THIRTY YEARS AGO this week, a goal by Steve Staunton broke the hearts of Kildrum Tigers in the FAI Youth Cup semi-final.
It was a campaign that resulted in Staunton’s talents being spotted by Liverpool, who snapped up the fair-haired Dundalk man for £20,000.
Thirty years on, those who wore the red and black stripes of Kildrum Tigers on that May Sunday at Finn Park still agonise over what might have been, until Staunton sank their hopes and dreams.
Kildrum, under the wily watch of James Grant, marched themselves into the semi-finals of a competition previously won by Fanad United in 1979.
The former club of Paddy Crerand, a European Cup winner with Manchester United, from glorious Summer Cup days in the 50s and 60s, Kildrum also countd the likes of John McCole (Leeds United), Denis Hatsell (Preston North End), Alex Greaves (Bolton), Bobby Browne (Motherwell), Bobby Forker (Ayr United), Hugh Higgins (Hibernian) and John Ferry (Kilmarnock) as ex players.
[adrotate group=”37″]Their fortunes declined after they entered the newly-formed Donegal League in 1972, but under Grant and Hugh McNulty the sleeping giant began to rub its eyes.
Some believed that Grant and Kildrum had no right being in the FAI Youth Cup that season.
Grant believed otherwise. He knew what he had at his disposal.
When they left Oriel Park in the semi-final with a 1-1 draw, their goal scored by a 16-year-old Johnny Tinney, hopes were high of the ultimate upset.
Some in Donegal soccer had scoffed at Kildrum for even entering the side, but the rich traditions of the club convinced Grant that he’d made the right call.
How Kildrum’s FAI Youth Cup game against Dundalk was reported on at the time in 1986. Image from The Irish Newspaper Archive
In fact, the Youth Cup run was the catalyst for a rebirth of sorts at Station Road.
“I think a key factor has been the renewed pride in the club and the fact that several players have gained plenty of experience from playing in the Donegal League where our good run has helped no end,” was how the club chairman, Hugh Bovaird, saw it the week of the replay.
The goalkeeper, Paddy Kelly, was the hero of the Oriel Park game with some stunning saves. Indeed, Kelly had conceded just one goal before that game in Dundalk.
[adrotate group=”46″]Thirty years on, Kelly is keeping his fingers crossed that his own nephew can emulate Staunton and go on to represent Ireland at a major Championships. Shane Duffy, the Blackburn Rovers and Republic of Ireland hopeful, is the son of Paddy’s sister, Siobhan, a native of Raphoe.
Staunton had been an injury doubt before the replay, but when the Lilywhites ran out, the unmistakable Staunton was in tow.
Martin Connolly was the Dundalk goalkeeper in Ballybofey and he made a wonderful save early on to keep out a header from Tinney while another stop thwarted the lively Martin Bradley.
Pat Coll was closer still when his header had Connolly beaten only for defender John Smith to hack off the goal-line.
[adrotate group=”67″]“Staunton really came into the game in the second half as he began to come to terms with the man-to-man marking of Keith Lynch,” was how one report announced the arrival of Dundalk’s star into the game.
Staunton had three chances, all magnificently saved by Kelly, including a stunning stop from a free-kick.
The traffic wasn’t one-way, though. John Coll wasn’t far away with an overhead kick and Connolly clawed away a header by Mickey Pyne.
With extra time looming, Kildrum had one, final chance and John ‘Packie’ Coll can still see that moment when time stood still.
The report read: “Kildrum will agonise for some time over the superb chance they had to clinch victory in the final minute of normal time when centre-forward Marty Bradley put winger John Coll through but his splendid chip, while beating the advancing ‘keeper, was just inches over the crossbar.”
[adrotate group=”69″]Seven minutes into extra-time, with Dundalk’s superior fitness starting to show, Matthew McArdle’s cross was only partially cleared and Staunton lashed the ball into the top corner for a goal that confirmed a cruel exit for Kildrum.
Kildrum’s run to the final had been far from straightforward. Packie Coll, Bradley and John Shields netted the goals in a 3-1 win over St Catherine’s.
They were 1-0 up against Westport in St Johnston when the game was abandoned, with little more than 10 minutes remaining, due to the poor state of the pitch.
They were made do it all again and the subsequent scoreless draw meant a replay in Westport, where Martin Morrisson scored the only goal of the game.
They were drawn against Mervue United in the quarter-finals and forced a replay thanks to a 0-0 draw in Galway.
At Greenbrae in Lifford, Morrisson was the hero of the hour with a stunning goal in a 1-0 win that set up that clash with Dundalk.
[adrotate group=”43″]Grant put it afterwards: “It’s a marvellous achievement for a small club like ourselves to go this far. The lads have played exceptionally well. What we lacked in sill we made up for in heart and effort.”
One reporter made a prediction as he watched what unfolded at Finn Park: “After the successes of this year, one can confidently state that one of the county’s strongest soccer heartlands is alive and well with a lot more to do.”
How right he was, too.
Kildrum had already won a Hospitals League (the prelude to what is now the Saturday League) Division Two title, dropping just three points on the way, when they scooped one of the most important crowns in the club’s history.
Two nights after their loss to Dundalk, Kildrum played Whitestrand United in a Donegal League Division Two title decider at Dry Arch Park in Bonagee.
Feelings between the two were already on a knife edge with Whitestrand having lodged a failed protest earlier in the season against the legality of Tigers player Ricky Woods.
‘Strand took the lead in Bonagee, but Jim Boyle’s penalty set up a grandstand finish. 48 hours earlier, Packie Coll was inches from glory against Dundalk, but here he was on the money as he rose at the back post to head home Hugh Doherty’s cross. “He must have stood on a stool to reach it,” was how Grant described the moment.
The following season, Kildrum won the Division One title and when James Coll, at the tender age of 21, was appointed manager just a couple of seasons later, the Tigers were well and truly roaring again, still spurred by that epic run to the last four of the Youth Cup.
Years later, as they watched Staunton star in the green of Ireland, a group of men in the Fisherman’s Inn and the Hole In The Wall could remember the moment so vividly when the man on the screen broke their hearts.
The Kildrum Tigers team for that replay was: Paddy Kelly, Maurice Toland, Pat Coll, John Shields, Dom Harkin, Keith Lynch, Johnny Tinney, Martin Morrisson, Martin Bradley, Mickey Pyne, Packie Coll. Subs: Hugh Dillon, Damien McGee and Gerard McNulty.
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