Jack Hennessy and Mike Doyle are the unsung heroes

THE founder members Jack Hennessy and Mike Doyle have done a huge amount of work for the club over the years and were joint managers of successful sides.

Jack was absolutely brilliant at selling tickets. He never took no for an answer when it came to selling tickets and he could charm anyone into putting their hands in their pockets or purses. He did trojan work promoting the Take Your Pick fund raiser and was elected the very first Lord Mayor of Asdee.

In his playing days Jack was a great defender with a no nonsense approach to defending and would put any part of his anatomy on the line to deprive strikers the opportunity to score.

He was a father figure of the team and all the players looked up to him for guidance and he was affectionately known to everyone as Pop. He captained the Asdee side that won the Reserve Cup in 1978 and after hanging up his boots he served as manager of the team for several years during the 1980s.

While Jack retired from the soccer scene in 1990 his interest remained and he followed the fortunes of the team every week with great interest.

Mike Doyle was the trainer of the team for many years and served as secretary of the club for two decades. In the pre-mobile phone times it was with word of mouth and personal contact that he kept players up to speed with fixtures.

Leo O’Donoghue has also made a big contribution and was the manager of the Asdee B team for a number of years as well as in charge of the local underage Academy.

Other people who given great service to the club managing teams include, Fintan Henry, Joe Dee, Mike Moloney, Eamon Collins, Barry Healy, John Gorman, Gary Pickett, Steve Carty, Tony Dowd, Peter Stack.

Jack Hennessy