Shed in the 80's versus now

[Robbiedundalk2]

I was regular in Oriel from 75 to 89 until I moved abroad . I remember the Shed been built, the D Shed rules Oriel graffiti first written on the railway station bridge and the being of its intimacy. Now back home permanently I am loving getting to games regularly again. The changes in D Shed are a microcosm of the changes in the country and society at large. The spirit of having crack and supporting Dundalk have not changed

I want to compile a then and now list, for those that remember the 80's share your memories of the best nights, characters, songs, rituals and how they compare to now, come on the town



Come

[dell]

Some harmless type chants and funny looking back like Get out of the shed or we'll shoot ye dead. Or when Bohs, Rovers fans in the main charged the shed - days before segregation, and the Shed lads chanting 'get out of the shed' before a counter charge was mounted. Philip Greene and Elephants lol. The Gino chants.
The more raw type IRA chants when Derry came to visit. The horrible abuse of Curtis Flemming among others when he was with St Pats the sh1t of 80's football Europe wide I suppose.
European nights yearly ( so much so that they got taken for granted, a league game against Bray now probably has better attendances than some of the European ties). Real powerhouses of the game visiting Oriel with champons playing champions and cup winners playing cup winners, none of this top 2,3,4 or whatever playing in a 'champions' league. People knowing who and what the Mujahideen were and why the shed took on that title, 'mushahalee' I still heard said recently by one young lad so good job its just been shortened to the Mudja(sic) lol. There were no [email protected] flares!!!

[Robbiedundalk2]

There are some apocryphal stories that I was too young to experience or remember if anyone could fill in the blanks

What happened at the infamous trip to Finn Harps that was part of the ticket for Shed Christmas ball

Who was the last man standing in the shed when linfield attacked and seemingly said "stand yis er ground"

Dundalk played Drogheda and in the morning of the game one of the players was on the local radio talking about his
Favourite track. The shed learned the track in the few hours before the game and sceranaded him during the game, I think it was Tommy Mc and an elvis track

Who printed off the hymn sheets post Celtic that
provided the mainstay of Shed songs for the 80's

There were a few pop tracks of the day were very popular
in the shed at the time, one by haircut 100 if I can remember correctly?

i remember when half time entertainment was throwing coins in the middle of a circle and seeing who was brave enough to pick it up. When wrapping the loose galvanised was the nearest thing to a drum, when 20k were in Oriel for Celtic.

It is a pity some of the older songs seems to be lost, particularly the ones dedicated to players - Dermot Keely, King Richard Blackmore, also Whites are coming up the hill and anything that was anti Rovers - Jingle Bells and Miltown is a car park

[colymull]

I was regular in Oriel from 75 to 89 until I moved abroad . I remember the Shed been built, the D Shed rules Oriel graffiti first written on the railway station bridge and the being of its intimacy. Now back home permanently I am loving getting to games regularly again. The changes in D Shed are a microcosm of the changes in the country and society at large. The spirit of having crack and supporting Dundalk have not changed

I want to compile a then and now list, for those that remember the 80's share your memories of the best nights, characters, songs, rituals and how they compare to now, come on the town



Come

I remember that graffiti on the railway bridge. Was never sure if "D Shed" was an abreveation for "Thee Shed" or something much cooler?!!

[Sneachta]

Gino oh Gino Ginelli!!

Jody Jody give us a wave give us wave!

He'd always wave

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[dell]

Gino oh Gino Ginelli!!

Jody Jody give us a wave give us wave!

He'd always wave

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Ye sure it wasnt a flap!!

[niall_hearty2000]

Gino oh Gino Ginelli!!

Jody Jody give us a wave give us wave!

He'd always wave

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Ye sure it wasnt a flap!!

To be fair to him he was some goalkeeper in his day. Just shit with us....

[mike]

I remember hearing a good few stories about some of these d-shed days of late 70’s / early 80’s. I vaguely recall they modeled themselves on the ska music movement at the time and in the absence of any replica tops on sale around then, their choice of gear was often the black and white hopped rugby style tops.

They definitely brought back songs from the 1979 trio to Celtic in the EC game. They definitely could handle themselves these lads but most were sound. There was an incident away to Finn Harps. 80/81 I think, something about the match called off and a bus load of d-shed boys booked into Jackson’s hotel and had let’s say a lively night. The game was played the following day. The next home match this was mentioned in the editorial in the match programme and it went into bold too at some points, I’ve more vague memories of the article being read out over the PA system by Sean Mcgarrity the exelllent announcer of the time and the stand clapping !!

The d-shed boys also organized a xmas ball early 80’s and I think even a few players turned up. I was too young to go but I remember the tickets on sale at one of the matches. One hilarious incident was the board put a few ‘undercover’ directors into the shed one Sunday to pick out a few of them, one was the unfortunate Tony Kierans who himself even had to laugh when about 30 of them spotted him and jumped up and down impersonating chickens !!

[marvin]

I know this thread is about the shed, but in the sixties it was preceeded by the mullacurry stand...so named because it was supposed to have been removed to Oriel from the old racecourse outside Ardee.

[mike]

There was a very vague photo I think in Jim Murphy's last DFC book on the Mullacurry stand, it looked to be around the same size?

The old wooden stand that was behind the town goal was a great spot to watch matches from back in the day, that blew down in a storm around 1981-82. That used to the main stand when the pitch ran the other way.

Another memory of the shed was around 1989/90 when it got extended to include the PR tower, that had a TV part also, this was an excellent spot to watch games from as it took the shed up to the half way line or maybe just past that line.

[marvin]

That old wooden stand at the town end used to be the main stand at one time Mike. Im not sure about it being blown down though....I stand to be corrected here, but was it not dismantled following the Bradford fire disaster?

[mike]

No - it was definitely damaged early 80's, I remember it being used for Spurs UEFA cup game in 1981, so it was damaged beyond repair in the winter of either 81/92 or 82/83. Then they dismantled it for safety reasons. I think Bradford was 1985?

[niall_hearty2000]

Was there not a storm in or around the time we played and beat celtic in a friendly? Barry kehoe scored if I recall correctly and it was either not in use for that game or was dismantled around that time?

[mike]

Celtic Friendly, Dec 80 or Jan 81 ? We def beat them, 2-1, Barry Kehoe wonder goal and the other from Jerome Clarke I think. Not sure exact date it was demolished, between late 81 and early 83 would be my guess.

[Robbiedundalk2]

The schoolboys league collection on Friday night reminded me of my earliest 1970's Oriel memories and the 'sheet' collection. 4 brave souls took 4 corners of a bed sheet and walked around the ground as the crowd throw coins in for that days worthy cause. Unbelievably I can't remember anyone getting injured and coins in those days were big and heavy. Health and safety would have a field day. No idea why try did it like this. Still buzzing from Friday, roll on Monday and next Friday for some more