No-one from Derry would forget 2006 in a hurry.
Stephen Kenny captured the imagination of the city with an unprecedented run through Europe that brought the Candy Stripes the whole way to Paris.
It also brought PSG to the Brandywell and a buzz to the banks of the Foyle.
Week by week, one by one, Derry natives the town over were being converted and every night the Lone Moor Road hosted a bigger crowd than it might’ve been used to, the same song would ring around the terraces from the regulars.
“Support your local team, support your local team.
We all do and so should you, support your local team.”
There was City mania about the place and the message was getting through.
You’d hear a constant echo of ‘Stephen Kenny’s Red ‘n’ White Army’ being chanted by kids who were just caught up in the merriment with no real idea why or even what it was. An open day at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown saw a herd of students from Derry bouncing up and down together singing, “Let’s all do the European dance.”
It’s effect lasted longer than people might’ve offered credit for. In 2010, after the club was firstly expelled from the League of Ireland and then demoted to the First Division, it was young lads, Derry lads that helped them climb again. It was a group of talented and inspired young men who lifted the club back off its knees because they were steeped in the tradition of greater things.
The whole experience was unifying and, 10 years on, Stephen Kenny is on the brink of something even more special. He’s leading something that doesn’t just affect one part of the island, him and his Dundalk team’s exploits are felt like ripples in a pond the whole way through the country.
On Wednesday, on August 17, the club welcomes Legia Warsaw to the Aviva Stadium for the first leg of a Champions League playoff.
Tickets are priced from €10 to €30, €5 for kids. There are 50,000 seats there to fill and there’s an Irish soccer community more passionate and boisterous than most nations in the world. Ireland is proud of its football even if it doesn’t reflect in its league.
But now this is a chance to get a big crowd out, to inspire the next footballer, to generate the next buzz.
There are a lot of steps that can and need to be taken to build the local league into a forceful presence in the country and there are many understandable reasons why some of its biggest supporters might find frustration in the fair-weather fans not bothering their arses with the League of Ireland unless Liverpool are playing a friendly or someone’s off on an exceptional European run.
But the fans are there and, part-time or not, Dundalk want them. Because beneath every jersey, every town, city and countryside on these shores, we’re all Irish.
“The support of the fans will be vital to us on the night and throughout our European campaign,” Dundalk skipper Stephen O’Donnell said.
“Given the large capacity of the Aviva Stadium, we are hoping for a big turnout in order to generate the special atmosphere that Irish football fans are famous for around the world.”
Euro 2016, France… hell football needed the Irish fans and, by God, they delivered, @ConanDoherty was in Parishttps://t.co/cuHfcgw1h9
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 14, 2016
And that’s why they’ve gone as far as championing #GreenArmyNeeded as their social campaign for the tie and it might go against traditionalists or the long-serving supporters but this in an opportunity for growth.
And, for now, this seems to be the only way of getting through.
For now, Dundalk have the best chance of keeping those fans there and of guaranteeing more big games in the near future.
For now, one night is the only time some people will give the league but, like a ripple effect, it can inspire the next footballer, it can convince the next family.
A lot can change in one night. History can be made in one night.
But the green army is needed.
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