At the start of the 2023/24 Playr-Fit Championship season, there was both an air of anticipation and a whiff of enigma about Dundela.
The previous campaign proved a commendable one. Despite a massive mid-season turnover of players and a managerial switch, the east Belfast club mustered a fourth-placed finish having also reached the County Antrim Shield semi-finals and last-16 of the BetMcLean Cup – taking down Premiership adversaries like Carrick Rangers and Crusaders along the way.
Those feats are made all the more impressive when one considers that they were bottom of the league when Niall Currie took the reins in September 2021. Two years later, Currie is the leader of the opposition; relegated from the Premiership, Portadown are kicking at the heels to return to the top-flight at the first ask.
But the Duns – who lost Lee Chapman, Eoghan McCawl, Chris Rodgers and Benny Igiehon to the Ports all in the same winter window – are pushing them all the way.
Spirits are through the roof at Wilgar Park. After ex-Ballyclare Comrades supremo Paul Harbinson saw last term out following Currie’s sensational Shamrock return in October 2022, rookie Stephen Gourley assumed the baton as boss and has not looked back since.
The enigma has evaporated. Dundela are the real deal.
The 42-year-old club legend has 10 victories from 14 outings in the second-tier so far – good for 31 points and the sharing of top spot with Portadown, who have also played a couple of games more.
That’s a mightily impressive return for a team where the feelgood factor is palpable.
Not only are they thriving on the pitch, but they are progressing off it. ‘The Hen Run’, as the ground is affectionately nicknamed due to its tight surface and its inextricable proximity that has match-goers right in the thick of the action, has been developed in a major way lately.
The Mervyn Bell and Sir William Hastings seated stands behind the dugouts are state-of-the-art, while a terrace to the opposite side will soon be added to by another stand that backs onto the primary school to the west of the ground.
A close-knit venue that is right at the heart of the community will be one of the Irish League’s most attractive and modern stadiums when all the work is done.
Such off-field ambition is being matched by performances on the playing park, and a healthy mixture of youth and experience is driving it.
On one end, the pedigree and class of club stalwart Jay Magee, veterans Dee McMaster and Jaimie McGovern, Irish Cup Final scorer Andy Hall and the versatile Willie Faulkner are fused with highly-rated talents like Jordan Jenkins, Dylan Donaldson, Jake Corbett, Jake White and Lee Rea – and it all works hand in hand.
And throw in fresh faces such as full-back Ian Fletcher, fleet-footed Anto Burns and forward-minded Charlie Dornan, plus the teak-tough Tony Kane who – although he’s opted to take a back seat for now – is as leader-like as they get, and Gourley’s core couldn’t be in finer nick.
Hall, who was named the Championship’s Player of the Month for October, gave a detailed illustration of the 1955 Irish Cup victors’ intentions.
“We have a mix of exciting young players and experienced guys who know how to win games,” the former Glenavon hero explained.
“This is a progressive club that has improved its facilities. There’s a new seated stand being built behind the goal and there’s plans for new changing rooms and a 3G pitch, so it’s a club that has the aspiration to play in the Premiership.
“Whether or not that will be possible this season is probably a question for the board, but it is certainly an ambitious club.”
It could well be this season should current trends stay as they are.
In the east side of the capital, where Glentoran has for so long been the dominant influence, Dundela are taking huge strides and making a say in their own way, too.
Featured image from Hammy McClements.
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