Dundalk paid a touching tribute to their former groundsman Harry Taaffe ahead of their game last night, who passed last week.
During the warm-up players donned special training tops which read "Thanks For Everything H" on the back and an image of Harry on the front. Oriel Park was also decorated with tributes to the former groundsman.
💐 There‘s also a floral display in the gantry, a place that just won’t be the same without Harry on match nights.
📸 | @cul7 pic.twitter.com/2tp8UnSIvB
— DundalkFC (@DundalkFC) July 31, 2020
Mr Dundalk
Taaffe, who passed away last Sunday in tragic circumstances, had been the groundsman for the club for many years but was also the videographer for the Louth side. Earlier in the week Dundalk midfielder Chris Shields spoke to the club website saying;
Harry was more than a groundsman, security man, and a videographer. He was a friend to everyone around Oriel Park.
If you ever needed anything, Harry was the man you’d go to. If you broke down in the area, he’d be the first person you would ring. He’d sort anything out. He was Mr Dundalk. he added
It hasn't only been Dundalk paying tribute to Taaffe with St. Pat's manager Stephen O’Donnell speaking highly of the man during the week.
O'Donnell spoke about the work Taffe did for the club during his time there and claimed that if you were ever broken down in Kerry Taaffe would come and pick you up because that's the sort of man he was.
He'd be one of the lads you'd be most looking forward to meeting in the morning.
If you were broken down in Kerry and you rang him he'd hop into his van and go down and pick you up because that's the type of man he was and as I said before he was a giant of a man and one that would be hugely missed.
The match finished 1-1 after Pat Hoban put Dundalk a goal up after 23 minutes only for former Dundalk player Robbie Benson to equalise two minutes later.
Benson referred to Taaffe as a "monster of a man" earlier in the week for all the work he did around the club during his time there.
