Daryl Horgan - We are bitterly dissappointed

From Caoimhin Reilly in St. Petersburg:

Unfortunately for Dundalk and Daryl Horgan their dream week was somewhat suppressed by Thursday night’s 2-1 loss away to Zenit St. Petersburg. It was a bitterly dissappointed Dundalk winger who spoke to extratime.ie after the game. However his dissappointment just shows how good a performance the Lilywhites put in away from home.

Having collected the league trophy last Friday night and had two of their players – Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle - called into the international fold, there was disappointment for Dundalk as they conceded two nightmare goals to lose their grip on the game in St. Petersburg.

It was Horgan who got the Lilywhites back on level terms shortly after half-time but thereafter Zenit upped the intensity of their attacks and got the points which secures their progress to the next round with two matches to spare.

Speaking to extratime.ie after the match, Horgan said: “We’re bitterly, bitterly disappointed. I suppose two 2-1 defeats but we were the width of a post away from getting a draw twice. There was very, very little in it and it’s very tough to stomach.

“We knew that they would have a lot of the ball. They’re technically very good players. The game plan I suppose was to sit in and when we got the ball to try to use it well, be clever, keep it for spells and break well when the option was there. That was always going to be the plan, even in the second-half,” Horgan continued.

“We didn’t have to score straight away, luckily enough we did. We could have scored in the 89^th minute and that would probably have suited us more in the end but we played well but not quite good enough.

“It was always going to be in our own hands. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, we still have to play Alkmaar now in a couple of weeks and Tel-Aviv. They (Maccabi) still have to come here and Zenit have already topped the group.

"That’s a difficult one too because you don’t know what sort of a side Zenit will play, but hopefully we’ll get through and I’m confident we can.”

The Galwegian’s goal came as a result of a ball played forward by Sean Gannon which saw Zenit midfielder Mauricio indirectly flick it in to Horgan’s path. The winger still had a lot to do in running from half way to coolly knock it home to equalise.

“The best thing was to have a clear head,” said Horgan about the goal. “I wasn’t thinking this or that. It was just a mistake from the midfielder and I gambled a bit and got the break and luckily the ball ended up in the back of the net.”

While Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny reserved special praise for Axel Witsel, Zenit’s Belgian midfielder, in his post-match assertions, for Dundalk’s number seven he was more in awe of his Zenit ‘number-sake’ Giuliano.

“I thought he (Witsel) was brilliant but Giuliano is some player. I think that he is unbelievable. He’s the best that I have come up against. Witsel is brilliant as well but maybe the type of game it was suited Giuliano more than Witsel.

“They’re filled with super stars because they all have international caps, but he (Giuliano) was the pick of them for me.”

The Lilywhites will not have too long to reminisce about what could have been on Thursday night though due to their impending cup final versus Cork City on Sunday afternoon at the Aviva Stadium. They stayed in Russia overnight flying back to Ireland on Friday.

According to Horgan the cup final is the perfect ‘pick me up’.

“It will be brilliant. I’m really looking forward to that and it’s a great chance to bounce back and get the double done, but it will be a very difficult game.”

Finally, Horgan will be looking to join up with the Irish squad next week after the game with the Rebels having been placed in Martin O’Neill’s extended Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifier with Austria.

“It’s an absolutely massive honour. At the minute, I’m only in the provisional squad so I don’t know if I will be in the 23 or not but it’s unbelievable to have myself and Boyler, two League of Ireland players, up there in the squad of 35. It’s special and I’ve always said that if I got an opportunity to play for Ireland I’d grasp it with two hands so hopefully that comes about.”