Dundalk will fine the players who broke Covid-19 travel restrictions to attend a team outing in Belfast last weekend.
Sporting director Jim Magilton said today that he has ascertained which players were involved. He refused to say how many made the trip north of the border, but confirmed it was not the entire squad.
A number of players were photographed socialising in Belfast city centre two days before nationwide travel restrictions were lifted.
And it meant the club had to cancel training on Tuesday and instead carry out Covid-19 tests on the entire squad.
Reading from a prepared statement at Oriel Park this afternoon, Magilton said: "On behalf of the management, staff and of course the players, I want to apologise to the Dundalk FC fans, the FAI, the HSE and all frontline workers, the League of Ireland family and people everywhere for the actions of some of the Dundalk FC players who broke government protocol last weekend when they travelled to Belfast.
"Gratefully we have announced that all Covid-19 tests have returned negative. The HSE has confirmed that the club has satisfied all of the necessary protocols to resume training and playing games.
“The following actions have already been put into action. The players who participated will bear the cost of testing the club's personnel, the players will be making a donation to a local charitable cause, the Save our Sonia campaign, in due course.
“At best this was a misguided attempt at a team bonding exercise which was not sanctioned by the club and the players involved wish to apologise for letting Dundalk FC, the fans and themselves down."
Fielding questions from the media afterwards, Magilton was asked when he found out about Saturday’s events.
“Probably like yourselves, it was late Sunday evening I got a few photographs too and then Monday morning, I wasn't sure what had gone on,” he said.
“Again, photographs emerged and then we dealt with it pretty quickly after that.
“We contacted the necessary people and got them tested which was probably the longest day of all our lives and then we got the results that night.
“Obviously we were in contact, the Doc, the physio, the medical team were in contact with the HSE and we were given the green light to go again and they came back negative.
“We liaised with the FAI and got feedback from those guys, Mark Scanlon in particular, and obviously we are preparing for the game (away to Finn Harps) on Friday night.
Asked who was to blame for organising the get together, Magilton said: “I think it was a collective.”
As a former Ipswich and QPR manager, Magilton knows the value of a team bonding session but admits the club got this one all wrong.
“They do help especially when you’re going through a dodgy period because, again, with our bunch, a lot of foreign lads are in the team and they haven't had that opportunity to get together,” he said.
“I'm not condoning it for one second, absolutely not and at times it does help but this didn't and only time will tell if they did bond.
“We'll soon find out on Friday night because they're going to have to bond on Friday night. We'll get little sympathy out of Finn Harps and quite rightly so and we'll have to stand up to it and show our character.”
And asked if the players who travelled to Belfast will also be fined, Magilton said: “They will be.”
