Dundalk FC: The Inside Scoop on Arsenal’s Europa League Opponents

Arsenal host Dundalk in the Europa League on Thursday.

‘Dundalk?’ ‘Who are they?’…..’Exactly!’ For those who’ve absolutely no idea what that refers to, it comes from a classic British advert. Boiled down, it means that there will be many Arsenal fans who won’t know all too much about the side we’re welcoming to the Emirates. At least not much more beyond a quick internet search.

The two clubs will meet in the Europa League for the first time in their respective histories, so in order to get an insight into who exactly the Lilywhites are, we’ve been lucky enough to get some help from Dundalk Fan TV.

Providing Pain in the Arsenal with the ins and outs of what the club has gone through in the last few months building up to Thursday, here’s all you need to know about the Irish outfit.

Dundalk FC

Manager: Filippo Giovagnoli
Stadium: Oriel Park
League position (2019): First (Champions)
Captain: Chris Shields
Top scorer (League): Patrick Hoban (9)
Top scorer (Europe): Sean Murray (3)
Internationals: 2; Josh Gatt (USA), Andy Boyle (Rep. of Ireland)
Nickname: The Lilywhites, The Town
Founded: September 1 1903
Last match: 0-1, v Waterford (away)

The story of Dundalk Football Club and their manager Filippo Giovagnoli has been somewhat of a fairytale in recent months. The club was plunged into crisis at the resumption of the League of Ireland, with results bad, and board issues worse.

The final nail in the coffin for Vinny Perth was the 3-0 Champions League first qualifying round loss to Slovenian team NK Celje. The Louth side were competitive early on, but a late first-half goal from Luka Keirn for the Slovenian champions was a big blow to their chances. The Celje side asserted their dominance with two late goals to secure the win.

Incidentally, they went on to lose to Molde in the second round, who are in this Europa League group. The club was in disarray, manager Perth was gone; reports suggested that owners Peak6 were involved in team selection, demanding a direct phoneline to Perth in the dugout; assistants John Gill and Alan Reynolds would soon follow out the exit door; the fans were incensed.

Just five days after Perth departed, unknown Italians Filippo Giovagnoli and Giuseppe Rossi were appointed as head coach and assistant, with opposition analyst and scout Shane Keegan taking the official title as manager; as he was the only one within the backroom staff to hold a UEFA Pro Licence.

Their first game was against First Division (second division) side Cobh Ramblers away in the FAI Cup second round. ‘The Town’ picked up the win, 2-0, and would go on a good run of form until their Europa League second round qualifier with Andorran side Inter Club D’Escaldes.

Dundalk took an early lead through former St. Johnstone, Hamilton and Falkirk man David McMillan 14 minutes in, and held on until the end in a very emotional match to book a third round tie with Moldovans Sheriff Tiraspol.

Next up was a trek to Tiraspol to face Moldovan champions FC Sheriff. Posmac put Sheriff ahead before former Watford midfielder Sean Murray put ‘The Lilywhites’ level. The game would go on to penalties before midfielder Chris Shields put the game out of its misery. Next was almost a gift of a tie, drawing Faroese side Kí Klaksvik.

The game, coming off the back of a 4-0 loss to title rivals Shamrock Rovers, was largely hyped in the Irish media beforehand, and the excitement was rewarded 33 minutes in when Murray again scored an important goal to put Dundalk ahead. It would be two soon when former Liverpool and Birmingham underage defender Dan Cleary headed home just after the restart.

The Faroese side admittedly caused a shock 65 minutes in when Ole Erik Midtskogen pulled one back, but the game was put to bed 13 minutes later when Daniel Kelly, who was as recently as 2017 playing non-league football, put Dundalk 3-1 up.

So yes, the Irish champions who had been in such a mess less than two months later, had qualified for the Europa League group stages for a second time in four seasons. And although this year the title has been surrendered to Tallaght side Shamrock Rovers, this European campaign will live much longer in the memory of Irish football fans.

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