Avid Lilywhite Ger reflects on a ‘fruitful’ partnership
DUNDALK FC
WHEN you think of iconic moments in sport, of teams lifting trophies, of big goals, it’s hard not to associate them with a sponsor.
For Manchester Utd fans, their glory days will forever be associated with Sharp. For Liverpool, their best days were with Crown Paints across their jerseys.
For Dundalk FC, for many years it was Harp Lager but given the success of the side under Stephen Kenny in recent years for a new generation it is the Fyffes jerseys that will stand out in their memories.
The locally-based banana company announced last Tuesday that they were concluding their seven year sponsorship of Dundalk FC.
While the hunt is now on for a new sponsor for 2019, it’s important to look back on some memorable times with Fyffes.
Last week The Argus caught up with Fyffes managing director Gerry Cunningham to discuss their involvement since 2012 and get a few of his most memorable moments of his home town club playing in jerseys with his brand across them.
Gerry, who is well known for his commentary of matches on Dundalk FM, explained how he felt that Fyffes’ sponsorship of the Lilywhites would be a short term thing.
‘We got involved back in 2012,’ he said.
‘The club were in a bit of trouble and Paul Johnston asked us to jump in a little bit. We got involved temporarily at that point and sponsored the club that year.
‘That was the year that Sean McCaffrey was in charge but the club finished last that year because Monaghan pulled out. My abiding memory of that year, and I still think it’s the most important goal scored by the club, was Stephen McDonnell’s goal against Waterford. We had only got involved for one year and I thought then when Andy Connolly and Paul Brown got involved that they’d want their own logo for FastFix on the shirts and that would be us done. Then Martin Connolly asked us to stay on a little bit longer and we said we would.’
One of the abiding mem- ories of Fyffes’ time as sponsors will be the series of videos they produced to promote the club. Gerry revealed they always took the approach that there would be no half measures if they were sponsoring something.
‘When we get involved in a sponsorship we always try to get involved the whole way. The late Neil McCann was a huge Dundalk fan so we had been involved with the club in some shape or form since 1961 whether it being sponsorship of signs around the ground or whatever. From here on in we decided to sponsor the club year on year and it just went on from there.
‘When the lads got Stephen Kenny in we decided to do a video. It was Emma Hunt-Duffy and Emma Crewe who had the idea at the time. We wanted to get someone local to do it. We wanted someone who we felt had the right voice and we actually used Alvaro Lucchesi. The videos take a lot of work but when you look back at the video now Stephen Kenny said he’d move to the town and give everything I have and by God he did and we went a long way.
‘From our point of view we got involved the whole way through and we enjoyed it because from a sponsorship point of view people who buy bananas aren’t necessarily Dundalk fans but we’re a North Eastern company and we’re a big company who are based in the town so we felt it was good to get involved at that particular time. Each year after that we kept getting involved and we enjoyed it and it grew from there.
‘Normally with a sponsorship you would do one to three years but we’ve done seven years which is probably a long time for a sponsorship. We reviewed it year after year and I think the club has done really well out of it and we’ve done well also. In 2016 when the lads went on a great run that was obviously very, very good for everyone. We had some great trips and it was a real labour of love.
‘Dundalk is our town, my town and it’s an iconic image when you see your town lifting trophies with your company across the shirts. I have a lot of time for Stephen O’Donnell and in fairness to Stephen Kenny the players he signed are all great lads.
‘You could bring any of these guys home with you. They’re great people, great ambassadors for the club and the town and they were great ambassadors for our brand. They have been fantastic all the way along. From our point of view to portray our brand with that club and with those people was an honour,’ said Gerry.
So what are some of his best memories… IN my view this is one of the most important goals scored by the club. I’ve a lot of time for Stephen, he’s a lovely fella. He got the goal on about 75 minutes when we had been playing with 10 men for most of the game after Stephen Maher had got sent off. We played against Bray Wanderers three days before that and won 2-1 and there were 245 at it. Mickey Duffy announced it and I remember thinking things can’t be as bad as this but that’s how bad they were that year. Once Stephen scored that goal though I knew we’d be okay. People remember the Rafter goals against Waterford away but Stephen’s equaliser in Oriel is often unsung. I just thought that goal, at that time was so important because we got bombarded that night and it was Seanie Maguire who caused us all the trouble. After that goal I just thought, we’re going to be all right. MY most enjoyable moment perhaps was still when Stephen O’Donnell scored that goal against Cork in 2014. He had been out for most of the year after he got injured against Shamrock Rovers. Nobody thought he was going to kick a ball again but then all of a sudden he came back against Athlone Town and then he appears on the pitch against Cork. Then he pops up with the goal that set us on the way to winning the league. That’s iconic stuff. IF you read a script with some of this stuff you wouldn’t believe it. It was Roy of the Rovers stuff, going over to Alkmaar and getting a point in the Europa League group stages. Stephen O’Donnell got sent off and we were a goal down playing against 10 men. Then in the last minute Daryl Horgan puts a cross in and Ciaran Kilduff gets a header. That was fantastic stuff. They’re great memories. There were 1,000 Dundalk fans behind that goal. It was just incredible. JOHN Murphy always wanted to get to the Aviva and we got there a few times in the end but the first time was fantastic. We played Cork City and beating them was nice. I enjoyed it probably more this year but Daryl Horgan putting the cross in for Richie Towell to score… it had to be Richie that year. That was a fantastic occasion. THIS year probably meant more to people to win the cup because there were 17,000 or 18,000 fans from Dundalk there. I enjoyed McEleney’s goal. I have a lot of time for him. He didn’t have the best game in the world but he lost Conor McCormack and put the header in. I think it was only his second goal with a header. That was fantastic but there were so many of them.
It was the semi-final of the cup and this game had everything. Michael O’Connor got the equaliser in the last minute to make it 2-2. Then Stephen O’Donnell makes one of those runs and puts a header in out of nowhere. I think we won 4-2 in the end but it was really enjoyable. There were so many of those games.
And the one he missed… BATE was fantastic but I wasn’t there. I was on holidays for that. We were in Portugal and we tried everywhere to get a place to watch it. Eventually we scouted a place in a quiet restaurant. He said he’d put it on but he couldn’t put the sound on but I was roaring and shouting the whole way through it. In the end he said I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I really enjoyed it but I would have loved to have been there.
That whole year was special. We had Russian people over for the game against Zenit because we had done a lot of business in St Petersburg. I was in Chicago for the away game but St Petersburg at home, I really enjoyed that. We were 1-0 up and then Dane Massey hit the post with a header. You’re playing against €300 million worth of talent but unfortunately with 10 or 15 minutes to go Sava or Shields made a bit of a mistake and they were clinical in the end but they were great days.
Unfortunately they weren’t in Oriel Park but that’s beside the point to some degree. I think that’s the one thing I am a little bit sad about, the fact that we didn’t have them games at home. Hopefully down the line we’ll be able to host those sort of games ourselves because with local sponsors in particular they’re missing out on the benefits from them.
We had other great nights. There were so many of them but hopefully there are plenty more to come.