Dundalk Add to the League of Ireland's Positive Week in Europe

One only needed to have a look at some of the players in the Zenit side to see the calibre of player Dundalk were up against.

For example, Axel Witsel scored for Belgium against Ireland in Euro 2016 and was looking to secure a move to Juventus during the recent transfer window. While defensive midfielder Javi Garcia counts Manchester City, Benfica and Real Madrid among his former clubs.

Other well known Zenit players include Giuliano, a Copa Libertadores winner with Internacional and also Aleksandr Kerzhakov, who been of Russian football’s best forwards in recent times.  

Their squad  and their starting 11 on the night was full of established internationals and they are a team who are Champions League regulars. Zenit also won the Europa League as recently as 2008.

 

 

So far in this particular season, they are joint top of the Russian Premier League table and unbeaten in their ten games played so far.  

 

 

Mircea Lucescu’s side have scored 18 goals in their last 5 league games in all competitions heading into the Dundalk encounter.

So before a ball was kicked, there were plenty of indicators that this was going to be Dundalk’s biggest challenge to date in their European odyssey.

When the action did get underway, the opening half saw Dundalk more than hold their own. The exceptional work rate which has come to define this Dundalk side was on show once again, as despite the fact that Zenit had most of the ball, they rarely were able to create efforts on goal.

In fact the half’s best chances were to fall the way of the Lilywhites. Ronan Finn after ten minutes did well to run clear on goal , but his shot went just wide of the left post. While Dane Massey saw a headed effort go just over the bar, following a dangerous run and cross by Patrick McEleney. Dundalk were aggressive and were causing the Zenit defence problems. Stephen Kenny’s side were by a long way the happier of the two at the half time break.

Dundalk were in dreamland, when Robbie Benson’s goal gave the Louth side the lead. Zenit keeper Lodygin was a fault, misjudging the ball as it bounced in front of him.   The Irish champions were just over 30 minutes away from their biggest win yet in Europe.

Dane Massey hit the post shortly after from a Horgan free kick as they nearly went two ahead. With Zenit seemingly growing frustrated, it seemed like a fantastic opportunity for Dundalk.

In the second half,  Zenit to be fair looked a much more sharper outfit going forward. But unfortunately for Dundalk keeper Gabriel Sava,  his mistimed clearance gifted Zenit their leveller, as Robert Mak punished the mistake with a fine finish.

The goal which turned out to be their winner was a fine move from the Russians.  The ball eventfully fell to Witsel, who did well to set up Giuliano, who found the net with a fine finish.

Try as they might, Dundalk came up just short in the end, but Stephen Kenny and his players can be proud of their efforts on another great night for the league.

Based on what I have seen of this group so far, it looks like one team out of the remaining three to join Zenit in the knockout stages. Dundalk have looked far from out of place and are in with an excellent opportunity to qualify from this group. 

The games with AZ and Maccabi Tel Aviv will be crucial for Dundalk in order to progress and they have every chance based on how they have done so far.

While on the topic of European Football, Stephen Bermingham’s U19 Cork City side also made a bit of history of their own during the week.

In what is the first ever campaign for an Irish side in the UEFA Youth League, City progressed past Finnish side HJK Helsinki 1-0 on aggregate, courtesy of Aaron Drinan’s penalty kick at Turner’s Cross. 

The Cork public came out in force to support a very talented young side, with the 1,287 attendance  greater than the combined total who came out to follow the crucial  League Of Ireland title race games on Monday night (Longford v Dundalk and St Pats  v Cork City).

With a number of the current  City U19 squad already sampling first team football in John Caulfield’s side, including of course the promising talent of  Chiedozie Ogbene, the benefits of the League Of Ireland U19 are clear for all to see. 

The chance to test themselves in the next round, against Italian giants AS Roma, will be a massive occasion for these players and whatever the result, it will be a fantastic learning experience which they can take forward with them into the careers.

What both the Cork U19’s and of course Stephen Kenny’s Dundalk side in the Europa League  have proven is that domestic Irish football is alive and thriving. 

The hope now is that looking ahead to the years to come  to prove this is no flash in the pan, but the start of what is going to be an exciting era for Irish football, where League Of Ireland sides will hopefully hold their own on the continental stage on a more regular basis. 

Both Dundalk and the Cork City first team have shown based on their European results that things are progressing in regards to the quality of football being played in the domestic league.

By the way, as a consequence of the Dundalk and Cork City U19 sides, it will be the first ever time that Ireland will have two sides in European competition heading into the month of November. These are great times to be a fan of League Of Ireland football.