Belturbet Time Capsule gets historic send-off

 

To mark the end of the 2018 Festival of the Erne, the town of Belturbet buried a time-capsule filled with photos, mementos, letters and reminders ready to be dug up again by local folk 25-years from now, August 6, 2043.

In much the same a fashion as when the last capsule was unearthed two-years ago, members of the local community, young and old, gathered to witness the unique spectacle.

Morrissey Park was thronged with eager onlookers to see the sealed capsule be submerged, not to be opened for another 25-years.

When the last capsule was dug up, news of its contents drew national headlines off the back of one incredible premonition.

Louth-native now living in Belturbet, and life-long Lilywhites fan, Peter Francis Morgan scribbled on a note back in 1991, predicting 'Dundalk AFC for European Cup 2017'.

Dundalk as it stood at the time were one dramatic match away from the upper echelons of European club football after they dramatically beat BATE Borisov 3-0 (3-1 agg), thus progressing to the knock-out stages.

It put them within touching distance of a place in the lucrative Group Stages of the Champions League.

The sheet was included in a raft of documents titled 'Festival of the Erne 1991 Time Capsule, with 'the undersigned present at the Festival of the Erne'.

At the base of the document, still eligible after all these years, was Mr Morgan's forecast, written: 'Peter Francis Morgan. Dundalk AFC for European Cup 2017. Rory O'Moores for Senior Championship. Louth for the All-Ireland'.

Louth never made to the All Ireland, while Dundalk would ultimately lose to Leiga Warsaw (3-1 agg), knocked-out then in the UEFA Europa League group stage after being drawn again AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, Russia's Zenit St. Petersburg, and Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel.