Dundalk F.C.
Dundalk Football Club is a professional football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1903 as Dundalk G.N.R., the works-team of the Great Northern Railway. It is based in Dundalk, County Louth and its home ground is Oriel Park. The club crest is three martlets on a shield, which was adopted from the town's coat of arms. The team's traditional kit colours are white shirts with black shorts and white or black socks. They are the most successful club in the Premier Division era in terms of national competitions won and as of the end of the 2025 season, they are the League of Ireland First Division Champions and Leinster Senior Cup holders.
Dundalk were a junior club until they were invited to join the Leinster Senior League in 1922–23. After four seasons at that level, they were elected to the League of Ireland for the 1926–27 season. Six seasons later, they became the first club from outside Dublin to win the league title. They are the only club to have won a league title or an FAI Cup in every decade since the 1930s, with four distinct eras of success: the mid-1960s led by Alan Fox, the late-1970s/early-1980s under Jim McLaughlin, the late-1980s/early-1990s under Turlough O'Connor, and the 2010s led by Stephen Kenny. They have won 48 trophies at national level as of 2025, including 14 League titles and 12 FAI Cups, and have won a further 21 trophies at All-Ireland and provincial level. They were also the winners of both the first and the most recent All-Ireland club competitions.
They made their European debut in the 1963–64 European Cup, and that season became the first Irish side to win an away match in Europe. Their best performance in the European Cup was in 1979–80, when they reached the last 16, and they reached the last 16 of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1981–82. They are the only Irish club to have qualified more than once for the Europa League group stage and, in 2016–17, they became the first team from Ireland to both win points and win a match at that level of European competition. They remain the only Irish team to have won points in the Europa League group stage as of the 2025–26 European season.
History
Dundalk G.N.R. (1903–1930)
The Dundalk Great Northern Railway Football Club was established during the 1883–84 season as a rugby football club. They played their final rugby match in February 1903, and in September 1903 the club switched codes to association football, setting in motion their journey to become the modern-day Dundalk F.C. The new club, known locally as "the Railwaymen", used the Dundalk Athletic Grounds as their home ground. They played challenge matches at first, then became founder members of the first Dundalk and District League, formed in 1906. There are no records of the club being active between 1907–08 and 1912–13, but they re-joined the local league in 1913–14 for what was the final season before the outbreak of World War I.The local league was dormant during the war, but the G.N.R. club entered both the Irish Junior Cup and Leinster Junior Cup competitions during the war years. After exiting the Irish Junior Cup in January 1917, the club was inactive again for the following two seasons. It re-formed for 1919–20, affiliated with the Leinster Football Association, and joined both the Newry and District League and the revived DDL. The G.N.R. club spent three seasons in the DDL, winning it twice, and represented the district in both Junior Cup competitions those seasons. They reached the Leinster Junior Cup final in 1920, which they lost to Avonmore after two replays.
Their junior record led to them being elected to the Leinster Senior League for 1922–23, to replace sides that had been promoted to the nascent Free State League. They spent four seasons at that level, before being elected to the Free State League on 15 June 1926 to replace Dublin club Pioneers as the national league looked to spread to the provinces.
On 21 August 1926, they travelled to Cork to face Fordsons for their league debut, eventually finishing eighth in the 1926–27 season. The team represented the G.N.R. works in name only by this stage, and the club's management committee decided to make it independent of the company. New colours of white shirts and blue shorts with a crest of the town's coat of arms were adopted in December 1927. They contested their first cup final as a senior club in April 1929, the Leinster Senior Cup final, which they lost after a replay. It was the last time that the club was billed to appear as 'Dundalk G.N.R.', and the name of the club was formally changed to 'Dundalk A.F.C.' in the summer of 1930.
The works teams
When Dundalk G.N.R. joined the League of Ireland in 1926, it was one of four works-teams in the 10-team league—the others being Jacobs, St. James's Gate and Fordsons. Another railway team—Midland Athletic of the Midland Great Western Railway—had competed for two seasons but had resigned after the company went through a merger. By 1944–45, Dundalk were the only club with works-team roots remaining. In 1948–49, Transport were elected to the league. They survived until 1961–62, leaving Dundalk again as the only surviving club with works-team roots. The works themselves became Dundalk Engineering Works Ltd with the demise of the G.N.R. company in 1958.First successes (1930–1949)
With a new manager, Steve Wright, Dundalk finished as runners-up in both the League and the FAI Cup in 1930–31, and they won that season's LFA President's Cup, defeating Shamrock Rovers 7–3 in a replay to take the trophy. Proof that they could compete at a national level gave the management committee the confidence to form a membership-based limited company, 'Dundalk A.F.C. Limited', in January 1932.They became the first team from outside Dublin to win a league title in the 1932–33 season, sealing it in Dalymount Park with their first victory over Bohemians. In becoming champions, they also became the first team from outside Dublin or Belfast to win a league title in Ireland since the inception of the original Irish League in 1890. Hoping to improve revenue, the club decided to move from the Athletic Grounds to a new ground—'Oriel Park'—in 1936.
After winning the league title, they were runners-up eight times across the five main competitions, before winning the 1937–38 City Cup—their first cup final victory. They won their first FAI Cup with victory over Cork United in Dalymount Park in 1942. Five weeks later, they won the inaugural Dublin and Belfast Inter-City Cup to become 'Champions of All Ireland'. The following September, in the new season, the City Cup was won for a second time.
During the mid-1940s, the management committee relied on player sales to English clubs to bankroll the club, as gate receipts alone did not meet its running costs. After missing out in both the League and the City Cup by a point in 1947–48, the committee decided to invest the surplus from its transfer dealings on several professional players from Scotland and a player-coach, Ned Weir. The investment paid off when the City Cup was won for a third time at the start of the new season by topping its new league format unbeaten, while the club's second FAI Cup was won with victory over Shelbourne in the 1949 final. But the new team fell short in both the Shield and the League and, despite the cup double and improved gate receipts, the additional income was not enough to cover the increase in costs.
Struggles and recovery (1950–1964)
The attempt to maintain a full-time squad had not paid off and the 1949 cup-winning team was broken up. A surplus from transfer dealings prevented a more serious financial crisis arising, and despite the turnover in players, Dundalk won the Leinster Senior Cup for the first time in 1950–51. The cutbacks started to have an impact, and they finished second from bottom in the league table the following season. They went on a memorable FAI Cup run, however, coming from 3–1 down against Waterford in a semi-final replay to win 6–4 in extra time; then defeated Cork Athletic in the 1952 FAI Cup final, to win the Cup for a third time.Midway through the 1952–53 season, Club Secretary Sam Prole left to take over at Drumcondra. Prole, a Great Northern Railway employee, had played for Dundalk G.N.R. in junior football, and had been Secretary for 25 years. He had been responsible for the club's scouting and transfer activities, and player sales tailed off after his departure. The subsequent drop in income obliged the club to further cut costs, and they finished bottom of the league in the two seasons after he left. They continued to struggle for the rest of the decade but, in contrast to their league form, they won their fourth FAI Cup with a 1–0 victory over Shamrock Rovers in the 1958 final.
Having not challenged for the League or Shield during the 1950s, they ended the decade at the top of the league table, with new signing Jimmy Hasty, the 'one-armed wonder', starring for the side. Although they subsequently fell short of winning the title, the club was competitive again. A second Leinster Senior Cup was won in 1960–61, and a first league title in 30 years followed in 1962–63. That success meant that Dundalk entered European competition for the first time, where they became the first Irish side to win an away leg of a European tie by beating FC Zurich, 2–1, in the 1963–64 European Cup. They could not manage to retain the title that season, finishing as runners-up, and they were also runners-up in the Shield. But they did win the season-end Top Four Cup for the first time.
Takeover, rise and fall (1964–1974)
A poor 1964–65 followed, and the club's management committee decided that it was time to hire a modern-style manager, who would have sole responsibility for recruitment and player selection. They appointed Gerry Doyle, who had spent most of his career as both a player and a coach with Shelbourne. The new season saw little improvement, however, and with financial losses growing and investment in Oriel Park needed, it became clear early in the 1965–66 season that the membership-based ownership model could not provide the financial support required to take the club forward. A new public limited company took over in January 1966, after the voluntary liquidation of the old company.The new board invested heavily in both Oriel Park and the squad ahead of the 1966–67 season, and signed a new player-coach, Alan Fox, from Bradford City. The pay-off was immediate. Dundalk finally won their first League of Ireland Shield, then charged to the league title, winning it by seven points, to seal the club's only League and Shield Double. They then won that season's Top Four Cup to complete the club's first 'treble' of trophies in one season.
The following season, Oriel Park hosted European football for the first time with the visit of Vasas SC of Hungary. But Fox fell out with the club's board during the trip to Budapest for the return leg, and he was released the following March, despite his side being set to retain the title. The Dublin City Cup of 1967–68 was his final success at the club. Dundalk subsequently finished as runners-up in the League, qualifying for the 1968–69 Fairs Cup, where they won a European tie for the first time with victory over DOS Utrecht. But fourth-place in the League that season, and another City Cup, was all that the remnants of Fox's team could achieve.
Future Ireland manager Liam Tuohy took over in the summer of 1969 and also joined the board, and as a result of his managerial experience, Dundalk entered the new decade at the top of the league table. But Tuohy was obliged to thin the squad and cut the wage bill because of the scale of the debts still hanging over the club from the redevelopment of Oriel Park, and he could not build a side able to sustain a title challenge. The 1971–72 Shield success would be the high point of his reign, and he quit at the end of that season, criticising a lack of local support in the process. His only other trophy at the club was the 1970–71 Leinster Senior Cup.
Dundalk had to sell or release several players to survive after Tuohy left, and they slid down the table with a young, inexperienced team finishing second from bottom in 1972–73. To recover the situation, a new board took over the running of the club, and hired John Smith from Walsall as player-manager. After renegotiating the club's debts, they were able to provide Smith with funds to sign several players. Smith delivered a Leinster Senior Cup in his first season, but they subsequently fell away in the league after a good start, and Smith quit two matches into his second season for a job outside football.