1975–76 Dundalk F.C. season

Dundalk entered the 1975–76 season on the back of a fifth-place finish the previous season. 1975–76 was Jim McLaughlin's first full season as manager, having replaced John Smith in November 1974. It was Dundalk's 50th consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football.

Dundalk
1975–76 season
ManagerJim McLaughlin
League of Ireland1st (champions)
FAI CupFirst round
League CupSecond round
Leinster Senior CupFirst round
Top goalscorerLeague:
Terry Flanagan (11)
All:
Terry Flanagan (11)

Season summary

The previous season had seen manager John Smith quit only two matches into the league programme for a new job outside football.[1] Smith's resignation paved the way for the appointment of Jim McLaughlin as player-manager on 20 November 1974.[2] But the Dundalk board that had taken control of the club in the summer of 1973 had already exhausted its available funding, and McLaughlin had been obliged to see what could be salvaged of the season with Smith's squad. His fifth-place finish was seen as "creditable", given the decline in the club's fortunes since the previous League title win in 1966–67. Going into the new season, he retained the players who had impressed, and signed a number of players who had been on the fringe at their clubs or were coming from non-League sides – reflecting the limited budget he was operating under.[3]

The season opened with the League Cup in September, and McLaughlin's new side were knocked out in the second round. Louth rivals Drogheda United knocked them out of the Leinster Cup in the first round. The league schedule got under way on 5 October 1975, and saw a number of formerly successful clubs, such as Waterford, Cork Celtic and Cork Hibernians, all bring in fading stars from England – Bobby Charlton, George Best, Geoff Hurst and Rodney Marsh – in a bid to entice back the support they had lost as their fortunes had ebbed.[4][5][6] Meanwhile, Dundalk, needing no circus acts, were soon in a two-way tussle with Finn Harps at the top of the table. Struggling for goals early on, the signing of Terry Flanagan from Bohemians in November, after what would be their only defeat of the season, allowed them to press on. A 2–0 victory in a top of the table clash away to Finn Harps in February, in which Flanagan scored both goals, saw Dundalk go clear in the table.[7] They were knocked out in the first round of the FAI Cup a week later, but they dropped only two points in the League subsequently, before clinching the title by beating Cork Hibernians at home in front of a packed Oriel Park with a game to spare.[8]

First-Team Squad (1975–76)

Sources:[9]

No. Name Years League FAI Cup League Cup Leinster Senior Cup Total Goals
1 England Richie Blackmore 1974–1985 26 1 3 1 31 0
2 Republic of Ireland Brian McConville 1964–1978 26 1 3 1 31 0
3 Northern Ireland Jim McLaughlin 1974–1983 26 1 3 0 30 1
4 Republic of Ireland Tommy McConville 1967–1986 25 1 3 1 30 4
5 Northern Ireland Jackie McManus 1973–1977 26 1 3 1 31 6
6 Northern Ireland Seamus McDowell 1975–1977 26 1 3 0 30 10
7 England Jimmy Dainty 1973–1980 25 1 3 1 30 7
8 Northern Ireland Sean McLoughlin 1975–1976 23 1 2 0 26 4
9 Republic of Ireland Terry Flanagan 1975–1978 18 1 0 0 19 11
10 Republic of Ireland Sean Sheehy 1970–1977 26 1 2 1 30 9
11 Northern Ireland Tony Cavanagh 1972–1977 24 1 2 1 28 3
12 Northern Ireland Con Davey 1973–1975 6 0 2 1 9 1
13 Republic of Ireland Paul Connellan 1974–1976 7 0 2 1 10 1
14 England Alan Spavin 1976 5 0 0 0 5 0
15 Republic of Ireland Joe Nicholl 1975–1976 2 0 3 0 5 2

Competitions

League Cup

Source:[10]

First round
14 September 1975 Shelbourne0–3 Dundalk Dublin
Stadium: Harold's Cross Stadium
21 September 1975 Dundalk 3–1ShelbourneDundalk
Stadium: Oriel Park

Dundalk won 6–1 on aggregate

Second round
28 September 1975 Waterford 2–0DundalkWaterford
Stadium: Kilcohan Park

Leinster Senior Cup

Source:[10]

First Round
25 September 1975 Dundalk1–2 Drogheda United Dundalk
Stadium: Oriel Park

FAI Cup

Source:[10]

First Round
15 February 1976 Cork Celtic 3–0DundalkCork
Stadium: Turners Cross

League

Source:[10]

5 October 1975 Round 1 Athlone Town 0–1 Dundalk
12 October 1975 Round 2 Dundalk 2–2 Home Farm
19 October 1975 Round 3 Limerick 1–4 Dundalk
26 October 1975 Round 4 Dundalk 2–2 St Patrick's Athletic
2 November 1975 Round 5 Cork Celtic 2–1 Dundalk
9 November 1975 Round 6 Dundalk 1–1 Finn Harps
16 November 1975 Round 7 Bohemians 1–1 Dundalk
23 November 1975 Round 8 Dundalk 4–1 Shelbourne
7 December 1975 Round 9 Drogheda United 1–2 Dundalk
14 December 1975 Round 10 Dundalk 5–2 Shamrock Rovers
21 December 1975 Round 11 Cork Hibernians 1–1 Dundalk
28 December 1975 Round 12 Dundalk 3–2 Sligo Rovers
30 December 1975 Round 13 Waterford 0–2 Dundalk
11 January 1976 Round 14 Home Farm 0–0 Dundalk
12 January 1976 Round 15 Dundalk 3–0 Athlone Town
18 January 1976 Round 16 Dundalk 1–0 Limerick
25 January 1976 Round 17 St Patrick's Athletic 2–2 Dundalk
1 February 1976 Round 18 Dundalk 3–2 Cork Celtic
8 February 1976 Round 19 Finn Harps 0–2 Dundalk
22 February 1976 Round 20 Dundalk 2–2 Bohemians
29 February 1976 Round 21 Shelbourne 1–2 Dundalk
14 March 1976 Round 22 Dundalk 1–1 Waterford
21 March 1976 Round 23 Dundalk 4–1 Drogheda United
28 March 1976 Round 24 Shamrock Rovers 0–3 Dundalk
4 April 1976 Round 25 Dundalk 1–0 Cork Hibernians
11 April 1976 Round 26 Sligo Rovers 1–1 Dundalk

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Dundalk F.C. 26 15 10 1 54 26 +28 40
2 Finn Harps F.C. 26 15 6 5 57 35 +22 36
3 Waterford F.C. 26 13 8 5 54 37 +17 34
4 Bohemian F.C. 26 10 12 4 44 25 +19 32
5 Cork Hibernians F.C. 26 11 9 6 37 24 +13 31
6 Drogheda United F.C. 26 11 6 9 42 45 −3 28
7 Athlone Town A.F.C. 26 12 4 10 40 49 −9 28
8 Cork Celtic F.C. 26 11 5 10 41 34 +7 27
9 Shelbourne F.C. 26 7 7 12 42 44 −2 21
10 Sligo Rovers F.C. 26 6 8 12 32 49 −17 20
11 St Patrick's Athletic F.C. 26 7 5 14 31 53 −22 19
12 Home Farm F.C. 26 4 9 13 35 54 −19 17
13 Limerick F.C. 26 6 4 16 37 49 −12 16
14 Shamrock Rovers F.C. 26 4 7 15 27 49 −22 15
Source: www.rsssf.com

Awards

Player of the Month
Month Player References
March Northern Ireland Seamus McDowell [11]

References
Bibliography
  • Murphy, Jim (2003). The History of Dundalk F.C.: The First 100 Years. Dundalgan Press. ASIN B0042SO3R2.
  • Graham, Alex. Football in the Republic of Ireland a Statistical Record 1921–2005. Soccer Books Limited. ISBN 1-86223-135-4.
  • MacSweeney, Niall (1985). A Record of League of Ireland Football 1921/2 - 1984/5. Association of Football Statisticians. ASIN B008H2CBJQ.
  • Ryan, Sean; Dunne, Noel (24 October 1975). The Bass Book of Irish Soccer. Mercier Press. ISBN 9780853424505.
Citations
  1. "A Surprise Smith Move". The Irish Press. 15 October 1974. Retrieved 23 April 2019 – via Irish Newspaper Archives.
  2. "Soccer". Evening Herald. 18 November 1974. Retrieved 23 April 2019 – via Irish Newspaper Archives.
  3. Ryan, Sean (7 September 1975). "Dundalk". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  4. Martin, Seamus (23 February 1976). "Stars are uninspiring". Irish Independent.
  5. Meagan, Jimmy (19 January 1976). "Big Crowd Treated As Bobby Shows His Magic". Irish Press. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  6. Redmond, John (19 January 1976). "Shels Take The Honours". Irish Press. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  7. Kelly, Liam (9 February 1976). "Harkin Sent Off In Rousing Tussle". Irish Press. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  8. Meagan, Jimmy (5 April 1976). "Flanagan's goal title Clincher". The Irish Press. Retrieved 23 April 2019 – via Irish Newspaper Archives.
  9. Murphy, Jim (2013). A Dundalk FC Miscellany. Ireland: Self-published. p. 259.
  10. Murphy, Jim (2003). History of Dundalk FC - the First 100 Years. Dundalk: Jim Murphy. p. 467.
  11. "Seamus McDowell is 'Player of the Month' for MArch". Evening Herald. 2 April 1976. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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