LoI Club Hinterlands

If some LoI clubs have huge catchment areas simply within their own county (Cork, Galway, Finn Harps), others have more opportunities due to the absence of senior teams in neighbouring areas. Some cases are straightforward:

Waterford (South Tipp, Kilkenny)
Treaty (Clare)
Dundalk (Monaghan)
Drogheda (Meath)

But others are less so - would Roscommon be more Longford or Athlone? Laois doesn't appear to be notably close to any club, and both Sligo and Harps are fairly near Leitrim. Likewise, Kildare would appear to be up for grabs for any Dublin team.

I've said it before but depending what part of Meath you're in your closest club could be Drogheda, Dundalk, Longford, Athlone, Pats, Bohs or Shels.
Anything but straightforward.

Living in the middle of Wicklow for the last 3 years and I have never heard anyone mention the LOI. Had not even thought about it till now. Bray about a 30-40 minute drive from me. Strangely, the local football team get good crowds. Seen a couple of games myself. They made a final recently and the buzz around the village was like it was a team in a Gah county final.

My club has a few of Co Roscommon players playing for them over the years. We have had players from Strokestown,Ballyleague ,Rooskey. They would all be on the east side of Co Roscommon bordering the river Shannon.

Lots of Rovers fans from Leitrim and North Roscommon

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Originally Posted by culloty82

... both Sligo and Harps are fairly near Leitrim.

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Originally Posted by Nah Nah Nah Nah

Lots of Rovers fans from Leitrim and North Roscommon

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Yet the whole population of Leitrim is only 35k.

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Originally Posted by culloty82

If some LoI clubs have huge catchment areas simply within their own county (Cork, Galway, Finn Harps), others have more opportunities due to the absence of senior teams in neighbouring areas. Some cases are straightforward:

Waterford (South Tipp, Kilkenny)
Treaty (Clare)
Dundalk (Monaghan)
Drogheda (Meath)

But others are less so - would Roscommon be more Longford or Athlone? Laois doesn't appear to be notably close to any club, and both Sligo and Harps are fairly near Leitrim. Likewise, Kildare would appear to be up for grabs for any Dublin team.

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Good question, in Louth almost all of the county north of the toll plaza supports Dundalk, including small towns of Ardee, Dunleer, Castlebellingham and north towards Carlingford. Further north Dundalk also has support from South Armagh.

Drogs would be traditionally looking south and west.

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Originally Posted by EalingGreen

Yet the whole population of Leitrim is only 35k.

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Our average attendance is about 2.5k so not really sure what your point is

What would be the catchment areas for each of the dublin clubs?

Are there any parts of Dublin that would be unrepresented and therefore present an opportunity for one of the existing clubs to exploit or dare I say the possibility of another dublin club joining the league?

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Originally Posted by culloty82

If some LoI clubs have huge catchment areas simply within their own county (Cork, Galway, Finn Harps), others have more opportunities due to the absence of senior teams in neighbouring areas. Some cases are straightforward:

Waterford (South Tipp, Kilkenny)
Treaty (Clare)
Dundalk (Monaghan)
Drogheda (Meath)

But others are less so - would Roscommon be more Longford or Athlone? Laois doesn't appear to be notably close to any club, and both Sligo and Harps are fairly near Leitrim. Likewise, Kildare would appear to be up for grabs for any Dublin team.

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Waterford (South Tipp, Kilkenny)
Treaty (Clare, North Tipperary)
Dundalk (Monaghan)
Drogheda (Meath)
Sligo (Leitrim, North Roscommon)
Athlone (South Roscommon, North Offaly)
Longford (Mid Roscommon)

Kerry, Carlow-Kilkenny, Mayo, Cavan-Monaghan, Kildare, Laois-Offaly and Meath are the standout areas for a wider geographical spread. Laois-Offaly and Meath are the only two of these areas not to have joined the youth leagues.
There is a place in Dublin for youth representative teams at the very least with the support of Fingal council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown council.

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Originally Posted by Nah Nah Nah Nah

Our average attendance is about 2.5k so not really sure what your point is

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My point, not a pop, was that even though SRFC draw support from their Leitrim hinterland, it still cannot amount to many extra fans.

Thats all, really.

I lived in Ballinrobe for a year close to a decade ago and there were some there who spun up to Sligo regularly. Again, not in huge numbers, but it is the sort of thing that this thread is built for. 🙂

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Originally Posted by oriel

Good question, in Louth almost all of the county north of the toll plaza supports Dundalk, including small towns of Ardee, Dunleer, Castlebellingham and north towards Carlingford. Further north Dundalk also has support from South Armagh.

Drogs would be traditionally looking south and west.

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Also in South Down(Newry,Warrenpoint and Bambridge) and Monaghan(Carrick,C'Blayney)
In Ardee,Dundalk have a really,really good following.
Dunleer is 50/50 Dundalk/Drogs according to a good Drogs friend of mine :D (it annoys him that it not all Drogs)

Harps draw decent support in areas of Tyrone & Fermanagh
Derry would have a lot of support up in Inishowen

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Originally Posted by EalingGreen

My point, not a pop, was that even though SRFC draw support from their Leitrim hinterland, it still cannot amount to many extra fans.

Thats all, really.

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Well it does but sure you’d know better obviously

My educated guess on this would be as follows :

- Sligo Rovers ( North Mayo, North Roscommon, Leitrim).
- Finn Harps (West Tyrone)
- Derry City (Inishowen, north-west Tyrone, and a bit of north Derry e.g. Limavady).
- Drogheda United (Meath)
- Dundalk (Monaghan, South Down).

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Originally Posted by ToberonaTornado

Also in South Down(Newry,Warrenpoint and Bambridge) and Monaghan(Carrick,C'Blayney)
In Ardee,Dundalk have a really,really good following.
Dunleer is 50/50 Dundalk/Drogs according to a good Drogs friend of mine :D (it annoys him that it not all Drogs)

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I would say Dunleer has far more Dundalk fans than Drogheda- it would also nearly be easier to get to Oriel Park than United Park from the village, even if its physically further away. Droghedas fan base doesnt extend too far north of the Town. Clogherhead would be the last village that is more Drogheda than Dundalk, but even still its probably around 50/50 (ableit thats a GAA village). Annagasan and Togher would be fairly staunchly Dundalk.

The traditonal rural soccer clubs north of Drogheda, Albion Rovers (Monsterboice/ Collon) and Walshestown (outside Clogherhead) would both be split between Dundalk and Drogheda. I know the last couple of chairmens of Walshestown have cycled through season ticket holders of either Dundalk and Drogheda!

It was only in the mid-00s, Drogheda first made inroads into the area, but Dundalk still had a strongish base, especially with more traditonal soccer families. I know for my fathers generation it was also common enough to go to both Dundalk and Drogheda, but not sure that happens too much anymore.

So, to summerise, in my anecdotal opinion, Dundalk represents most of Louth soccer fans outside of the town of Drogheda and a couple of villages north of it. Droghedas base outside of the town is definitely south of the Boyne, especially east Meath (which is a fairly densely populated area).

......
I love questions like this, and would love data to see. German and Dutch clubs publish some great maps of club memberships, and you can really see where support begins and stops. https://www.tubantia.nl/integratie/voetbalkaart

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Originally Posted by EalingGreen

My point, not a pop, was that even though SRFC draw support from their Leitrim hinterland, it still cannot amount to many extra fans.

Thats all, really.

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Leitrim has a population of 35,000 - which makes it bigger than places like Coleraine, Ballymena, Larne, Newry etc. Yet those places seem able to turn out football supporters, so I fear your point was a bit misguided really (beyond telling us all the obvious news that Leitrim isn't the biggest county on the island). If only 10% of the population of Leitrim went to a Sligo game (they don't), it would still more than double the gate - so it's hardly a village we're talking about here.

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Originally Posted by oriel

Good question, in Louth almost all of the county north of the toll plaza supports Dundalk, including small towns of Ardee, Dunleer, Castlebellingham and north towards Carlingford. Further north Dundalk also has support from South Armagh.

Drogs would be traditionally looking south and west.

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I lived in dunleer (blow in) for a while a found it more of a neutral territory with a guesstimate 50:50 split (maybe slightly more Dundalk 60:40) between the clubs with south of dunleer being Drogs and north Dundalk.

Of course this is pure subjective lol

The traditional support bases in the likes of Dunleer and Ardee, even Louth Village have been blurred over the years with the movement of people out of urban areas on the northern commuter belt. You would meet fans of Dublin clubs living in Dundalk now also. Dunleer was almost totally Dundalk if not GAA pre 2000-05, i think simply as most seemed to head to school in Dundalk. Glen Dimplex was a big employer that drew people from Dundalk and would sway the natives. The split could well be heading in the direction of 50-50 but i'd i says its not yet much past a 3:1 ratio in Dundalks favour, not that there has been much effort by either club to keep or gain hold of catchments in mid-Louth. Success in more recent times for Dundalk also tips the scales. The sooner Drogheda United moves in to County Meath the better for us all:p