End of Season Report Card 2019 - Dundalk

Team: Dundalk

Manager: Vinny Perth

Top Scorer: Patrick Hoban (13)

Stadium: Oriel Park

Highest Attendance: 4,026 (v Shamrock Rovers, April 26^th)

Lowest Attendance: 1,843 (v UCD, August 26^th)

Star Player: Sean Gannon

A difficult decision to make given the quality in the side. Hoban bagged 13 goals this season and became the club’s record top-scorer with over 70 goals for the Lilywhites. Michael Duffy had electric moments on the wing and narrowly missed out on winning back-to-back PFAI player of the year awards. The list could go on, but Sean Gannon had a brilliant season and emerged as a real leader and Dundalk legend.

Best Young Player: Jamie McGrath

McGrath stepped up in midfield this year and got better and better as the season went on and was one of the stronger performers in Europe too. He picked up the PFAI young player of the year award and who are we to argue?

Best New Signing: Daniel Kelly

Kelly joined Dundalk ahead of Christmas last year from Bohemians and he filled his stockings with nine important goals for the club. He was handed more first team starts than a new young signing would typically have, but he took that challenge in his rapid stride.

What we expected they would do:

We got this one spot on – we fancied them to win the league and they did just that.

What they actually did:

SSE Airtricity League

It was a remarkable season, filled with drama. The Oriel side finished as champions again, their fifth title in six seasons. Dundalk bounced back from a shaky and injury laden start, during which many commentators wrote them off as eventual winners. In April, they found themselves looking at a 13-point gap to make up on then-leaders Shamrock Rovers.

However, the Lilywhites went on a rampaging record unbeaten streak of 31 games to finish an emphatic 11 points top of the pile.

EA Sports Cup

The first major piece of silverware of the season was the EA Sports Cup and the whispers of a treble started to louden. Dundalk defeated St Patrick’s Athletic, UCD and Bohemians before meeting Derry City in the Brandywell for the final. Twice they fell behind to the Candystripes and twice drew it level. It took extra time, penalties and sudden death to separate the two with Dundalk emerging victorious.

Europa League

Dundalk won their first qualifying round in Europe. They squeezed past Riga with penalties in the second leg after neither side could find the net from play.

Next up, was a team with significant European pedigree: The rising stars of Azerbaijan, Qarabag, ran out 4-1 aggregate winners. Dundalk had a strong second half in Oriel to overturn an early sucker punch goal, but they were 3-0 losers in the searing heat of Baku.

Still, four days after getting back from Azerbaijan it was back to European football for the Europa League third qualifying round against Slovan Bratislava. Yet again Dundalk lost out 4-1 on aggregate. Arguably it was sublime saves from netminder Dominik Greif that proved the real difference between the sides and ended the Irish side’s progress.

The FAI Cup

The one that got away. The Lilywhites reached the Aviva for a fifth year in a row with all away draws, against Cobh Ramblers, Waterford United, Derry City and Sligo Rovers. On the big stage, the Louth side were the only team to score from play, but they didn’t lift the cup. A penalty and then the lottery of penalties proved their undoing on a day they didn’t do enough to win it over 90 minutes

Other Silverware

Honourable mentions include victories in the season-opener, the President’s Cup, and the season-closer, the inaugural Unite the Union Cup. In that light, Dundalk really did start and end a remarkable season on a high.

What they need to improve on for next year:

Counting – the Chris Shields yellow card debacle was a costly error ahead of the FAI Cup final.

Cover – the, albeit grossly unfortunate, injury crisis at the start of the season poked a few holes in the squad. With Robbie Benson, Dean Jarvis leaving ahead of the 2020 season, some new faces will be needed to bolster the ranks at Oriel.