Willow Grove native still helps to compile

A BUSMAN’S holiday might best describe David Farrelly’s couple of weeks back in Dundalk.

He has been with UEFA for 19 years, so football is his business.

When planning this trip home, it was a case of seeing what games he could fit in around the annual family holidays.

The Willow Grove native was in Tallaght Stadium, over in Galway, and also plans to see the Lilywhites take on Bray. There was even talk of a development squad game against Everton along the way.

And, of course, he popped into Oriel Park on Friday morning to watch the live stream of the Champions League playoff draw from his base at Nyon in Switzerland.

Even when behind his desk at UEFA headquarters, David keeps his hand in by helping produce the award-winning Dundalk FC Magazine, the club programme.

‘I lay out the programme, half of it, but at this stage, I must point out Colm Murphy is owner, trainer and jockey as far as the programme goes, otherwise I could get myself sacked!

‘There are other contributors, Jim Murphy, Sean de Loughrey, Paul Dunne and Ruth Hardy, the lads here at Oriel, Darren Crawley, Anthony Bravender, and Niall Newberry, a whole range of people involved. Everyone plays their part. That’s just the content, design and production, but there is also the printing, advertising and selling as well. A lot of people are involved in helping us to get the magazine to this level – and the challenge remains to improve as we go along.’

Their workload has multiplied, thanks to all these European fixtures, and it’s a labour of love.

‘We are still doing the programmes for the cup and league, but it’s great to get involved, and to be able to reminisce about Dundalk’s great nights in Europe, and speak to some of the players who played over the years. I had the chance to see people buy five or six copies each in Tallaght, and it is a great souvenir, but we genuinely believe it’s a great read as well.

‘I think the fans appreciate it