Dundalk 2-1 CS Grevenmacher
Credit:
Dundalk scored their first European goals at Oriel Park since 1982 in gaining a 2-1
victory on the night, to get a 5-4 aggregate win. This means that a
second qualifying round tie against Euro heavyweights Levski Sofia now
waits. Goals from Neale Fenn and Faz Kudozovic saw them home with
Christian Mullers late goal being only a consolation.
Dundalk served notice that they weren’t going to play for a draw by going straight on to the attack. In only the second minute Tiarnan Mulvenna fed Kudozovic in the outside right slot and from a tight angle the striker hammered his shot off of the bar and away out of play. The opener arrived in the 5th minute Mulvenna played the ball to Neale Fenn in the inside right channel, who lobbed the ball into the penalty spot where Fahrudhin Kudozovic tangled with Tim Heinz. Kudozovic went to ground and the Icelandic ref Thorisson awarded the spot kick. Neale Fenn wearing the skippers armband took on the responsibility and stroked home to the bottom left corner.
Fenn was instrumental in the second goal on 16 minutes as he played Kudozovic in with a clear sight of goal from the inside left channel. Faz opened his body and slotted past Marc Pleiming to the keepers bottom left hand corner. Dundalk started to grow in confidence, several chances and half chances came and went as the half progressed with Fenn hitting the woodwork on 19 minutes.
CSG were barely registering as an attacking force and when they did it tended to be a shot from distance that they mustered. The Dundalk midfield and defence have to take great credit for this with Stephen Maher very much to the fore. Much like Mondays game against Drogheda the Lilywhites sat a little deeper in the second period and surrendered territory to the opposition. Thankfully for them Grevenmacher rarely threatened until the latter stages of the game when it was very nearly all over bar the shouting.
The team from the Luxembourg border did mount a late charge and got one back in the 91st minute. Adrian Baur did all the hard work cutting in from the wide right before pulling the ball back to Christian Muller who - with an unhindered view of Matt Greggs goal - had no problem converting from around 12 yards. So Dundalk progress to face their illustrious Bulgarian foes in the next round.
Dundalk: Matt Gregg; Shaun Kelly, Tom Miller, Garry Breen, Wayne Hatswell; Tiarnan Mulvenna (Michael McGowan 71), Stephen Maher (Stephen McDonnell 77), Alan Cawley; Fahrudin Kudozovic (Johnny Breen 90), Neale Fenn, Ross Gaynor.
Subs not used: Michael Synott, Nathan Murphy, Mark Griffin, Ciaran McGuigan
CS Grevenmacher: Marc Pleiming; Gabriel Pereira Gaspar (Dariusz Brzyski 89), Tim Heinz, Khalid Benichou (Tobias Lorig 41), Jonathan Furst; MSabastian Hartung, Sebastien Hoffman, Christian Muller; Samir Louadj, Bobby Mendes, Adrian Baur.
Subs not used: Kevin Hartert, Adis Omerovic, Igor Stojandinovic, Christian Braun, Goncalo Almeida Da Silva
extratime.ie Man of the Match:Fahrudin Kudozovic.
Referee: Magnus Thorisson
Attendance: 3000 (estimate).
Dundalk served notice that they weren’t going to play for a draw by going straight on to the attack. In only the second minute Tiarnan Mulvenna fed Kudozovic in the outside right slot and from a tight angle the striker hammered his shot off of the bar and away out of play. The opener arrived in the 5th minute Mulvenna played the ball to Neale Fenn in the inside right channel, who lobbed the ball into the penalty spot where Fahrudhin Kudozovic tangled with Tim Heinz. Kudozovic went to ground and the Icelandic ref Thorisson awarded the spot kick. Neale Fenn wearing the skippers armband took on the responsibility and stroked home to the bottom left corner.
Fenn was instrumental in the second goal on 16 minutes as he played Kudozovic in with a clear sight of goal from the inside left channel. Faz opened his body and slotted past Marc Pleiming to the keepers bottom left hand corner. Dundalk started to grow in confidence, several chances and half chances came and went as the half progressed with Fenn hitting the woodwork on 19 minutes.
CSG were barely registering as an attacking force and when they did it tended to be a shot from distance that they mustered. The Dundalk midfield and defence have to take great credit for this with Stephen Maher very much to the fore. Much like Mondays game against Drogheda the Lilywhites sat a little deeper in the second period and surrendered territory to the opposition. Thankfully for them Grevenmacher rarely threatened until the latter stages of the game when it was very nearly all over bar the shouting.
The team from the Luxembourg border did mount a late charge and got one back in the 91st minute. Adrian Baur did all the hard work cutting in from the wide right before pulling the ball back to Christian Muller who - with an unhindered view of Matt Greggs goal - had no problem converting from around 12 yards. So Dundalk progress to face their illustrious Bulgarian foes in the next round.
Dundalk: Matt Gregg; Shaun Kelly, Tom Miller, Garry Breen, Wayne Hatswell; Tiarnan Mulvenna (Michael McGowan 71), Stephen Maher (Stephen McDonnell 77), Alan Cawley; Fahrudin Kudozovic (Johnny Breen 90), Neale Fenn, Ross Gaynor.
Subs not used: Michael Synott, Nathan Murphy, Mark Griffin, Ciaran McGuigan
CS Grevenmacher: Marc Pleiming; Gabriel Pereira Gaspar (Dariusz Brzyski 89), Tim Heinz, Khalid Benichou (Tobias Lorig 41), Jonathan Furst; MSabastian Hartung, Sebastien Hoffman, Christian Muller; Samir Louadj, Bobby Mendes, Adrian Baur.
Subs not used: Kevin Hartert, Adis Omerovic, Igor Stojandinovic, Christian Braun, Goncalo Almeida Da Silva
extratime.ie Man of the Match:Fahrudin Kudozovic.
Referee: Magnus Thorisson
Attendance: 3000 (estimate).
