The town came to a halt for a time as Maxi was brought to his final resting place at St Patrick’s Cemetery. This followed mass at the Church of the Holy Redeemer and a final chance for Dundalk supporters to say goodbye to one of the nicest people anybody could know.

Maxi’s hearse was driven into Oriel Park where supporters gathered in the main stand and gave Maxi a final emotional goodbye. A piper played a tune as the hearse drove into the ground and stopped in front of the stand.

Players gathered in the centre of the pitch with the now famous banner which said ”Maxi Dundalk loves you more than you could ever know”. A crowd in the shed lit flares in Maxi’s honour and then the stadium was plunged into tears as stadium announcer Mickey Duffy had the song ”Three Little Birds” blast across the famous old ground.

This song has in recent years become inextricably linked with the club, as the Dundalk crest has three little birds on it. The words of the song came across to many as if Maxi was giving his final message which says continuously “Don’t worry cos every little thing is going to be alright”.

Perhaps it was Maxi saying to those who mourn and miss him badly that everything will be ok for them and not to worry. Maybe it could also be a message to supporters of the club not to worry that the future of the club will be secured. That remains very much to be seen.

Fans continuously waved flags on the stand and in the shed for an occasion that was so dignified. The crowd then burst into applause. This was followed by David Keenan’s song El Paso. Mickey Duffy then said that there was only one last thing left and that was from Maxi himself.

Maxi’s voice could be heard all over the ground saying ”Come on the Town”. Again the tears flowed. But the visit to Oriel and the last farewell to Maxi will have allowed Dundalk supporters, players, employees and especially Maxi’s family and close friends a chance to say their last goodbyes in the most perfect of ways.

The club employees and Mickey Duffy have to be highly commended for the way in which the short ceremony was performed. Going forward, hopefully, it will be therapeutic to all. It allowed the emotions of everyone to be expressed outwardly to a man who lived for his family, friends and club. Maxi will be forever remembered by all. ,

It’s terrible to think that Dundalk FC have lost two supporters over a short period as a result of mental health difficulties. Dundalk lost Harry Taaffe a number of years ago when he took his own life. He left behind his family who will always be brokenhearted and his friends also.

Now only a few years later the same has happened Maxi. This has rocked the very fabric of not just the town of Dundalk but the very fabric of Oriel Park itself. Going forward more and more must be done for the mental health of all staff, players and where it’s known even individual supporters.

This of course depends on resources outside the club. Many are critical of the lack of mental health services that are presently available around the country. Governments seem to be totally ignorant of how important it is for every part of this country to have the correct services.

They had a chance to even begin and make a start in the budget. They failed miserably. But why am I not surprised? In the budget of 2012, the government cut counselling services in schools by 12 million euros.

It hit the service so badly. Many schools lost their counselors. Things have improved in this sector now. But it still has yet to recover to the position it had been in prior to 2012.

Dundalk got a very respectable result against Galway in the west when they held them to a 1-1 all-draw. Considering the passing of Maxi was bound to have had a big impact on the players, they did well.

Four of them carried Maxi’s coffin the day before. There is no doubt that some of the players would have been traumatised by what happened. Jon Daly said that Maxi would be such a huge loss to everybody at the club.’

He said: “His death puts everything in perspective. When you look that someone like Maxi is no longer with us, it was a sad sad week. “As much as last Thursday was a great celebration of Maxi’s life, it was very sad to say goodbye.

“I have only known him since I arrived in Dundalk earlier this season. I have had some great dealings and conversations with him. He has been a really positive person standing behind the dugout. It’s so sad he will never be there any more cheering the guys on.”

On Friday a social media post was made by a recognised social media outlet which said that the Dundalk players were not paid. This was quickly put to bed on Saturday morning when it became clear they had in fact received their wages.

Jon Daly said that he was very tired talking about whether players had been paid their wages or not. ”I have been very honest about that type of stuff.

“I just want to talk about what is happening on the pitch tonight, I just want to say that I am very happy the way we have stood up to Galway and how we got a point when it could so easily have been three.”

The rumour mill has been in full swing about what has or what has not been going on behind the scenes at Oriel. On Thursday the club came out with a statement saying ”that over the past two weeks, the club’s owners have met with several stakeholders both external and internal ensuring that the club remains at the heart of the community.

“The contents of all such meetings remain confidential. The club is aware of several falsehoods, rumours, and comments on social media. All staff and players were paid last week and the owners have not indicated otherwise going forward. The payments they were referring to were two weeks ago now. They  were of course made on Friday night as well.”

But with so much uncertainty about the club’s future, I think it’s very important that John Temple holds a public meeting soon about how things are going in the club. If there is a lack of communication, then the rumour mill will be in overdrive.

It is time now I think for Mr Temple to meet with supporters to try and ease the fears and worries that they have on the future. I also feel it is vital that he meets with the local media. If he were to do this it would stabilise club affairs. It would get the fans behind the club.

There is much worry on the future of the club. Mr Temple needs to give his idea as to what way the club will be running going forward, should it get a Division One licence next year. It would also stop the rumour mill in its tracks.

I think Mr Temple needs to tell supporters whether he intends to see the first team being run on a part-time basis or remain full-time. Staying full-time is vital for the future of the club. He must also explain where the funding is going to come from that will run the club.

There was a very positive move last Saturday when news came through late in the evening that a Dundalk FC supporters trust was being set up as a limited company. This will be 100 per cent independent of all owners.

It will add much greater stability as it will ensure if a private owner decides they are discontinuing their ties with the club we would not see such a crisis seen two weeks ago, when Brian Ainscough was going to liquidate the club. That it is a limited company is also very good.

Dundalk FC was always a limited company in the 1960’s 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. They were periods of mostly great stability at Oriel. It saw great achievements right throughout the period.

It also ensured that the directors of the company were answerable to its members who were supporters. It should be seen as a very welcome move by all including the new owner. It will hopefully help stabilise things at the club.

It will not have any say in the daily running of Dundalk FC. But it will be there as a support to whoever is running Oriel. It may well end up running Dundalk FC at some time in the future.

The Trust say that Dundalk FC are now into their fourth owner in four years. With each change, the club gets weaker. Debts get bigger and the death of Dundalk FC more and more possible.

The Trust says the club has arrived at a point where the club needs less owners and more guardians. The Trust says that they the townspeople, the community, and the supporters have a need to become those guardians.

There is no more time to lose according to the trust. Unless they act they say the near misses of the club going out of football will stop being misses and the club will die.

The Trust’s role will be to provide emergency funding. To maintain the academy. To meet expenses. To leverage Trust assets to ensure the proper running of Dundalk FC.

The Trust will not have a role in team affairs. In management and coaching decisions and in the club’s commercial activities. The Trust says their target is to raise between 500,000 euros to one million euros every year going forward.

These are the trusts assets which will 100 per cent be available to the football club on terms to be agreed on an ongoing basis between the Trust and the football club.

In this way, the trust leverages its support to maintain and secure the football club in a manner that ensures proper management, real supporter agreement and new development.

It will be a great development for Dundalk FC. It will also be a contributor in helping to turn the club’s fortunes in a much speedier time. But this is very much up to both supporters and the people of the town and surrounding areas to get behind the new Trust.

On a different note, do not forget that there is an EGM of the 1903 Dundalk FC supporters club at Oriel this evening at Oriel Park. More details of plans for the new trust will be unveiled at the meeting.

Despite being all but relegated to Division One, Dundalk are set to benefit with a cash boost of €390,000 next season. The money will go to all current Premier Division teams, except Shamrock Rovers as they are in the group stages of the Conference League.

It’s a tenfold increase from what clubs have got from UEFA in the past. The money is for clubs who do not qualify for the Group stages of a European competition across the continent. The money comes from a centralised UEFA fund.

The money has been generated from the new Champions League format 2024-2027. Irish First Division teams will only get €45,000. This is a sizable drop in the funding they already get from UEFA.

The money will be paid in two instalments in February and June. It will be a huge boost to Dundalk. But it shows how important it will be for Dundalk to return to the Premier Division as soon as possible.

The gulf in the funding First Division clubs are set to get and those in the Premier Division will cause an even bigger difference between the two divisions. A speedy return to the top flight is essential.

Another reason I feel promotion is so important is for fear in some time soon there may be proposals to restructure the league. My fear would be that the Premier Division clubs would look at ending promotion and relegation even for a short period.

This could be done on the basis that it was important to allow the top ten clubs to have time to stabilise even more and to give them the space to do so without the fear of relegation.

If there was an all-Ireland League what Division would Dundalk go into? Twenty years ago there were serious murmurings that if there was an all-Ireland League, Dundalk would be left out to play in a lower league as they were in Division One at the time.

The case being put was that Drogheda were in the Premier Division so Louth would be represented in the top flight. It never happened, but many I spoke to in the football establishment at the time had little sympathy for Dundalk getting into such an all-Ireland League.

It’s a pity that Friday’s result really meant nothing to Dundalk as far as relegation is concerned. They played really well. It was seven years ago since Dundalk last got a result against Galway.

That night a win for Dundalk sent Galway to Division One. I was surprised that Jon Daly left Ryan O’Kane and Eoin Kenny out of the side for the second week in a row.

Dundalk more than held their own in the first half. John Mountney was unlucky to miss a chance when his header was not far away. Galway did take the lead when Karl O’Sullivan put in a cross from the left. Patrick Hickey rose high to head home.

The Dundalk defence were caught flat-footed. Once again they failed to deal with a high cross. Dundalk fought hard and was the better of the sides for the remainder of the game. But it took the sixth minute of injury time for Dundalk to level.

Ryan O’Kane now on as a sub, pumped in a cross from the left. Eoin Kenny, also on as a sub, met the cross perfectly to head home. It was a good performance from Dundalk. But the result was of no use to either side. Galway needed the win to really inject life into their title challenge.

Dundalk needed the three points to maintain any outside hopes of staying up. Their fate is now totally out of their hands. A win for Drogheda against Waterford next weekend will relegate Dundalk.

Jon Daly’s men do not play next weekend as the senior international team has two games. The displays of sympathy over the death of Maxi have been expressed all over the league.

On Friday, amidst seeing his side qualify for the FAI Cup final Derry manager Ruaidhri Higgins told Tony O’Donoghue of RTE that he would like to express a message of sympathy to Maxi’s family and to all at Dundalk FC.

Ruaidhri said that Maxi’s death was a massive blow to his family and friends, but also to Dundalk FC. The Derry manager told RTE that he knew Maxi from his time at Dundalk in the Kenny and Perth era.

He said that Maxi was such an inspiration to the club right up to the time of his death. He said that he will be deeply missed. Galway United supporters also paid their respects to Maxi’s memory by holding a minute’s applause before the Dundalk game.

They also held up banners paying further respect to one of Dundalk’s greatest supporters. Have a safe week, please be careful out there. Look after each other.