CLASH OF THE CUP GIANTS
LUCK plays a major part in the outcome of cup ties and Dundalk will be well aware of that when they travel to pay Bohemians in their FAI Cup quarter-final at Dalymount Park on Friday.
Both teams have proud Cup records, Dundalk winning the trophy 11 times, and some supporters this week reflected on one of those years, 1958, when the club won the blue ribbon of Irish soccer for the fourth time.
The cause of that reflection was the sad news that two men from that side, wingers Tommy Kerr and
Niall McGahon, died within weeks of each other. Sadly that leaves just one member of that team that beat Shamrock Rovers in the final, Hughie Gannon, surviving.
Ironically Hughie, who resides in his native Dublin and who this week spoke fondly of his two teammates from 1958, also reflected on the luck that nearly all teams need to win the Cup.
Indeed it is said that there was never a luckier Cup win by any club to rival Dundalk’s success in 1958.
It started in the first-round home game against Cork Hibernians, and involved Hughie Gannon.
He had arrived at the club just before the Cup campaign, having previously played with Rovers and Shels, and in that first-round match at Oriel Park he scored the only goal of the game in very controversial circumstances.
Just before the half-time whistle Gannon beat the keeper with a long-range shot that never rose a foot above the ground.
Goal? ‘No’ said the keeper, who maintained that the ball went wide, ‘Yes’ said the referee who, reacting to the protests of the Cork keeper, inspected the net but despite finding a hole in it awarded the goal.
It became known afterwards as the ‘hole in the net’ goal, and it proved to be the winner, allowing Dundalk register their first Cup win since the 1952 final.
In the second round luck was again on Dundalk’s side, for after a dull, scoreless draw in the Markets Field against Limerick, the visitors had a goal disallowed in very controversial circumstances in the Oriel Park replay.
Hughie Gannon had given Dundalk the lead in the replay, but when a short free kick by keeper Ted McNeill failed to reach its target Joe Ralph, a Limerick forward, intercepted and scored.
However, the referee, with the
assistance of his linesman, decided that the free kick had not travelled the required distance and disallowed the goal, despite the furious protests of the Limerick team.
Relieved at the let-off, Dundalk went on to win the game 3-0, with another goal from Gannon and one from Niall McGahon.
Again in the semi-final against Shelbourne ‘lady luck’ played a major part in Dundalk’s 1-0 win, for the team was under constant pressure from a much superior Shels team who a week earlier had hammered Dundalk 5-2.
Yet in a breakaway against the run of play, Tommy Kerr crossed for Vincent Gilmore to head the only goal of the game.
Then for the final against a Rovers team laced with Irish internationals, a row in Milltown club involving the owners and coach Paddy Coad seemed to work in Dundalk’s favour, seriously disrupting team morale in the Rovers camp.
Afterwards Coad was reported to have said ‘team selection was taken out of my hands’, for he was forced to leave out internationals Shay Keogh and Tommy Hamilton.
Nonetheless
Rovers, with household names such as Liam Tuohy, Gerry Mackey, Ronnie Nolan, Paddy Ambrose and ‘Maxie’ McCann, were strong favourites to lift the trophy.
Yet again luck played a major part in Dundalk’s win, for having taken the lead against the run of play 17 minutes into the second half when Gannon scored, the normally reliable Liam Hennessy missed from the penalty spot.
The penalty had been conceded by a needless handball by Tommy Kerr, but Hennessy claimed after the game that he was distracted by Dundalk keeper Ted McNeill playing around with his gloves and cap lead-up to the kick.
There was no doubt that Dundalk rode their luck throughout that campaign, for sections of the Dublin media couldn’t understand how ‘a team that had a makeshift look about them’ could beat the all-conquering Rovers in the final.
They reckoned without the resolve of the Dundalk players who became the first team to win the Cup without conceding a goal.
Dundalk could do with some of that resolve and luck on Friday as they seek to end their season with a trophy. in the