Sadly nothing goes

THANKS for the memories.

We would have liked more nothing goes on forever.

The Stephen Kenny era at Oriel Park which has been littered with a children’s storybook of dreams - not to mention a sideboard full of trophies - has come to an end.

It did so in dramatic style, a brief interjection by the commentator during the Ireland - USA rugby match on Saturday night.

Until then most Dundalk supporters were content that the man who brought them the greatest period in the club history had been bypassed by Mick McCarthy for the top job, and that he had resisted the overtures to take the second best job on offer, the under-21 manager.

I myself had penned the following introduction to my piece for this week’s article before going out to watch the rugby match:

‘ Most Dundalk fans, myself included, wore two hats as they absorbed media coverage since Tuesday of last week of the selection of a new Republic of Ireland manager to succeed Martin O’Neill.

‘When we wore the selfish hat we did not want to contemplate the prospect of Stephen Kenny being offered the job because of the unprecedented success that he has brought to Dundalk FC in his six year tenure at the club . . . but sadly and for our understandable desire is to see that dream continue.

‘When we wore our patriotic hat we had to admit that Stephen Kenny was the best long term prospect available to give Irish football a complete new focus, and to endeavour to give new status to the game in Ireland.

‘Fortunately for us - that is the selfish ones - the FAI chickened out and went for the tried and trusted when appointing Mick McCarthy for his second term’.

In the end we got neither, Stephen has left and we’ll wait two years to see if he gets the top job.

It is easy then to imagine the sense of shock when the commentator’s ‘breaking news’ that Stephen Kenny had taken the under-21 job soaked in, and as phones started to buzz, and the internet consulted, the outcome of the rugby game became irrelevant to many.

Could it be true was Stephen Kenny really gone from Oriel Park.

Many, myself included, didn’t really want to believe it.

The sense of loss was acute - dare we think it - it was like a losing a loved one.

It really shouldn’t compare with such a loss, and there are a lot more obvious concerns in life such as homelessness.

But was it not the great man himself Billy Shankly who once said ‘some people think that football is a matter of life and death, I assure you, it’s much more serious than that’.

Rugby fans, indeed all Irish sports fans, will feel that same sense of loss if Joe Schmidt decides to leave at the end of the World Cup.

Perhaps the loss here in Dundalk will be a little more acute for we had come to regard Stephen Kenny as one of our own and he recently came to live amongst us.

He put the name Dundalk on the European football map, he made his team the envy of the country, and contributed generously with his time and support to a wide variety of worthy projects in town, the latest only last Wednesday.

Why then when it appeared that he had rejected the FAI offer of the under-21 job did he accept the new offer of a promise to take over from Mick McCarthy in two years time ?

He knows, and we all know, promises are frequently broken, and after listening to Mick McCarthy during his press conference on Sunday can Stephen be confident for McCarthy revealed that he is going to get it difficult to walk away from the job if he is successful .

Nor can there be a great deal of confidence in the FAI’s CEO, John Delaney whose reputation has been the subject of much adverse, indeed venomous comment, in the media during the last week over his tenure at the top with prominent former players like Liam Brady calling on him to go for the good of Irish football.