Tallaght Stadium was the venue on Saturday for the last game of what has been a most memorable League of Ireland season.
Drogheda United were vying to make it the best week in the club’s history by adding Premier Division survival to the FAI Cup they won last Sunday by defeating Derry City 2-0.
Bray Wanderers finished fifth in the First Division, yet made it to the playoff final following a penalty shoot-out win over Athlone Town.
Some 5,573 supporters made it to Tallaght on Saturday for the promotion/relegation playoff.
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Off the pitch, the two east-coast towns have a lot in common, with large commuter populations that have placed a lot of pressure on services and housing.
Drogheda United fan Donal Reilly says he will be voting for Sinn Féin in this election for the first time.
“Health is the big issue for me,” he said. “It is overcrowding in the local hospital [Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital]. Once you go down there, you are there for 12 hours. In a first-world country, it is just not on. If you go to Australia, you can be seen in about a half an hour”.
“It’s the cost of living versus income. It’s that simple,” said Drogheda fan Stephen Martin. “If you are talking to anybody in pubs or at work, the concern there is that they are able to keep up. I think that party who addresses that fully is the most likely to succeed.”
Louth returned two Sinn Féin TDs in the 2020 general election. Ruairí Ó Murchú and Imelda Munster took 42 per cent of the first-preference vote between them. Before that, Gerry Adams represented the constituency from 2011 to 2016. Munster is stepping down and has been replaced by Joanna Byrne, who is the chairwoman of Drogheda United.
Sinn Féin’s raison d’être is a united Ireland, though it has put housing as the top priority in this election.
Martin does not believe Sinn Féin’s plan to set up a department of reunification is getting through to voters.
“I don’t see how people in the South are too concerned about it (a united Ireland). They have bigger fish to fry. They have bigger problems on their plate. In the North the quality of living is very stark, north versus south, especially in places like Belfast.”
Another Drogheda fan John Motson, who shares his name with the late BBC football commentator, said: “We need to be looking after our own people. I’m looking at Sinn Féin. Everybody has had their chance and none of them got it right, but I think the same crowd will get back in.
“They are going to get a second bite of the cherry. The only thing is that they have plenty of money on their side to do things. They have no excuse. Whoever gets in needs to get it right.”
Paul Hughes, who was racing around handing out Drogheda United bumper stickers celebrating the FAI Cup win, is not happy with the outgoing Government parties, but is pessimistic about the alternatives.
Would he consider voting for Sinn Féin?
“They say a lot of good things, but the money doesn’t add up,” he said. “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are calling them in. I can’t see them [Sinn Féin] getting into government.”
Bray is part of the four-seat Wicklow constituency, home to Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. Despite their high profile, neither was elected on the first count. Instead, Sinn Féin’s John Brady got almost a quarter of the vote and topped the poll.
“Not Harris anyway,” said Karl Fogarty who is a Bray fan. “He’s been sitting there for the last 14 years doing absolutely nothing. I’ll vote for anyone else, not Harris nor Donnelly.”
The attendance, was unsurprisingly overwhelmingly male, but Rose Cole (23) was there with her Bray Wanderers-supporting boyfriend. She rated housing, homelessness and health as the big election issues – but housing in particular for her generation.
“The rent people are paying is crazy. I’m lucky,” she said. “I work in Dublin and I live at home, but there are so many people of my age group who live in Dublin from the country who are paying an arm and a leg for rent.
“We will probably consider moving abroad. A lot of friends are in the same boat. I don’t think there is any chance of me getting a house here in the current situation.”
Drogheda United eventually won the game 3-1 preserving their Premier Division status for another year.
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