troubles.
Consequently, there was a certain sense of inevitability about the violence that occurred in the stadium when Dundalk took on Linfield later in the week.
Despite the presence of 300 gardai on the night, making it the largest police presence ever at a sporting event outside of Dublin at the time, chaotic scenes followed, as hooligans ensured the match took place amid a toxic atmosphere, with rival chants of ‘IRA’ and ‘no surrender’ clearly audible. Tricolours were burned and objects were thrown with such regularity that the footballers who took to the field later admitted to being afraid of playing on one side of the pitch.
The Dundalk captain at the time, Dermot Keely — who is interviewed in the documentary — paints a particularly vivid picture of the chaos which occurred that night, recalling:
“It was like playing a football match in the middle of a street riot. The match should have been called off. It was crazy. Stones being thrown, cops hauling people off the pitch, all of us avoiding one side of the pitch where the trouble was at its worst. It was a unique and terrifying experience. I still remember the chap shimmying up the flagpole to try to take down the Union Jack, being stoned, falling down, and going back up again.”
100 people were injured, including 56 Gardai, yet incredibly, the match was not abandoned, with both sides showing considerable composure under the circumstances to play out a 1-1 draw.
“If you take it in the context of the time — it’s five years away from Heysel, 10 years away from Hillsborough,” Tobin explains. “The events in Dundalk that night showed you can have a lot of security, but there was a hooligan element within soccer during that era… If you look at England in that era, in Birmingham, there was a fan killed. Most venues were difficult to police, and that was really the infancy of policing events.”
While both teams were punished as a result of this mayhem (Dundalk were fined £870 for ‘insufficient security’), Linfield received a greater portion of the blame. Accordingly, rather than taking place in Windsor Park, the second leg of the tie was played at a neutral venue in Haarlem, Holland, where the two teams met in a largely empty stadium.
Dundalk ultimately prevailed with a hard-fought 2-0 win on the night, and after overcoming the potential banana skin of Maltese side Hibernians in the following round, they met Celtic — at the time a formidable outfit — for a place in the last eight of Europe.
Despite a spirited effort though, it was against the Glasgow giants that Dundalk’s European dream ended. Having performed respectably amid a 3-2 loss at Celtic Park, they could not find the elusive goal needed to progress in the return fixture, despite one glorious chance falling the way of Tommy McConville in the dying moments, as the match finished 0-0.
Still, for a part-time side to go so close to securing a European Cup quarter-final with Real Madrid was effectively unheard at the time (or since), hence the Dundalk players emerged from this bittersweet experience with their heads held high.
“To be one kick away from Real Madrid [was incredible],” Tobin says. “That Celtic team had most of the Scottish national team that would have gone on to the World Cup. It was a very good side.
“A lot of [Dundalk’s success] can be attributed to the management of Jim McLaughlin. Nowadays, teams are over-coached. Sometimes it’s very simple — you need to treat grown adults like grown adults. They’re part-time players, so allowing them to have these once-in-a-lifetime experiences without over-training them and without over-cooking them is a testament to his management.
“He did it again and again. Part-time players need to be treated differently to professional players — people should remember that, especially when you see over-coached GAA teams training five nights a week, you ask yourself ‘what’s the point?’”
And the director, whose next project will look at legendary Welsh boxer Jim Driscoll, adds that such incredible events are unlikely to be emulated at present, arguing that Uefa are to blame for stifling the romance of the competition in its modern incarnation.
“Since the early 90s, the large leagues and the large clubs in Europe have created a two-tier system to eliminate small clubs in Europe. That has destroyed the romance of the competition – it’s removed it from being a knockout competition to a league format, and most of the time, league competitions have dead rubbers.
“Uefa cares more about getting larger clubs to later stages than it does making the competition open to everybody. It’s 1 August and all Irish clubs are out of Europe, and that scenario is emulated across a number of nations in Europe. I don’t think that’s right.”
‘Once in a lifetime – Dundalk 79/80′ will be showing tonight at 9pm on Setanta Sports.
he may have been bad for sligo but what kind of amatuers are running what is supposed to be a professional football club up there?
Embarrassing that a so called Professional club can conduct its’ business in this way.
Absolute disaster of a manager. 4 th largest budget in the league and stuck in a relegation fight with only 2 wins. Has footballers but insists on a long ball game. Players he brought in are, for the most part, useless. The football is shite as reflected by the fans who are voting with their feet. He is playing the Martyr but wants to be paid off on his full 2 year contract with no compromise. People may say contracts should be honoured but with Heary in charge Rovers will be relegated no question.
Ok, we get it, you don’t like the guy and as you say, results seem to support why you have that opinion. That’s no reason to mistreat him though. Sack him if you want but at least be professional about it and communicate it clearly. One minute the club release a statement that they have parted company, then say they’ve reinstated him and then say he stepped down…all contradictory messages. All the signs suggest to me that there are real problems with the management of that club. Do your business behind closed doors!
I’m a Bohs supporter so have little time or sympathy for Heary but Sligo have made a balls of how they’ve handled the situation. Very unprofessional and if I was a Sligo fan, I’d be rightly pissed off with the club.
Is that true that they have the 4th largest budget in the league? Presumably Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Pats (unsustainably) are the top 3. I thought John Caulfield was talking shite when he said he was operating off the 5th largest budget but apparently not.
This mess isn’t helping any of the parties involved from the manager to chairman and committee
As a rovers supporter I very disappointed by the whole thing.
There has been no clear statements from the club since things have gone pear shaped
We have some very capable players and heary is not a capable manager look at bohs performance this season compared to last.
All in all I think this is going to be an expensive tale for rovers and we should keep to our managers from abroad as proven thru the years to be the most successful for use
heary won’t walk away from the 18 months left on his contract worth a reported 70k. that’s why he says he was fired . He wants his payoff. The club can’t afford to pay him off but If fans stay away like what’s happening now then 65% of gate receipts budgets for next season will leave the club in trouble next season as well . The club need to bite the bullet and pay him off and say good riddance to a shite manager . heary doesn’t look good in this situation either . no club will touch him in the future now. The sacking was the right decision 2 wins from 16 is shocking. I’m just disappointed by the way the rovers board handled this
Delighted he finished with Bohs when he did, was an absolute disaster as manager his stint at Sligo just confirmed that he’s simply not up to the task of managing a club in the League of Ireland.