Dundalk one game away from title after Limerick win

Dundalk recovered from the worst possible start to run out 3-1 winners away to bottom of the table Limerick FC in Markets Field last night.

The victory, inspired by three goals in six minutes in the closing quarter, means Stephen Kenny’s side are one win away from retaining the title for the first time in the club’s history – a feat they will manage by beating Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght on October 9th.

Dundalk had to do things the hard way as they fell behind to a Dean Clarke goal inside the opening two minutes.

The visitors pressed hard for an equaliser after that but it didn’t arrive until the 76th minute when Richie To well raced onto Ciaran Kilduff’s knock down to slot home.

Towell then made it a club record 21 league goals for the campaign four minutes later when his deflected shot from a tight angle flew to the net.

Kilduff then made sure of the win two minutes later by beating the offside trap to slot home.

Noonan rejects Dundalk’s bid to be included in Living City Initiative

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has poured cold water on Dundalk’s hopes of being included in the Living City Initiative.

A motion was put forward by local councillor Mark Dearey at the Dundalk Municipal District Committee’s annual general meeting earlier this month seeking to have the initiative – which focuses on the regeneration of retail and commercial districts in the historic centres of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford – brought to the town.

It had been hoped the scheme, which offers tax relief on the refurbishment or conversion of old buildings, would encourage more people to take up residence in the town centre on streets like Clanbrassil Street.

However, when local TD Fergus O’Dowd asked Minister Noonan whether he would extend the list of eligible towns to include Dundalk and Drogheda, his appeals fell on deaf ears.

In his response, Minister Noonan said: “The Living City Initiative, which was enacted in the Finance Act 2013 and commenced on 5th May 2015, has been extended beyond the original pilot cities of Limerick and Waterford, to include the cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway and Kilkenny as well.

“In line with my Department’s commitment to evidence based policy-making, the inclusion of these additional four cities was as a result of a comprehensive, independent ex ante cost benefit analysis.

“This Initiative is targeting particular areas of these six cities which are most in need of regeneration. I do not currently intend to extend the Initiative further than the six cities. However, my Department will closely monitor the progress of the Initiative in the six cities, and will keep the matter of potentially extending the relief further under review.

“It is important to note that I do not see this as a wide-spread Initiative, as it is targeted at those areas in the six cities which are most in need of attention.”

Dundalk has one of the highest concentrations of fast food restaurants in the country

Burger King in the Marshes Shopping Centre

Dundalk has one of the highest concentrations of fast food restaurants in the country on a per capita basis.

That’s according to a new survey from online doctor service Treated.com which found that the town had the fifth highest level of takeaways in the country, including the likes of McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Domino’s and Costa.

Only Swords, Limerick, Cork and Waterford had higher levels of takeaways per capita.

The survey found there were 0.22 takeaway outlets per 1,000 of population in Dundalk.

The population of the town was estimated at 37,816 with only the above mentioned outlets taken into account. As such, local chip shops and take aways are not included in the survey.

Treated found that Dundalk had two Costa and two KFC’s with one McDonald’s, one Burger King, one Subway and one Domino’s.

The top ten fast food friendly places in Ireland are:

1. Swords
2. Limerick
3. Cork
4. Waterford
5. Dundalk
6. Galway
7. Dublin
8. Drogheda
9. Navan
10. Bray

RehabCare/Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club project wins prestigious Innovation Award

A RehabCare/Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club project won the prestigious Innovation Award at the European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR) conference in Valencia, Spain last weekend.

The award is given annually to one organisation from the EPR’s 27 members across 16 European countries.

The project began in 2008 when RehabCare, which provides services for people with disabilities in Dundalk, approached Dundalk Football Club as some of the men in RehabCare with an interest in football, wanted to join the Supporters’ Club.

From day one, they were made feel very welcome by the supporters. They became well known in the football grounds around the country as they travelled to all the away games supporting Dundalk FC. The initiative between RehabCare and the Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club has been an outstanding success and has made a big difference to the lives of those involved.

For those involved in the Supporters’ Club, it’s not just about being fans of football, it’s also about the friendships they make, being part of a club, the social life, and being part of the community.

Darren Belton says: “I love going to the away games. It’s brought me to places I’ve never been like Limerick, Longford, Athlone, Derry and Cork. There is always good craic on the bus. You can chat to people. I’ve made new friends through the club. One of my goals was to see Manchester United play. Because of being more confident now after a few years in the Supporters’ Club, I’m going to go Old Trafford in a few weeks. It’ll be my first time out of the country.”

Stephen Caraher, Programme Supervisor, RehabCare explains why the initiative has been such a success.

“From the very start, both Dundalk FC and the Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club were really enthusiastic. Having a disability doesn’t matter, you only need one thing to be a member of the Supporters’ Club – be a massive Dundalk FC fan! Everyone was really welcomed in. Because of their involvement in the Supporters’ Club, they are more confident, they feel like they belong in the club and they are really part of their community now.”

On a lighter note, Stephen added: “Now we have won a trophy in Europe, we have set the standard for Dundalk FC to lift a trophy in Europe. We can only dream, but sometimes dreams come true. C’mon the Town!”

Dundalk seeking to become part of Living City Initiative

A motion was put forward at the Dundalk Municipal District Committee’s annual general meeting last night seeking to have the Living City Initiative extended to Dundalk.

The Living City initiative focuses on the regeneration of retail and commercial districts and encouraging people to live in the historic centres of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.

The aim of the Living City initiative is to bring life back into the heart of the relevant cities by offering tax relief for qualifying expenditure incurred on the refurbishment or conversion of certain buildings where conditions are met. These property tax incentives apply in certain “special regeneration areas” (SRAs).

Cllr Mark Dearey of the Green Party put forward the motion to seek the extension of the scheme into Dundalk. A recent Sunday Times article titled ‘Rotting to the Core’ further highlighted how the centre of Dundalk is in need of regeneration with the number of people living on the likes of Clanbrassil Street now extremely low.

Cllr Dearey’s motion was supported by his fellow councillors and the local authority will now put forward a case to the Department of Finance to have Dundalk included in the scheme, which was launched early last month.

Juicebox Comedy presents Trevor Browne and guests this Friday

 

Juicebox Comedy will present Trevor Browne plus guests at The Spirit Store this Friday.

Doors open at 8:30pm with the show starting at 9pm and admission is free.

Juicebox Comedy aims to provide a venue for up and coming comedians from Ireland’s comedy scene to perform in Dundalk while attracting the best headline acts to be found anywhere in Ireland.

Trevor Browne started off his career with three consecutive sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2013 he appeared on the hit TV show “RTE New Comedy Awards” where he was selected as the judge’s wildcard pick for the final. In 2014 he appeared at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs, The Vodafone Comedy Festivals in Dublin and Galway, Electric Picnic, Longitude & Body and Soul Festivals.

As creator of the Lads of Comedy Tour, Trevor took part in a 40 date sell out tour of Ireland in 2014 which continues in 2015 with a sell-out gig in Whelan’s. 2015 is set to be another great year for Trevor who has written and will be starring in a series of sketches in RTE’s Comedy Bites series.

Lisa Casey will be performing on the night

Representing Dundalk on the night will be Budweiser Dream Job finalist Lisa Casey, the notorious Danny O’Hanlon of Dundalk FM fame, with the night being MC’d by Aidan Shields.

Aidan and Danny both had successful stints at Vantastival music festival where they entertained hundreds of revellers with their anecdotes and hilarity on two different stages. While at the same time Lisa was sharing the stage with David McSavage, Joe Rooney and Andrew Maxwell at JestFest in Wexford.

Appearing on the night, from further afield, are Bernard Casey and Danny Ryan, coming all the way from Kerry and Limerick.  Pat Shortt described Bernard as ‘a great comic with a very bright future’.  Danny will be appearing at this year’s Electric Picnic festival after beating over 60 talented emerging comics to win the Show Me the Funny competition this year.

Also appearing on the night will be Grainne McKeever and Al Norris. Grainne has been making waves on the circuit and according to Hot Press, “It can only be described as a matter of time before she gets her moment in the sun… on the front cover of the RTE guide smiling with some kittens and Marty Whelan”.

The show is taking place in The Spirit Store on Friday May 29th. Doors open at 8:30pm with show beginning at 9pm. For more details contact Aidan Shields at juiceboxcomedy@gmail.com. You can also find all details on the Spirit Store’s website www.spiritstore.ie.

Dundalk Garda claims launderers are sending people to university to fuel illegal trade

A local Garda member has claimed that crime gangs are sending people to university to get chemical engineering degrees so they can then employ them for their expertise in petrol stretching as well as diesel laundering along the border.

Dundalk-based Garda Robbie Peelo, who is on the Garda Representative Association’s central executive committee, told the GRA’s annual conference yesterday that the fuel-altering operations were extremely sophisticated and were not only costing the State lost revenue but millions in having to export the toxic sludge by-products for disposal in Germany.

“Revenue and Customs have introduced a dye [in diesel] that they have told us cannot be removed. But the diesel washing continues to take place. It is in fuel stations throughout the country,” Garda Peelo said.

Petrol stretching has become a serious problem in some of the border counties and has destroyed numerous car engines.

Garda Peelo also warned that illicit diesel and stretched petrol is making its way further south.

““You will see fuel lorries along the south Armagh and south Down border with registration plates from Cork, Kerry and Donegal. This isn’t just along the border. Fuel lorries will travel up from the areas, from as far down as west Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford, they will travel up to the border for the laundered fuel and travel back.

“People seem to think that this is a backyard operation. This isn’t; this is a very sophisticated operation. We have got individuals going through third-level, studying to become chemical engineers in order to beat these dyes and get them removed to sell washed diesel. This is a multi-million euro industry,” Garda Peelo said.

Source: The Irish Examiner

Mountney goal sees Dundalk advance in EA Sports Cup

Holders Dundalk booked their place in the last eight of the EA Sports Cup with a 1-0 victory over Shelbourne in Oriel Park last night.

John Mountney scored the game’s only goal in the 12^th minute with a low drive to the bottom left hand corner.

Stephen Kenny’s side, showing 11 changes from the weekend’s draw with Limerick FC, bossed the game after that but couldn’t add to their early advantage.

It still proved enough to see out the game though, with club captain Stephen O’Donnell coming through the full 90 minutes unscatched on his return from injury.

Louth relegated to Division Four

Louth will be playing Division Four football next season after yesterday’s 2-13 to 2-11 defeat to Limerick in Drogheda consigned them to a second successive relegation.

The result, which kept the visitors up, meant Colin Kelly’s side had to rely on results elsewhere going their way but respective victories for Sligo over Armagh and Clare over Fermanagh meant there was to be no reprieve.

Trailing by 0-8 to 0-7 at the break, Louth briefly went ahead on the restart courtesy of points from Derek Crilly and Ryan Burns. However, a Peter Nash goal in the 41^st minute, followed up with a number of Ian Ryan frees meant that Limerick led by three by the time Louth had Kevin Toner sent off for an off the ball incident in the 55^th minute.

The visitors then added another point before Pa Ranahan drilled to the net on 57 minutes to leave it 2-12 to 0-11.

Louth did at least ensure a tense finale with late goals from Burns and Conor Grimes but it was too little, too late for the Wee County.

Louth: N Gallagher; K Toner, P Reilly, P Rath; A Williams, D Finnegan, J Stewart; B Duffy, E O’Connor 0-1; A Reid, C Judge 0-3, 1f, D Byrne; R Burns 1-4, 3f, D Crilly 0-2, D Maguire 0-1. Subs: C Grimes 1-0 for J Stewart 30; R Moore for D Byrne 53, S O’Hanlon for D Crilly 56, D O’Connor for E O’Connor 58.

O’Conor goal ends Dundalk’s winning run

A late Paul O’Conor goal earned Limerick a 1-1 draw with Dundalk in Jackman Park on Saturday, bringing to an end the Lilywhites’ 100% start to the season.

A Richie Towell strike before the break looked like it would give a sixth straight win to Stephen Kenny’s side but O’Conor managed to beat Gary Rogers for the first time in the league this season when he flicked a long throw to the net in the 89^th minute.

The result means the Lilywhites still lead the Premier Division table but only by two points from Cork City and Shamrock Rovers.

Dundalk host Shelbourne in the EA Sports Cup on Tuesday before neighbours Drogheda Utd visit Oriel Park on Friday night.