Former Dundalk FC chief operations officer Martin Connolly is now working shifts in a factory after being “very publicly” dismissed from the club last year, a tribunal has heard.
The football executive also alleged that Dundalk’s former owner “didn’t do any due diligence” before his November 2023 takeover of the League of Ireland club, in a deal that took just two weeks.
The Workplace Relations Commission heard evidence on Thursdayfrom the former club executive on his loss of earnings as a result of what he claims was an unfair dismissal at the hands of the club’s former owner, Brian Ainscough.
Mr Connolly said Mr Ainscough’s words to him were: “Do what you have to do and leave. I will honour what is in your contract,” after coming into his office on February 26th 2024.
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“I sorted out a few things in my office, contacted a few people, and I was gone in a few hours,” Mr Connolly said.
Mr Connolly was under cross-examination today, having given his evidence-in-chief on his complaint under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Dundalk Town Football Club Ltd at an earlier hearing last November.
The main issue in dispute at the hearing was the extent to which the club can be held liable for Mr Connolly’s losses if the WRC rules in his favour.
Cillian McGovern BL, a barrister acting for the club – which is now under new management – was asked today whether it was “conceding” Mr Connolly’s complaint by a WRC adjudication officer.
“I don’t think Mr Connolly had a material contribution to his own dismissal. He was given three months’ notice by the former owner. Thereafter he went home. He was paid for that. On 22 May [2024] the employment was effectively ended,” said Mr McGovern, who was instructed by solicitor David Lane of McGroddy Brennan LLP.
Adjudicator Kara Turner said her notes of the previous date recorded that Mr Connolly had already given evidence of being told “he was being let go” on February 26th 2024 and that there was “no notice period” discussed with him.
“He was not told that he would be paid up to May 2024,” she said. “There were no communications ... but he was paid up til May 2024, that’s the direct evidence I have,” she said.
After the tribunal was told that Mr Ainscough would not be attending to give evidence, Mr Connolly’s barrister Aaron Shearer BL said there was no evidence capable of being led that gainsays what the complainant said at the last hearing.
Under questioning, Mr Connolly said he did not return to the club after February 2024 and was “unemployed, just at home”. He said he contacted his solicitor when his salary payments stopped in May 2024.
Mr McGovern put it to him that there was a clause allowing for three months’ pay in lieu of notice. Mr Connolly said: “I just contacted my solicitor and asked him for guidance. I do remember a clause in my contract about an 18-month payment.”
He said this was on the basis of a “mutually-agreed early exit”.
Mr McGovern said it was accepted that Mr Connolly was not notified in writing of his dismissal, but his contract referred to payment in lieu of notice and this is what Mr Ainscough had done.
“I wasn’t aware of anything. It wasn’t explained to me why. The conversation was very brief, and shortly after that I contacted my solicitor to find out where I stood and what the situation was,” he said.
“Did you understand the club was in extreme financial difficulty,” Mr McGovern asked.
“I didn’t, because Mr Ainscough and I, we never had that discussion. He had taken over the club the previous November, and it seemed to me he wasn’t fully aware of the situation,” Mr Connolly said.
“What was the situation,” counsel asked.
“He didn’t do any due diligence. He took the club over, he spoke with the parties, he took it over very quickly,” Mr Connolly said.
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Mr Connolly added when questioned that a company called StatSports had been the previous majority owner of Dundalk, with his brother a minority shareholder.
He said it was his “opinion” that Mr Ainscough had not done his “due diligence”.
“There was a lot of information that seemed to be new to him,” Mr Connolly said. He added later that a previous takeover process had taken 15 or 16 months due to the requirements of due diligence, but that Mr Ainscough had done a deal in two weeks.
Mr Connolly had applied for around six or seven jobs before taking a temporary position in a factory in Cabinteely in Dublin run by biopharmaceuticals company Amgen, in September 2024, Mr Shearer said.
His evidence was that he had two unsuccessful job interviews between the end of his employment and taking up the factory job, including discussions on one role with the Football Association of Ireland.
The factory job paid just under €43,000 a year and involved 12-hour shifts, the tribunal was told – and involved a commute of 90 minutes to two hours.
“At that stage I was looking at anything, to be honest,” Mr Connolly said.
In a closing submission, Mr Shearer said the dismissal was “accepted to have been unfair” and that his client was in a position to claim for four months’ loss of salary from the COO job at €50,000 per annum, along with an ongoing loss after taking up the Amgen role.
He said that in setting the award, the WRC would have to take into account the “damage” to his client’s reputation and ability to find work and switch jobs caused by being “very publicly dismissed by a very public employer”.
Mr McGovern said the complainant had presented evidence of “two job applications in 120 days” and had not sought higher-paying work since taking up the factory job.
Ms Turner closed the hearing and said she would give her decision to the parties “in due course”.
In September last year, Dundalk FC was taken over again by a consortium led by local barrister John Temple.
