Dundalk’s € 3m bonanza by winning a place in the Europa League group stage

Kenny’s moment was the result of nearly four years on the job. For Giovagnoli, it comes after a 40-day kamikaze mission that has taken him into uncharted territory.

On Friday morning, his team will be in the Europa League group stage draw alongside Spurs, AC Milan, Leicester, Roma, Napoli, Benfica and a selection of other elite clubs from across the continent. It’s a surreal state of affairs for Italians, as they had never trained at the senior male level before this concert.

This achievement will now sit permanently on their CV and justifies the decision to take them into an environment soured by the post-reboot craze that spelled the end of Vinny Perth and seemed to represent the end of an era.

A return to the Europa League group stage represents a dramatic plot twist, especially as there was a sense outside the club that the American owners would cut their losses and flee if they continued to fall short at this stage.

This line of thinking underestimated the extent to which sponsors were so concerned about the bottom line at this point; Dundalk posted a loss of 1.2 million euros last year and informed sources say they were on their way to close to 2 million euros this time.

Three wins in three weeks have managed to wipe the slate clean, an absurd reminder of the volatility of the soccer industry and the role that a series of favorable draws can play in making things possible.

But while the peculiar series of events that set up this showdown with Ki Klaksvik managed to open the door for Giovagnoli’s side, they still had to go through it. The history of Irish football is littered with stories of shoulda, coulda, woulda. Moral victories, immoral defeats.

Dundalk’s full-time team professionally executed their task to become the first Irish team to win three European qualifiers in the same season.

The warnings that Klaksvik was a better team than the country in parentheses next to their name might suggest they would have hastily stepped aside to poke fun at Dundalk if they failed.

This was the pressure they had to deal with here. And this was never going to be pretty. Although it was the most important match in the lives of the newest members of the Dundalk group, this was the most important match in the history of club football in the Faroe Islands.

The imposing physical nature of the blue jersey players made it clear that it was going to be a battle, although suspicions persisted on the home field that the wide expanses of the Aviva would not suit a team that likes to operate on a compact surface. at home where they can pass the ball back to front quickly and dominate teams.

With Patrick McEleney replacing the sanctioned Chris Shields and Greg Sloggett returning to the defensive midfield role, Dundalk planned to have plenty of possession and there were opening moments that showed the available space if they moved the ball quickly.

However, the visiting team temporarily settled into the proceedings, pressing high on Dundalk’s back four of the kicks and then backing off to put all bodies behind the ball if the hosts negotiated their way through the front row.

Dundalk’s big goal came as they stabilized things to enjoy a sustained spell of possession and escape a maze of bodies.

After the patient build-up, the path to goal was straightforward, with full right Sean Hoare launching a deep cross into the area where Patrick Hoban’s strength and conscience delivered a header that served as the perfect assist for the break in Sean Murray, who was alert and courageous in nodding the ball past Kristian Joensen.

This gave Dundalk an advantage at halftime, and the responsibility to get out and play fell on the losers. But it was the natives who advanced to double their lead from the restart, with Michael Duffy and Darragh Leahy combining to force a corner kick that exposed an unconvincing Joesen goalie with center midfielder Daniel Cleary in hand to convert after. a gangly fight.

Dundalk looked comfortable, a position of strength unimaginable for an Irish team when it comes to a game of this magnitude. This turned out to be dangerous territory.

KI began to raise questions up front, and both Gary Rogers and Brian Gartland had made major blocks before the visitors added suspense to the fourth quarter. Norwegian goal Ole Erik Midtskogan found room to let rip from 20 yards and his right foot went past Rogers.

Serenity was replaced by anxiety from the local TV audience and Dundalk needed to attack to become the best form of defense with Daniel Kelly’s rhythm introduced from the bench in a double change that saw Hoban limping away to be replaced by Dave McMillan.

However, KI was firmly on nothing to lose territory, and lobbied while pursuing a shoot-on-sight policy. Rogers was called into action to launch another bolt of lightning and his best play of the match created an opportunity that was blotted out by Faroe Islands international Patrick Johannesen.

The punishment was instantaneous. Dundalk responded and Murray was strong, finding the space to free Kelly, who was judged onside with the Ringsend man enjoying his prime just around the corner from where he grew up with a compound finish.

After that, it was just watching him through to the end, and delusional celebrations fueled by thoughts of what might happen next.

Dundalk: Rogers, Hoare, Gartland, Cleary, Leahy; Sloggett; Colovic (Kelly 71), Murray, McEleney (Mountney 81), Duffy; Hoban (McMillan 71).

KI Klaksvik: Joensen, Danielsen, Faero, Vatnsdal, Brinck; Andreasen, Pavlovic (J Johannesen 87); Bjartalio, Klettskard (Dosljak 56), P Johannesen; Midstkogen.

Referee: Maurizio mariani

Online editors