The beginning of the end or the end of the beginning

AS turning points go that surreal evening in the Valeriy Lobanovskyy Stadium in Kiev back in early August would be difficult to beat. It was in the Ukrainian capital that Drogheda Utd went agonisingly close to causing one of the biggest shocks in European football. They were the width of a goalpost from knocking the mighty Dynamo Kiev out of the Champions" League on the away goals rule. As it transpired Paul Doolin"s side missed a late sitter that would surely have won the game for them. It finished 2-2 or 4-3 on aggregate to Dynamo Kiev who went on to progress. They subsequently defeated Spartak Moscow in the next round and earned a place in the lucrative knock-out stages. Now they are mixing it with the likes of FC Porto, Fenerbahce and Arsenal. It was a world away from the Valeriy Lobanovskyy Stadium and the glamour of the Champions" League on Friday night as Drogheda hosted St Patrick"s Athletic in the last Premier League game of the season. Seldom can any Irish club have ended their league campaign with such a cloud of uncertainty hanging over them. Drogheda might not even be in the Premier Division next season; they may not even be in existence. St Pat"s won Friday"s game 2-0, but the result for the home crowd was, for once, a mere incidental. The club is afflicted with various ills and their genuine supporters, many of them from Meath, have good reason to be concerned about the patient"s future well-being. Despite starting the season as champions Drogheda Utd slipped into examinership, a polite term for saying they are flirting with financial ruin. As a result they were deducted 10 points. Chairman Vincent Hoey has seen the club pass through turbulent times before during 50 years with the club. He is at the helm again as he tries to steer the good ship Drogheda Utd through the latest storm. It would be understandable if he looked exhausted and downbeat on Friday night. The last few weeks he has been working frantically to try and keep his beloved club from hitting the rocks. Having to shelve plans for the new stadium, that would have brought Drogheda to the next level, was only one of the many disappointments he has had to ship in recent times. Only last week some frantic, last-ditch diplomacy was required from Hoey and the powers-that-be at United Park to stave off a players" strike. Hoey had more reasons than most to feel like throwing in the towel. Instead he was upbeat when he spoke briefly to the Meath Chronicle before Friday night"s game saying that he was optimistic 'things would be sorted out.' The immediate concern is to pay the money owed to the players by the end of the month so that the club can apply to have their FIFA licence renewed. Hoey had asked for the people of the town to get behind their side and come out in force for the St Pat"s match. There was certainly more in attendance than usual, but it was hardly a bumper crowd. Drogheda Utd have a squad of 31 full-time professional players and one of the mysteries is how such a large squad of players have been even partially sustained on what are usually meagre home attendances? It says a lot for the generosity of the club"s backers and the work of people like Hoey that Drogheda Utd went within inches of taking a huge step on the European stage. Then there are the players. Three of the large first-team squad are from Meath - Shane Barrett (Enfield), Darragh McNamara (Kells) and Michael Clarke (Kentstown). They don"t know where they will be next season. Barrett has been a professional with Drogheda Utd for four glorious seasons. During that time the club have won a league title, the FAI Cup and two Setanta Cups. For two years now Barrett has battled with a string of injuries. He is saddened with the way events have unfolded this season. 'Everything at the club is so professional and done the right way, but with the new stadium situation it"s very hard to see how it"s going to work out positively,' he stated. 'In the short term anyway it doesn"t look too bright for players and the status of the club in a professional sense,' he added. He also referred to the fickleness of fate and that evening in Kiev. 'We were only saying that among ourselves, if we had scored that late goal against Kiev how things might have panned out differently.' Just signed on a full-time contract a few months ago, Clarke at 19 is still at the foothills of a promising career. He still has a year left on his contract and he was greatly enjoying the life of a professional footballer. He too was wondering on Friday what the next step would be. 'We had meeting yesterday and it was said that the players just had to hang in there. It"s a long process to get the club back to where it was,' he said. Against St Pat"s a small band of young Drogheda supporters sang their way through the game. Their youthful enthusiasm couldn"t prevent their side going down to first-class goals from Keith Fahey and Ryan Guy. At the end the Drogheda fans got up and applauded their players off the pitch. Despite the financial situation they now find themselves in this has been a glorious few years for Drogheda Utd FC on the field of play. The fans must may have wondered on Friday night when they when see the likes of them again.