New Drogs boss Mathews starting from scratch

HARD to believe but it’s barely 18 months since that memor- able Friday night when Paul Doolin leaned against a wall outside the dressing room in United Park and, having just secured the title for Drogheda United, sought to play down giddy expectations that the club might go on to dominate the League of Ireland for some years to come.

And how right he was to be cautious, though not for the reasons he could have envisaged. Back then, Doolin was thinking only about how tough winning on the pitch can be but soon enough he would discover that winning off it can be even tougher.

Now, as the new season prepares to kick off, it’s all change on Boyneside – that championship-winning squad has scattered to the four corners, Doolin himself has gone south to Cork and, travelling in the opposite direction, Alan Mathews is the man charged with the unenviable task of proving that there is life after debt.