Welcome back to a busy month of domestic football here in Ireland. Let’s get straight to it.
Joe Holloway was 2nd in the IPD goal of the month – a 25 yarder versus Limerick F.C.
We have £22.6M in the bank, I’m on a A from the board, Dynamics are Very Good/Excellent/Excellent.
UEL action with the first semi finals, and Lille get a huge win versus Man Utd. Roma go down 2-1 to Lazio in a massive Rome derby.
2nd May 2025 – Shelbourne (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 5 (Duffy 1, pen 56, 57, McGarvey 4, Collins 33) Shelbourne 0 Att 3,574 (157 Away)
Shelbourne currently sit 7th, in that pack of 4 teams from 6th to 9th separated by 2 points. And it’s 1-0 Dundalk in 41 seconds – Duffy with a banger from just inside the ‘D’. 2-0 in the 4th minute, Big Colin scoring at the far post after an O’Malley corner found its way to him. A good start. O’Malley has the ball in the net in the 12th but was offside. Shelbourne will be playing the last 70 minutes with 10 men – Drinan sent of for a second yellow. Tommy C makes it 3 in the 33rd minute – a thunderous header from a McGarvey fizzed cross. 17th of the season! 3-0 at the break. Penalty Dundalk, 56th minute, Jordan Kelly pushed by Davis. Duffy steps up… 4-0, bottom right. And he gets his hat-trick a minute later, a good right-footed finish from a Collins flicked header. All quiet from the 5th goal, very few highlights. It finishes 5-0 Dundalk.
Derry continue with their decent form with 3 points versus Cork, Matty Burrows with yet another goal, And St. Pat’s the same versus Longford but the shock of the day is Shamrock getting pumped by Limerick 3-0 – Dundalkers Ger Ryan and Jim Collins both on the scoresheet. We are now 4 points clear of Shamrock we 3 games in hand. League Cup Quarters action next, Cork at home in 4 days.
Our U19’s beat Drogheda 4-1 – goals from Sean Brennan, Richie O’Sullivan, Tim Foulkes & Alan Brady.
Limerick & Shelbourne share a point – every point is vital in the bottom half.
Derry & Waterford through to the League Cup Semis – Waterford needing penalties to beat Sligo. Matty Burrows getting his 12th goal of the season for Derry. Funnily the top 3 scoreres in the IPD are all Dundalkers – Tommy Collins, Matty Burrows and Barry O’Leary at Waterford. As are the Assists (Ger Ryan at waterford top with 7, then Russell Watts and Steven O’Malley.
We have 9 players in the IPD team of the week this week.
6th May 2025 – Corlk City (H) – League Cup Quarter Final
FT Dundalk 1 (Kelly 14) Cork City 0 Att 4,500 (225 Away)
Cork are currently 7th in the IPD and have only 1 win in the last 7 games, AET versus Wexford in the last round of League Cup. They are always a difficult team to play against though. A good attacking start from the lads. We go 1-0 up in the 14th minute – Jordan Kelly bundling it in after ping pong from a Steve Seddon inswinging free kick. But we don’t capitalise on the early goal, even though we have some solid chances. 1-0 at the break. The second half is very quiet – we get to stoppages (6 minutes) with hardly any highlights (On Extended). We see the game out though, it finishes 1-0. £5k for the win.
Shamrock need a 119th minute penalty to beat Bray Wanderers.
Liverpool rue the 2 away goals they let up in the 1st leg as Chelsea go to the UCL final after a superb Semi Final.
It’s a Chelsea v Real UCL final – Should be a good one 🙂
And it’s a Lazio – Man Utd final in the UEL, as Man Utd come back to win well versus Lille. Looking at the Conference League Valencia will play Tottenham – Rangers losing to Spurs in the Semi.
9th May 2025 – Shamrock Rovers (A) – Leinster Senior Cup Semi Final
FT Shamrock Rovers 1 (Moore 62) Dundalk 2 (Ngoy 37, O’Malley 49) Att 3,435 (552 Away)
Shamrock currently sit 4th in the IPD and have already lost 3 times and drawn twice this season. Interstingly 2 of the losses and 1 of the draws were to teams with Dundalk players on loan… But this is a cup match, so the League form doesn’t matter. we pretty much have our best 11 out for this 🙂 Even though its just the Leinster Senior Cup its still Shamrock, and we have previous 🙂 And this is at our European home, Tallaght Stadium. A slowish start. We’re finding it difficult to break them down. But we go 1-0 up in the 37th minute, Ngoy popping up again to head home a Watts inswinging free kick. 1-0 at the break. We make it 2-0 in the 49th minute, Steven O’Malley with a great goal, running 40 yards unchallenged before tapping in, being set free by a nice Jenks pass. Shamrock back in it though, 62nd minute, Andrew Moore, Ray Moore with the mistake to let him in. Shamrock looking dangerous. We’ve had chances to put this away as we reach the final 10 minutes. O’Malley has the ball in the net in the last minute, but was offside. We hang on, 2-1 it finished, we’re in the final 🙂
And we will play St. Pat’s. OK, just IPD games for the rest of the month now – LSC final is at the end of June, League Cup Semi is in August.
On the same evening Barry O’Leary puts Waterford 4th with the winner versus Cork.
Our U19’s beat Finn Harps 3-0 – A hat-trick for Alan Brady the highlight.
12th May 2025 – Cobh Ramblers (A) – Irish Premier Division
FT Cobh Ramblers 0 Dundalk 7 (Rubarth pen 9, Jenkinson 10, 85, McShane 25, 37, Kelly 58, 59) Att 368 (145 Away)
Our old friends Cobh sit 9th – 12 points from 13 games but just 2 points back from Cork in 7th. They’ve done a great job staying up since I took them to the IPD in 2021. We finished 6th in that first season – They’ve finished 8th and then 7th last season since. A good attacking start from the lads. Penalty to Dundalk in the 9th minute – Byrne alleged to have been too forceful in his challenge on Jordan Kelly. Rubarth steps up… 1-0 = Not a great penalty but hit hard enough to get past Higgins in the Cobh goal. Kickoff Highlight… 2-0 🙂 Jenks tapping-in after Rubarth ran 50 yards with the ball and hit the post, the rebound falling kindly for Dundalk. 3-0 in the 25th minute – Colm McShane with a fine back-post header from a Jenks free kick near the byline. And Colm gets his second and Dundalk’s 4th in the 37th minute with a beautiful half-volley from a nod-down by Rubarth. Possibly should have has a few more but its 4-0 at the break. 5-0 in the 58th minute – Jordan Kelly flicking a near post header in from a Seddon cross. Another kick-off highlight… 6-0. It started off with Cobh playing the ball around well, but McShane intercepted a pass, moved the ball to Rubarth, who went on a 50 yard gallop, his shot parried by the Keeper, unfortunately straight to Jordan Kelly who tapped in. Harsh. 2 in 2 minutes for Jordan. A stunner from Jenks makes it 7-0, 85th minute. 30 yard thunderbastard. 3 players on a hat-trick 🙂 But the game ticks away. 7-0 it finished.
Derry (Our next opponents) lose at home to St. Pat’s (Who we play after Derry). We have a +41 GD after 10 games 🙂
We end up getting a shut-out of the IPD team of the Week after the 7-0 win versus Cobh.
Eight players going to the Euro U21’s across three seperate teams.
Hoping to flood the league with talent as we continually upgrade our training and academy facilities.
16th May 2025 – Derry City (A) – Irish Premier Division
FT Derry City 0 Dundalk 2 (O’Malley 5, Stevie Moore pen 88) Att 1,411 (281 Away)
Derry sit 3rd and have a good start to the season, just the 2 losses (Both to St. Pat’s) but 5 draws have pulled them back a bit. They were our only loss last season, we need to make that right today. They are without Dundalk-owned Matty Burrows today, their best player and top scorer. 250th appearance for Michael Duffy today. And he lays on the opener for O’Malley, a gorgeous curling cross powerfully headed home. Should have been 2 soon after, Big Col smoking the last man, Lawlor saving the 1-on-1. The game is a bit stretched. Keeper Lawlor is keeping them in it with a few top saves. We go in 1-0 up. Derry look a bit dangerous, but we are getting chances – we just can’t get it past Lawlor. And time flies by. We get to the 87th minute – Penalty Dundalk, Tommy Collins shoved at the back post by McDermott from an O’Malley Free Kick. Stevie Moore steps up… 2-0, great pen, low to the left. And that’s how it finishes.
St. Pat’s keep pace (Even though they have played 4 games more) with a good win at Waterford. Cork get a great win versus Shamrock, who sit 5th (With games in hand on those around them). Two Dundalkers, Jim Collins & Josh Donnelly, score for Limerick in their 2-0 win versus 9-Man Cobh.
St. Pat’s next up in just 3 days.
Our young right-back Sam McCabe has come 3rd in the Danske Bank Premiership Young Player of the Near (N. Ireland) for his time with Crusaders.
Our U19’s beat Bohemians 2-0, goals from Sam McCabe and Tim Foulkes.
19th May 2025 – St. Pat’s Athletic (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 2 (McShane 25, Kelly 60) St. Pat’s Athletic 0 Att 3,702 (212 Away)
We play title contenders St. Pat’s today knowing we need to keep on top of them. They’ve lost to us twice, Shamrock once and Bray Wanderers in the league Cup this season, and they’ve won their last 4 games without conceding. Expecting a tough one. Jake Taylor is a bit unhappy as he’s not playing every games (Neco Williams is the same) – We’ve been having games every 3 days, so I’ve been rotating as a matter of course. Pretty quiet, with St. Pat’s looking good on the ball , but we take the lead in the 25th minute, McShane with a great header, backing away with the curl, from a Seddon outswinging cross. We look good after the goal, going close on a number of occasions. 1-0 at the break. Nothing to note until 59:00 on the clock when Jordan Kelly puts us 2-0 up – finishing off a lovely break, Brian Connolly with the last pass. We get a penalty in the 76th minute – McShane pushed by Burns during a Stramash in the box. And he takes the peno himself… and hits the outside of the post. Time runs down. It’s another 2-0 win. Nice.
Andrew Moore gets a 4 minute hat-trick as Shamrock get a win. Not looking good for Cobh this season (We have them next in the IPD, our 2nd of 4 League games at home in a row to finish out the month). 18 League wins in a row – we got to 28 last season before losing to Derry.
Four of the lads got into the IPD Team of the Week – Steve Seddon, Stevie Moore, Neco Williams and Alex Rubarth.
We’ve had the League Cup Semi Final draw…
Shamrock away. Got to beat the best to be the best (Which of course we are).
Having a rash of players now coming to me about playing time (Duffy, Ray Moore, Jake Taylor, Neco Williams). Will have to have a more settled side I think (Which is going to piss off a few of the other players…). Catch-22. Thinking I’m going to have to run a smaller squad from next season.
23rd May 2025 – Cobh Ramblers (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 2 (McGarvey 1, Jenkinson pen 20) Cobh Ramblers 0 Att 3,496 (28 Away)
We beat Cobh 7-0 at St. Colmans Park 11 days ago. More of the same please. 1-0 inside a minute, Big Col with an easy header from a pinpoint Connolly cross. Kick-off highlight… Ayoola offside for Cobh. Penalty in the 20th minute, Meade shoving Collins. jenks with the penalty… 2-0, bottom left. Very quiet from then. 2-0 at the break. Lots of chances in the 2nd half, by Cobh are so defensively set-up that everything is getting blocked. Another 2-0.
St. pat’s dropping points at Cork and Derry losing to Shamrock means Shamrock will go 2nd if they win their games in hand on St. Pat’s. Derry again next in 4 days, then Cork City to round out the month.
Our U19 beat Longford 4-0, all 4 goals from left winger Tim Foulkes!
Barry Reilly unfortunately couldn’t save St. Johnstone from the drop – he’ll be coming back to Dundalk.
26th May 2025 – Derry City (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 1 (Kelly 19) Derry City 0 Att 3,600 (186 Away)
Derry are on a 3 match losing streak (St. Pat’s, Us, Shamrock) so we will be awaiting the backlash. They currently sit 4th. Penalty Dundalk in the 4th minute, McGarvey pushed by Miskelly. Jenks takes it… Saved by Lawlor, straight at him. But we go 1-0 up in the 19th minute, and its another one of these near-post flick headers Jordan scores with, from a lovely O’Malley cross. O’Malley could have had a hat-trick already – beautiful movement but can’t finish. Derry under the cosh. Taylor slams a volley against the crossbar 3 minutes from the end of the half. 1-0 at the break. We reach the last 10 – got a feeling we are going to get a nasty surprise… Stoppage time. We see it out. 1-0 it finishes. Feels like we are playing ourselves out of form a bit.
Top by 8 points, 3 games in hand over St. Pat’s. 13 points ahead of Shamrock with 1 games in hand. Just 7th-placed Cork City left this month.
Expecting our facility upgrades soon – watch this space.
Four of the lads made IPD team of the week – Steve Seddon, Nathan Ngoy, Steven O’Malley and Big Col.
Conor O’Malley & Michael Duffy have been called up to the Ireland senior squad for games at the start of June.
Man Utd win the Europa League. We’ve paid out £240k in bonuses for reaching the Quarter Final.
Biggest Overachievers, Tommy Collins top scorer and Michael Duffy highest Average rating & most assists!! We only played 6 games in the Competition.
The Youth & Training facility upgrade has been completed – Now show as Average. Will be putting in for more upgrades once we get the TV money from the UCL/UEL in a week or so.
Tommy Collins, Big Col, Stevie Moore & Barry Reilly are all off to play for N. Ireland on 5th & 8th of June.
20th May 2025 – Cork City (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 4 (Collins 11, 14, pen 74, O’Malley 20) Cork City 0 Att 4,500 (225 Away)
These rivals-matches tend to be tougher than they should be. Cork are 7th. We take the lead in the 11th minute, Tommy Collins finishing a 1-on-1 after great ball by Duffy. And he gets his 19th of the season with a 2-yard header after a great move, final cross by O’Malley. Looking better than at any time in the last 4 games. Should have had his hattrick in the 19th minute after a wonderful ball by Jason Knight. Cork with their backs to the wall. And it’s 3 in the 20th minute, a thunderous volley from O’Malley from a love Stevie Moore cross, almost no-look. The boys look really up for it today. 3-0 at the break. Penalty Dundalk in the 73rd minute – McCarthy holding a marauding Connolly’s shirt. Collins puts it away for his hat-trick and 20th goal of the season. It finishes 4-0.
Shamrock get all 3 points versus a spirited Waterford side, but shock of the day is Shelbourne beating St. Pat’s 3-1 away, with 2 goals very late on. Nine points clear of St. Pat’s now, 3 games in hand.
A good month, just the 1 goal conceded in 9 games. Next month see us play Shamrock Rovers in a half of our matches and 3 times in 16 days, all league games and those games will most probably decide the title (Especially if we can win all 3). We have Longford before a 12-day break for internationals, but we lose our best U21 players for most of the month. Lets tie off any loose ends for the month.
Chelsea win a tight Champions League in extra time, Ousman Dembele’s goal separating the teams. And we get £887k for the TV Revenue and £1.9M for the Coefficient Ranking Pool money – £2.787M 🙂 Next step of the training facility upgrade now.
Steven O’Malley with the most assists in the Champions League for 24/25, Big Col with the highest average rating 🙂
Data Analysis Facility upgrade – £190k – Currently is Basic – Will be done by 21st June.
Training Facilities – £1.8M – Completion by the start of April 2026.
Youth Facilities – £2M – Same completion date. This should get both Training & Youth facilities to Good. Puts us at the level of an Ipswich Town or an Aberdeen. Just 4 levels to go after that…
That’s that for May 2025. See you next time for an important June 🙂