Sean Collins delves into his archives to bring us tales from the early sixties when the Lourdes Stadium was home to all manner of sports from Association Football and athletics to terrier racing and everything in between. A simpler time when fathers, mothers and grandparents and bonny babies all played their part.
At the AGM of the Lourdes Athletic Club in October 1960, held at the Carlton Café in Drogheda, Fr. Kevin Connolly spoke of their long held dream, soon to be a reality, of a sports stadium for the town. Lourdes A.C.
From day one he hoped to bring proper athletic facilities to Drogheda and by all accounts Fr. Kevin Connolly and a hardworking local committee, chaired by an old friend, the indomitable Paddy Smith, was the driving force that made the ‘Lourdes Stadium’.
I recently opened the Lourdes Stadium webpage and was delighted to read of the amount of events that currently take place there. In particular this testimonial from Peter Stewart.
“I have been playing indoor bowls for many years and with all the disruption with Covid a friend invited me to join his group at Lourdes Stadium. The facilities available are first class and the staff and other users most helpful and friendly. The stadium is very local and I feel that my involvement at the Lourdes keep my health as good as possible. I envy the young athletes of today who have such a super facility and Olympic standard track to exercise on. I have fond memories of running on the old circular track when it was opened in the 1950’s. “
The stadium was officially opened on Sunday 14th May 1961 by Rt. Rev. Mgr. G.F. Stokes following three years of a major community effort by people from all over Drogheda.
The seven acre site site was acquired in 1958 and after some legal issues were resolved, the project commenced. The aspiration was to provide a football pitch suitable for all codes, a 400 yard cinder running track, four tennis courts, a basketball court , with changing pavilions and all facilities, a covered stand with 1,000 pax capacity and a grass embankment which could facilitate upwards on 20,000 punters.
In September 1958 the mammoth task of shifting six hundred tons of cinders from Drogheda Railway Station to the stadium site at the back of Boyle O’Reilly Terrace. It took an army of volunteers working every Saturday afternoon and many evenings until April 1959 to move all the cinder to complete the track. Heavy machinery was discreetly provided by Anker Lund the MD of Irish Cement on the Boyne Road and the first ground was broken on the old vegetable plots to turn them into a stadium.
Michael O’Brien of Glenview, a Stadium committee member and a machinery driver at Cement Ltd., was without doubt one of the first who worked voluntarily to prepare the site.
The voluntary preparatory work continued through 1960 until a contractor to finish off the project was appointed. Parallel with this work Fr. Connolly organised many fund raising events in the town to finance the project. Tofts Amusements provided a carnival at John’s Gate with all profits going to the Lourdes Stadium fund.
Once it was opened many sporting disciplines made the Lourdes Stadium their home. From the start Drogheda AFC brought much glory to the town culminating in winning the Polikoff Cup in 1963. Tom Kerr a native of Drogheda being the scoring ace of the team supported by Sylvie Kierans , Tommy Rooney, Pat Thornton with Brendan Murtagh in goals.
The highlights of one match in August 1963 were covered by RTE television with Phillip Greene as presenter. The hope that the pitch would be open to all codes of football was somewhat defeated by a report in a local paper that at the monthly GAA County Board Meeting, eleven Gaelic players had been suspended for having attended a soccer match in the Lourdes Stadium. They had been reported to the county board by members of the “Vigilance Committee”, reminiscent of Berlin in the 1930s.
A special event organised at the stadium was “Terrier Racing’ and sporting raconteur Jim Gorman told me of some fun memories of the Friday night Terrier Races. Events were also advertised for mongrels and sheepdogs, with all registrations to Charlie Hurley, club secretary. Jim recalled meetings under lights and even terrier races over hurdles.
Prominent local terrier owners were Jim’s father, the two sporting heroes Tony “Socks’ Byrne and Joey Maher who raced Sock’s Shadow and Delvin Boy. Sos Dunne, Tom O’Donoghue, Soho McCormack and Dessie Thompson to name but a few.
In the summer of 1961, the Tennis Club at the Lourdes Stadium had over 150 member. A recently held mixed doubles tournament was won by Mr. L. Leech and Miss E. Kierans who defeated Mr. M. Seery and Miss A in the final. The semi-finalists included Jimmy Mulroy, Margaret McKenna, P. McKenna and M. Conlon.
Athletics at the Lourdes Stadium went from strength to strength. In June 1962 American athletes returned to Drogheda from Cornell and Pennsylvania Universities. They had previously visited in 1958 and competed at the C.B.S. Sportsground on the Newfoundwell Road.
Drogheda is fortunate that local man and athletics enthusiast Joe Coyle has written a comprehensive history of athletics in the town, “Athletics in Drogheda 1861- 2001” published in 2003 available at the local library. Joe covers in great detail athletics events at the Lourdes Stadium.
A Gala week was held at the Lourdes Stadium in July 1963. Far from athletics, soccer and terrier racing, the big event of the week was the “Bonny Baby” competition which was won by Regina Victory of Yellowbatter with Eugene Markey of Crushrod Avenue as a close runner up. Where are they now I wonder?
A pitch and putt course at the stadium was opened by Mayor Peter Moore in 1964. The Mayor and Fr. Connolly were the first two competitors to tee off on the new course. The competition had thirty two competitors and was won by Mr. P. Casey.
This short snapshot from the 1960s Drogheda hopefully highlights and recalls happy perhaps more innocent times for many. Fr. Kevin Connolly was properly remembered when” Fr .Kevin Connolly Way” was opened in the early 2000s.
