The power of risk inspires adventure of a lifetime for Drogheda United goalkeeper

David Sneyd

PAUL DENNISON ALWAYS told his son Luke and daughter Katie his story when they were growing up.

He left Kells, Co Meath, with one of his brothers in the mid-1980s. He’d worked odd jobs in Ireland, even spent a time with the Defence Forces, before leaving for America when he was 24-years-old.

Paul arrived in New York on a Wednesday with $200. He made it last until the Saturday. Manhattan offered a different kind of future but at first the struggle was the same as home.

He needed odd jobs. He picked up shifts in Irish pubs wherever and whenever he could around the city and five boroughs. There was sporadic work as a mechanic and, naturally, that led to the glamour of becoming a ‘Grease Buster’.

Paul Dennison became a regular in the Chinese takeaways and other fast food shops of 1980s New York. He’d clean kitchens, finding a way to get into every nook and cranny – even on the roofs – to collect the grease and earn the money needed to survive, and to save for that future he first imagined in America.

The future became much clearer once he met Fiona Convery. Of course it was in an Irish bar. Fiona landed on the east coast with a group of friends and fellow nursing graduates from the old Jervis Street Hospital.

Finglas through and through, Fiona knew exactly what she wanted from her new life as a nurse in America. New York didn’t appeal when it came to starting a family. Either did needing those nixers to keep their heads above water (and grease).

They decided to head west for California, where Paul went back to college. His kids reckon he has a photographic memory like their late grandfather George, a former member of An Garda Siochana.

So when Paul finished top of his class and received a scholarship to law school that ambition of something more from his life was close to being realised. Redwood City was their first home before settling closer to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Luke and Katie were born within a couple of years of each other in the late 1990s. The risks their parents took a decade or so earlier remain a crucial part of their own upbringing, helping to forge a resolve and ambition that has been the backbone of their own lives.

Dennison with his mother after winning the FAI Cup last year.

Sometimes the risks people take to get what they want in life are hard to understand and even more difficult to turn into the desired outcome.

Yet Luke Dennison knew he wanted to be a professional footballer from the age of 13. More than that, he knew he wanted to do the opposite of his parents and experience that life outside of America.

European football was the aim from the moment he entered High School. There were some years spent in the San Jose Earthquakes’ academy, and not even four more spent in California State University (CSU) studying public relations and marketing could shift his focus.

A few hours north of home in the town of Chico, CSU was named America’s No 1 party college for 15 years in a row, from 1987 to 2002, by Playboy magazine. Dennison was not oblivious to the temptation, but CSU had also disbanded its American Football team in a bid to clean up its image.

Soccer was a big deal, and so was Riley’s Bar and Grill on 5th Street, as well as The Soccer House, where Dennison could watch game after game.

Approaching his senior year he still wasn’t a regular starter but that did not make him shift course. There were doubts, of course, about the reality of achieving his dream but he was still willing to take the risk. Dennison rejected the chance to joins clubs below Major League Soccer because Europe was his aim.

Celbridge in Co Kildare would be the jumping off point . . . once he had phoned his auntie Geraldine to make sure he could crash there.

He had built up savings – a little more than the $200 his Dad left Ireland with but not enough that they didn’t also quickly run out.

In January 2019 he informed his parents he was leaving for Ireland on a one-way ticket once all of his college requirements were met. He landed in Dublin that March and within a week was training with Shamrock Rovers.

How?

With a little help from her cousin’s friend’s brother. A very Irish way of doing things.
Dennison’s first port of call in Dublin was actually his dad’s brother’s house. That is where cousin Hannah and her friend told him about her brother who was goalkeeper with local Leinster Senior League side Kilnamanagh United.

Karl Coleman also coached in Rovers’ academy. Dennison turned up for training at a five-a-side astro pitch in Tallaght wondering if this really would be the start of his dream being realised.

Coleman offered a one-on-one session the next day and recommended him to Rovers on the back of it. He was invited to train with Stephen Bradley’s side at 8.30am the following morning, but because it was outside the transfer window they couldn’t sign him.

He visited another uncle in Wales to try with lower league teams there but returned to auntie Geraldine. He got a job in a coffee shop and would walk for an hour along some of the backroads to training with Leixlip United. He also spent one day a week training with Wexford.

Maynooth Town University offered him a scholarship to get his masters but he turned it down because professional football was the dream, not another qualification.

The Covid pandemic arrived in early 2020 but this would be the year the tide began to turn for Dennison.

Dennison with his parents after winning the FAI Cup last year.

League of Ireland side Longford Town happened to use the training facilities at Leixlip Amenities Centre. He made the introductions and joined on an amateur contract. A loan spell with Galway United the following year exposed him to more of the realities at that level.

By 2022 he was living in Phibsborough and working in a corner shop. But he also established himself as Longford’s No 1, playing every game.

The risks and the doubts and the perseverance combined to fuel him. So too faith, the daily Bible readings helping him to exist in what he describes as living in a constant state of prayer, a feeling that allows him take disappointment in his stride.

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There was plenty at Bohemians after he signed his first professional contract in 2023. Just over a year later, when he felt ostracised and an outcast by those making the decisions, it was time for another move.

By this point, his dream had only served to test every ounce of endurance, a challenge to the spirit and whether the reality of a struggling footballer’s life matched up to the expectations.

Drogheda United, and manager Kevin Doherty, helped stir something. Leaving Bohs was a risk he needed to take. The spiritual chats with rival goalkeeper James Talbot helped and remain regular to this day.

Dennison grabbed his chance at Drogheda, making his first Premier Division appearance and keeping eight clean sheets in 18 games. One of those came in the 2-0 win over Derry City in last November’s FAI Cup final in front of 38,723 in Aviva Stadium.

He’s kept two clean sheets in the opening games of 2025, and Drogheda are second in the table going into tonight’s game at home to Galway United.

Winning the cup also means European football for Drogheda this summer. The risks are leading to an adventure of a lifetime for Dennison.