THE GRASS ISN’T ALWAYS GREENER ACROSS CHANNEL
As Dundalk spread their net far and wide to bring in new players who can enhance the performance of the team and their ambitions, Kevin Mulligan reflects on the players who have left the club in recent seasons to further their ambitions in England and Sco
When Richie Towell joined Brighton in 2015, it kick-started a bit of a trend for Dundalk players who made big names for themselves under Stephen Kenny.
Next to depart were Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle who joined Preston North End at the start of 2017, and afterwards in 2018 David McMillan joined St. Johnstone.
Then Dylan Connolly joined AFC Wimbledon in January 2019, while last January Jamie McGrath followed McMillan to Scotland when he joined St. Mirren.
Of the six players who left Dundalk, only McGrath has remained with the club he joined, while two of the players, Andy Boyle and David McMillan, re-joined Dundalk last season.
RichieTowell
The Dubliner was much in demand when his contract ended with Dundalk for after two glorious seasons as the outstanding player in Stephen Kenny’s side, scoring 43 goals in 96 appearances.
He opted to join Brighton and Hove Albion then managed by former Irish international, Chris Houghton.
Injury seriously disrupted the midfielder’s first season on the south coast, and he couldn’t break into the team that was challenging for promotion to the Premier Division, making just one appearance.
He did however benefit considerably with an enhanced contract when Brighton gained promotion, but in 2017 he was loaned out to Rotherham United in the Midlands, playing a vital role in their promotion to the championship in 2018.
His loan was extended by Brighton into the following season and overall he played a total of 73 times with the Millers. The club was anxious to retain him even though they were relegated after one season in the championship.
However, at the start of the 2019 season he dropped down two divisions when he signed for Salford City, the club in which former Manchester United players the Neville brothers, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have a share.
Now he is on a two year contact with the club who are on the fringes of promotion in League 2, and to date has made a total of 30 appearances, scoring five times. His last appearance was against Tramere Rovers on October 10th when he scored after two minutes, but is currently out of the side with a lengthy injury.
DarylHorgan
Daryl Horgan, like Richie Towell, earned his transfer to Preston North End at the start of 2017 after an excellent season with Dundalk when he played exceptionally well in the club’s run in Europe which saw them reach the group stages of the Europa League for the first time.
Daryl’s goals in that campaign, especially his sole effort in Zenit St.Petersburg, and his 23 goals in 97 appearances with Dundalk made him a target for a number of clubs.
Before leaving Dundalk he was in the frame for a call-up to the Republic of Ireland senior squad. Only Martin O’Neill, the manager at the time, felt that the demands of the Dundalk campaign in Europe was too much for the player.
At Preston he made his debut after his arrival, but the move to the championship side didn’t go as well as he had hoped, for a change from the manager who signed him, Simon Grayson, to Alex Neill didn’t help his cause.
After 40 appearances in which he scored 3 times over two seasons, the midfielder/ winger was transferred to Scottish Premier side Hibernian in August, 2018 for an undisclosed fee.
At the Edinburgh club he got a lot more game time, playinging 67 times and scoring six goals and it was a surprise when he was sold to newly promoted Championship club Wycombe Wanderers at the start of this season for a fee reported to be £50,000.
Although the team has been struggling near the bottom of the Championship, Daryl is a regular, having played 23 times, and just as important to the player he has caught the attention of his former manager Stephen Kenny and has now come back into the reckoning with the Irish team, gaining his 11th cap in November.
AndyBoyle
The Dubliner hadn’t the same success with Preston as his clubmate Daryl Horgan, but he earned the transfer he always wanted cross channel on the back of three great seasons with Dundalk, playing 130 games and scoring seven goals. Like Horgan his form with Dundalk, especially in the European campaign in 2016, brought him to the fringes of the Republic of Ireland squad and caught the eye of Preston and other clubs.
At Deepdale he too, like Horgan, suffered because the manager who signed him left the club, and he made just 10 appearances during the 2018-19 seasons. In January 2018 he was loaned by Preston to Doncaster but didn’t get a real chance to show his worthy, before he joined Scottish Championship side Dundee on another loan period of six months in which he played 13 times, scor-scoring once. In January 2019 hehe changed clubs again, this time mov-moving to another Scottish club, Ross County, on a loan to the end of that season and he got regular enough football, playing 11 times and scoring once.
When his contract with Preston ended in the summer, the central defender, now 29, was a free agent and re-joined Dundalk where he added to his medal haul, winning the FAI Cup in November.
DylanConnolly
Dylan had departed Dundalk and his name surfaced playing with AFC Wimbledon in League 1 before many supporters knew that he had left the club.
The player had played with Bohemians, Shelbourne, Ipswich and Bray Wanderers before he joined Dundalk in 2017, played 37 times and scored nine times with the club.
When the 25-year-old joined Wimbledon in January 2019 it was reported at the time that a small fee was involved, and over that season he played 15 times in the League 1 side.
He was then loaned out to Bradford City in League 2 where he played 27 times, scoring once.
Many did not realise that he had moved to Scotland until recently he was seen playing for his new club St Mirren against Rangers in the Scottish League Cup, and in that game he earned a penalty and had an assist for a goal scored by Jamie McGrath that helped his side to a shock win, ending Rangers’ 27 unbeaten game run.
He has played 11 times for St Mirren this season, is doing well and has scored two goals.
DavidMcMillan
When David McMillan left Dundalk in December 2018 to join Scottish Premier side St Johnstone many were surprised for the player was then 29 and had just completed an excellent season with Dundalk, helping them to a League and Cup double.
He had become a favourite of Oriel Park fans, scoring 51 goals in his 118 appearances with the club, and was fast becoming the top Irish scorer in
European competitions.
However, he surprised many by accepting the challenge to see if he could play at a higher level when joining St Johnstone. The move was heralded by the Premier side as a player who could make an immediate impact and this he did but for all the wrong reasons.
In his first game he sustained a serious hamstring injury that kept him out for three months and consequently the St Johnstone fans never saw the best that the striker had to offer.
He was loaned out to Hamilton Academicals in January 2019 and made just four appearances with that club before he was again loaned out to another Championship side, Falkirk, where he had a good run in the team, playing 19 times and scoring four goals.
It was yet another surprise when he re-joined Dundalk last July, and while initially the 32-year-old struggled for match fitness he blossomed in the latter stages of the season in Europe where he equalled the Irish scoring record, and in the Cup final when he scored a memorable hat-trick.
JamieMcGrath
Dundalk knew for most of the 2019 season in which they completed almost a clean sweep of domestic trophies that they could not hold onto the player who was an integral part of that success, Athboy native, 24-year-old Jamie McGrath.
In 84 games with Dundalk over two seasons he scored 10 goals.
He was determined to give playing cross-channel a go, and when St Mirren
came knocking he was easy to persuade..
In the very Covid disrupted season he has been an ever present in the Premier team’s side, playing 29 times and scoring six goals, including a one of the goals that knocked Rangers out of the League Cup.
He has captured the attention of some top clubs in Scotland and if he continues to grab the headlines he could become a target for other clubs as well as forcing his way into the Irish side, for he was always very highly rated by Stephen Kenny who signed him for Dundalk from
St. Patrick’s Athletic.
Conclusion
If St Mirren do manage to get a transfer fee for McGrath it will be more than Dundalk ever got for any of the players they lost to English and Scottish clubs, and while perhaps none of the players reached the heights they hoped, they all have carved out good careers, earning a lot more in wages than they would have in Ireland.
Daryl Horgan must be considered to have achieved the most success, earning his call-up to the Irish squad, something that Richie Towell never achieved although that was his stated ambition in moving to England.
Perhaps over the next season Jamie McGrath will be next in line for an Irish cap and all Dundalk fans will rejoice at this because he was always highly rated at the club for his quality on the ball and his commitment.