Dundalk entered the 1962–63 season on the back of a disappointing eighth-place finish in the League and a fifth-place finish in the Shield the previous season. 1962–63 saw the side trained by 1932–33 title-winning veteran Gerry McCourt, assisted by Mickey Fox, Colm Bellew and Shay Noonan. Team selection was still the responsibility of the club's 10-person management committee. It was Dundalk's 37th consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football.
Season summary The new season would see the 30th anniversary of the club's only previous League title pass. Since then they had been runners-up three times. They had been uncompetitive throughout the 1950s, but had made strong challenges for the League in both 1959–60 and 1960–61. The season opened with the P.J. Casey Cup – a single-season competition run to replace matches lost due to the reduction in teams that season. It ran as a two group, single match round-robin with the top two in each group then playing off in a semi-final and final. The competition was named in memory of P.J. Casey - a long time Honorary Treasurer of the League, and former committee member at Dundalk, who had died in late 1961. Drumcondra defeated Dundalk in the final. The Shield followed, a competition Dundalk had yet to win, and they were pipped to the runners-up spot on goal average. The Dublin City Cup saw them knocked out in the first round, 4–3 on aggregate, while the Leinster Senior Cup saw them knocked out in the semi-final on corner-count after a 2–2 draw with Shelbourne.
With four competitions essentially dealt with by the time the League was up and running, all attention turned to the League schedule. A run of five wins and a draw saw Dundalk lead the table going into the new year, but a defeat and three draws in their next five games raised doubts about their ability to stay in front. Their rivals were faltering too, however, and with six games remaining Dundalk led by four points – although their closest rivals, Waterford and Drumcondra, both had two games in hand, as bad weather that winter had seen a number of postponements. Another slump in form followed, with a second round exit in the FAI Cup to Cork Hibernians and two League defeats in three weeks, leaving them top on goal average only with an extra game played. But they rallied as their rivals continued to drop points, needing a win away to Bohemians in their final match to seal the title. They went two goals behind, however, and with supporters believing they had blown the title, they came back to score twice in the last five minutes and secure a point. They then had to wait a full week for the fixture backlog to clear, with Shelbourne, Cork Celtic and Drumcondra all in the hunt. All three faltered, confirming Dundalk as Champions.
First-Team Squad (1962–63) Sources: No.NameYearsLeagueFAI CupLeague of Ireland ShieldOtheraTotalGoals1 Christy Barron 1959–1967 18 2 9 11 40 02 John Murphy 1957–1969 16 1 8 11 36 33 Tom Lyons 1961–1966 18 2 7 8 35 14 Patsy McKeown 1957–1968 17 2 9 11 39 05 Tommy Rowe 1962–1965 18 2 2 10 32 26 Ted Harte 1959–1964 17 2 3 7 29 17 Francie Callan 1954–1967 16 2 9 9 36 128 Billy Kennedy 1962–1966 13 1 8 10 32 59 Dermot Cross 1961–1964 14 1 7 7 29 1010 Leo O'Reilly 1962–1966 10 1 9 11 31 1111 Jimmy Hasty 1960–1966 13 2 5 7 27 1912 Stan Pownall 1962–1964 9 1 5 9 24 313 James Redmond 1962–1963 16 2 0 1 19 614 Davy McArdle 1960–1964 3 1 5 6 15 3 a. Includes the Leinster Senior Cup, Dublin City Cup, P.J. Casey Cup, and Top Four Cup.
Competitions P.J. Casey Cup Source: Group
Dundalk qualified as group runners-up Semi-final
Final
Shield Source:
Shield table
Dublin City Cup Source: First round
Cork Hibernians won 4–3 on aggregate
Leinster Senior Cup Source: Fourth round
Semi-final
Shelbourne won 8–2 on corner count
FAI Cup Source: First round
Second round
Top Four Cup Source: Semi-final
League Source:
League table
References Bibliography
Citations