PredictedDundalk towininEurocup
A Louth-born man whose prediction that ‘Dundalk AFC for European Cup 2017’ was unearthed from a time capsule buried 25 years ago in Cavan says he is confident the team, which his late father helped found in the 1920s, can overcome Legia Warsaw and become the first Irish team to make it to the group stages of the Champions League.
Speaking to the Argus from his home in Belturbet, Co Cavan, Peter Francis Morgan revealed how he has been a Dundalk FC supporter for ‘almost 80 years’ and how his auctioneer dad, John C Morgan, helped found the club with Dr Jim Donegan in 1926. He also described how he came to make the remarkable prediction about Dundalk and how it was unearthed just in time for their European adventure. It was the only one of three sporting predictions he made that is close to coming to pass - he also predicted Louth would win an All-Ireland!
Mr Morgan, a retired teacher, who has been living in Cavan since he got married to Eileen (O’Reilly) in 1964, said: ‘Eileen is associated with the Belturbet Festival of the Erne and in 1991, at a meeting of the organising committee they were talking about making predictions about what the world would be like in 50 years time. But they decided to be less ambitious and settled for 25 years instead.
‘ They got together and began writing their predictions about what they would like to happen in 2016. I happened to be there and I concentrated on the sporting aspect, Dundalk FC. My prediction, along with all the others, were sealed inside the capsule and buried.
‘When the capsule was resurrected, the predictions were put onto a sheet, photocopied and given to the people who had written them. It’s amazing that the prediction was unearthed on the eve of the biggest game of the club’s history’.
Mr Morgan said his father died , as a young man, in 1947 from TB which was rampant at the time and the family moved to Newry where he was educated at the Abbey Grammar school before training to be a teacher in Belfast.
During his 40-year career, he taught in Clones and in Rosslea and Newtownbutler in Co Fermanagh. He has been a regular visitor to Oriel Park for decades, travelling with his close friend, Kevcin Ludlow. He is also friends with some of the great names associated with Dundalk FC including Dermot Keeley and the late Tommy McConville ‘ who would have absolutely loved all this’.
Unfortunately, due to his failing eyesight, Mr Morgan will not be travelling to the Aviva in Dublin but will be ‘cheering in Belturbet’. He said he was ‘ terribly disappointed’ by the club’s back to back league defeats against Galway and Bray.
‘In my experience of following Dundalk for almost 80 years, I think the Warsaw game will be a draw, a neutral event. But I really hope Dundalk gets a decent result over the two legs - it would be wonderful for everyone involved in the club and for the town.