Welcome back to Dundalk for an important month for our 2025 season.
After Longford and the International break we have 5 hard games, mainly without our best U21 players who will be at the Euro’s. I doubt Waterford, Shamrock or ST. Pat’s will be without any players (Waterford will be withouth Barry O’Leary, but he couldn’t play against us anyway).
Now with the start of the month stuff.
Jenks got IPD player of the month and 2nd in goal of the month, Steven O’Malley 2nd in the player of the month.
I get my firs manager of the month of the season (Didn’t play enough league games in any of the months until now to qualify I think.
Big Col UCL Forward of the Season!!!!!!!!!!!!!
£24.2M in the bank. Hoping we can at least increase this by £10M/season with UCL qualification, and maybe a few wins and draws and knockout qualification…
Our U19’s maintain a perfect record in the U19’s league with a 2-1 win over Derry City – Tim Foulkes and Tommy Carlin with the goals.
I’m on an A+ with the board, Dynamics are Very Good, Very Good and Excellent (Dressing Room has dropped a bit due to playing time worries.
2nd June 2025 – Longford (A) – Irish Premier Division
FT Longford 2 (Doherty 40, Scales 90+3) Dundalk 2 (Collins 50, Kelly 90+5) Att 994 (311 Away)
Longford currently sit bottom of the table, 3 points from 17 games. And a lot of the lads go off on their international travels after this game, so hoping for a strong performance. We’ve had a few chances in the 1st 10, but are lacking a bit of quality. Highlight after highlight for Dundalk, but no end result. Longford have the ball i nthe net first, but 3 players were offside. Longford do take a shock lead though, terrible defending allowing Doherty a tap in. “Show some Passion”. Jenks has the ball in the net soon after, but Big Colin was adjudged to have been in the Keepers eyeline. We go in 1-0 down. 1-1 in the 50th minute, Collins smashing home his 21st of the season, assist (an nod-down from a Williams cross) from Watts. We’re into the final 15, pushing and pushing. Stoppages. And then the unthinkable – Longford take the lead = 93rd minute, Scales heading in unmarked from a Scales free kick. Are we really going to get FM’d by a team with only 3 points? NO! Jordan Kelly scores in the 95th, volleying home at the 2nd opportunity following a Duffy cross. 2-2. What the fuck was that?
Well that was fucking awful. I’ve been feeling a slipping in form throughout May – Almost like the players are bored…
We now have 12 days off for the international break. I’m glad.
We have 7 players in the IPD team of the week, mainly for the 4-0 versus Cork.
Evan O’Donovan, Joe Holloway and Ray Moore played in Ireland U21’s 5-1 loss to Portugal in a friendly.
Stevie Moore, Barry Reilly & Big Colin McGarvey played in N. Ireland’s 4-1 win over Finland in a World Cup Qualifier, Colin & Barry both on the scoresheet.
Michael Duffy had 25 minutes on the pitch in Ireland’s 5-1 win over Georgia in the World Cup 2026 qualifiers, getting an assist.
Darius Vassell (Youth Coach) has joined Dulwich Hamlet in the Vanarama National as their Manager. I wish him well. We’ve signed James Marwood (35, ex-Newcastle & St. Mirren) in his stead. He’s had management roles at Denbigh (Welsh 2nd tier) and Gateshead (Vanarama North in England, 6th tier).
Our U19’s beat Sligo 4-0 – goals from Tim Foulkes and a hat-trick from Tommy Carlin.
Liam Morrison got a few minutes in Scotland U21’s 4-0 win over Bosnia and Evan O’Donovan, Barry O’Leary, Ray Moore & Joe Holloway all had a few minutes in Ireland U21’s 5-2 loss to The Netherlands.
Stevie Moore, Barry Reilly & Tommy Collins all played in N.Ireland’s 1-0 win over Finland.
Michael Duffy played 28 minutes in Ireland’s 3-0 win over Georgia.
Just had a news story – the next game versus Shamrock will be my 300th in this save 🙂
14th June 2025 – Shamrock Rovers (A) – Irish Premier Division
FT Shamrock Rovers 0 Dundalk 2 (Collins 54, 90+1) Att 4,043 (646 Away)
We need to bounce back from that Longford shitshow with a good performance against a good, if underperforming Shamrock side. Our Scouts however rate Andrew Moore above all our strikers except for Tommy Collins… It’s an open game in the first ten, Shamrock looking dangerous. And we’re letting them. Outplayed a bit in the first half. 0-0 at the break. We look a bit better at the start of the second half, and tak ethe lead from an O’Malley corner in the 54th minute – Tommy Collins with the near-post header. Time ticks away and we get in stoppages. 2-0, Collins with a tap-in after a great move as Shamrock go with a high press. Connolly with the assist. Slightly unfair on Shamrock but we have been a lot better in the 2nd half. Collins nearly gets his hat-trick with 2 minutes left, hitting the base of the post. It finishes 2-0 Dundalk, a great win away from home.
17 points clear of Shamrock, same games. Waterford next up in 6 days time.
Over to the Euro U21’s, Neil Hanna got 36 minutes in N.Ireland’s creditable 0-0 with France.
Above the Belgian 2nd tier and Below the Finnish Premier League (Veikkausliiga).
44th in Europe!! Above Shakhtar and below OGC Nice
And Ireland is now 19th in the European Coefficients – Another season like the one just gone and we should be in 14th in the 2026/7 season. With that you get 2 UCL places (3rd Qual Rnd for the Champions, Best Places Q2 for the Runners Up), 1 Europa League place (3rd Qual RRnd) and 2 Conference League places (2nd Qual Rnd) – Half the league would qualify for Europe in that scenario. We need to build Shamrock, St Pat’s and Derry. Thinking low cost loans for them so they can get better players.
Our U19’s lost 1-0 to Shelbourne 1-0. First loss of the season.
We have the UCL 1st and 2nd Qual Round draws today – we are top seeds, above RB Salzburg and Dinamo 🙂
Interesting one – FK Sarajevo, the Bosnian champions. Non-playable league, but they have some decent players, though they are a bit on the old side. N. Irish champions Larne go to Zagreb. Welsh champions TNS play Icelandic champions KA from Akureyri.
And we also have the 2nd Qual Round draw – Beat Sarajevo over 2 legs and we will play…
A potential tough one, most probably Ludogorets of Bulgaria, who got to the UCL groups last season after beating AEK in the UCL playoff. Buducnost of Montenegro are rank outsiders for that 1st round game. Hmmmm, we need our form to pick up before then. The Board want the 3rd Qualifying Round.
There have also been the draws for the other Irish clubs in the Europa Conference League.
St. Pat’s will play the winners of the OFK Grbalj Radanovici (Montenegro) and AS La Jeunesse d’Esch-Alzette (Luxembourg) First Qually Round, Shamrock have the winners of SK Rustavi (Georgia) & HSK Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia) and Derry have a tougher one, SK Brann of Norway. Looking for Coefficient points lads!!!!
Our Irish U21’s have been in action, a 3-3 versus France – Evan o’Donovan in goal getting a 7.1, Joe Holloway a 6.7 for his 49 minutes and Ray Moore a 7.3 for his 20, heading in the equaliser (3-3) in the 80th minute. Currently top of the group which includes France, Belgium & N. Ireland with the Irish derby to play.
Our U19’s beat Galway 9-1 in a friendly – goals from Karl Harmon (DL), Martin Kenny, braces from Tommy Carlin and Brian Stapleton and a hat-trick from Mark Hanratty.
20th June 2025 – Waterford (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 3 (Duffy pen 28, McShane 29, Connolly 80) Waterford 0 Att 3,561 (123 Away)
Waterford are having a decent season, sitting 5th, Dundalker Barry O’Leary their top scorer with 10 goals. I’ve done this game once, winning 2-1 but I had a couple of graphics card crashes yesterday, and this happened just after the match and before I could save. I will obviously play with the same team, lets see the result. A decent start from the lads with a couple of highlights. Waterford very defensively set up. We get a pen in the 28th minute – Jordan tripped by Mukhekhe. Duffy steps up… 1-0, nicely tucked inside the left post with the Keeper guessing correctly. Kickoff highlight… 2-0! McShane finishing really well from an acute angle after a lovely Jenks pass. Pushing for a 3rd. 2-0 at the break. A quiet second half, First real highlight in the 71st minute. Brian Connolly, on for Duffy, makes it 3 in the 80th minute, a lovely finish across the Keeper, cutting in on his right foot after controlling an expansive Watts pass. It finishes 3-0.
2nd, 3rd and 4th all slipp back by 2 points as we hit our season halfway points, 2nd and 3rd St. Pat’s and Shamrock drawing 0-0, and Longford getting another point, this time against Derry. Dundalker Gerry O’Halloran scored for Cork in their 1-0 win at Limerick. We have 3 days until our 2nd game of the Shamrock trilogy.
Liam Morrison played 73 minutes in Scotland U21’s 3-1 loss to Portugal, their final game of the tournament. Aidan Hamilton & Neil Hanna played against Barry O’Leary as Ireland U21’s beat N. Ireland 5-1, Barry with a late substitute goal. Ireland qualify top of the group, Belgium 2nd, N.Ireland are eliminated with France!
All those Millions being put to good use 🙂 🙂 🙂
Our U19’s beat Letterkenny 4-0 – goals from Mo Fofana, a brace from Tommy Carlin and an oggie.
23rd June 2025 – Shamrock Rovers (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 2 (Duffy 26, Collins 34) Shamrock Rovers 0 Att 4,500 (225 Away)
Shamrock stand on 33 points after 18 games – at that run rate 66 points would be their lowest season points total since 2021. Odd really, I’d expect them to be progressing, but that’s the AI unfortunately. Shamrock pressing high. Tommy Collins hits the post with a 13th minute header. Dundalk with plenty of chances. And it’s the Duffmeister that opens the scoring, a beautiful finish from the edge of the area after cutting in from the left. Tommy makes it 24 for the season with a smart finish with the Keeper unsighted after a 1-2 with Duffy, Shamrock not being able to clear their lines. Very nice, 2-0 at the break. There are some tired bodies on the Shamrock side after the break. Shamrock down to 10 men in the 66th minute – Lowry with a second yellow (no idea what for TBH). Feeling pretty comfortable as we enter the last few minutes. It finishes 2-0.
17 points clear with a game in hand with 17 games left 🙂 St. Pat’s taking control of 2nd with their win over Limerick. Cup football next in 4 days and a chance of more silverware – the Leinster Senior Cup Final.
Ireland U21’s go out 1-0 to The Netherlands – Evan O’Donovan, Ray Moore & Barry O’Leary playing in the game. Ray picked up a tight calf so will be out for a few days.
Six of the lads made the IPD team of the Week this week.
The UCL quallies have started – Tammeka of Estonia and HB of the Fareos go through from the 1st Prelim Round. They play each other in the 2nd.
27th June 2025 – St. Pat’s Athletic (H) – Leinster Senior Cup Final
FT Dundalk 5 (Stevie Moore pen 8, Reilly 38, 40, Connolly 56, Knight 69) St. Pat’s 0 Att 4,500 (225 Away)
First play second for the Leinster Senior Cup in what could be a tough game. St. Pat’s had a rough patch at the end of May but have a draw and a win after the International break. Their next 2 games are against us. Raining stair-rods for the Final. Penalty Dundalk, 8th minute, O’Malley upended by Mahon. Defender Stevie Moore to take… great pen, bottom right, 1-0 Dundalk early doors. Steven O’Malley is a real nuisance today after coming back from Food Poisoning. St. Pat’s look dangerous at set pieces though. That said so do we. We go 2-0 up in the 38th minute. Barry Reilly, back from loan finishing off a surging Steve Seddon run with a fine near-post volley. And a couple of minutes later Barry gets his 2nd, a lovely near-post header from an O’Malley corner. 3-0, a brilliant first half. And that’s how it ends. Back out for the 2nd half and it’s stopped raining 🙂 4-0 in the 56th minute. Mahon makes a terrible clearance straight to Jason Knight, who lays off to Brian Connolly, and he spanks one in from 20 yards. A superb goal to grace a final. And almost straight after Sean Long gets to take an early bath after bringing down Connolly for a second yellow. Not a good day for St. Pat’s. And they are mostly shattered. And it’s 5-0 in the 69th minute, Jason Knight bundling in his 1st for the club from 6 inches after a cracking Jenks direct free kick is parried down onto the line. And that’s that. More Silverware, it finishes 5-0. £18k for the win, £9k paid out in bonuses. 32 medals distributed.
Tammeka of Estonia make it through to the 1st Qual Round of the UCL with a 121st minute goal – gutting for the Faroe Islanders.
And we’ve had some IPD games. Matty Burrows with a brace for Derry in their 3-1 win, putting them 2 points behind Shamrock, though with a game more played. Not looking great for Cobh or Longford currently.
Our U19’s beat Malahide 9-0 – goals from Chris McCabe, Tommy Carlin, Martin Kenny, Tim Foulkes, Alan Brady and 4 from Brian Stapleton.
PLAYER LEAVING
Russell goes to Mansfield (League 1, Relegated in 24/25, expected to finish 9th)in a deal that could be worth £725k plus 50% of the profit of the next sale. He came in for £475k from Bournemouth 18 months ago, and my scouts see him as a 49% now he’s at Mansfield, so I’m seeing this as a good deal. Plus we left on good terms.
Barry O’Leary came 3rd in the Euro U21 goal of the tournament.
30th June 2025 – Shamrock Rovers (H) – Irish Premier Division
FT Dundalk 1 (Stevie Moore pen 74) Shamrock Rovers 0 Att 4,500 (225 Away)
The end of the trilogy (We have Shamrock twice in August, a League Cup Semi and the final league game of the 4) today as we go for our 3rd win versus Shamrock in 16 days. Their last game was a week ago, losing 2-0 to us. We will also have a few lads back from U21 duty after today’s game. Lots of highlights in the first 10. Dundalk on the attack. Shamrock soak up the pressure and keeper Steacy has made some fine saves. 0-0 at the break. We just can’t break them down this evening. Big moment, pen Dundalk, 74th minute, O’Malley pushed over by Browne. Stevie Moore has it… 1-0, through Steacy, a bit lucky. Time ticks down and we see it out. A 1-0 win to round out the month.
Top by 20 points with 16 games left 🙂 So that’s that for June 2025. Back to the European tour next month 🙂
Apart from that shitshow versus Longford another really strong month. Hopefully we will be playing European football every Wednesday now for the next 2 months from the 9th as we look to qualify for the UCL for the 3rd year in a row, and get all that money again, helping us continue to grow. St. Pat’s will be a good game first up – that LSC final was a bit of an outlier I think, expecting a much tougher game. See you soon.