Dundalk bow out of Europe with their heads held high

Dundalk bowed out of Europe with their heads held high last night after claiming a famous 2-1 victory over Hajduk Split in Croatia, only to lose out 3-2 on aggregate.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Stephen Kenny’s side were another goal away from advancing after coming from behind at the Stadion Poljud in the second half to set up a tense finale.

The home side took the lead on 25 minutes when Sandro Gotal played in Ivorian winger Jean Evrad Kouassi, who beat the Dundalk defence and then slotted the ball past goalkeeper Gabriel Sava.

That strike made a hard task even more difficult but Dundalk refused to throw in the towel and gave themselves hope of a stunning comeback when substitute Pat Hoban pulled a goal back on 66 minutes after rounding goalkeeper Dante Stipica to finish.

Fellow substitute Kurtis Byrne added a second for the Louth men 16 minutes from time when he met Chris Shields’ cross to set up a nervy finish for Hajduk.

However, despite the Lilywhites throwing men forward to find the goal that would send them through, the Croats held out to set up a third qualifying round tie with Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan.

Hajduk Split: Stipica; Nizic, Milovic, Maloca, Jozinovic; Caktas (Bradaric HT), Vlasic (Maloku 76 ), Andelkovic; Kouassi (Maglica 62), Gotal, Jozinovic

Dundalk: Sava; Gannon, Gartland, Boyle, Massey; Shields, Higgins (Meenan 87); Mountney, Towell, McDermott (Hoban 57); McMillan (Byrne 68).

Referee: Ionut Maruis Avram (Romania).

Dundalk facing tough task after first leg defeat to Hajduk Split

Dundalk are facing a tough task to turn the tie around after going down 2-0 to Croatian side Hajduk Split in last night’s Europa League second qualifying round first leg clash at Oriel Park.

Despite Stephen Kenny’s side playing some good football throughout and creating arguably the better of the chances, goals in either half from Mijos Caktas and Nikola Vlasic ensured it was Igor Tudor’s side who emerged victorious as they take a massive advantage into next Thursday’s second leg in Split.

Dundalk were caught out in the ninth minute when Avdija Vrsajevic crossed for Caktas to head home.

To their credit, the Lilywhites responded well to that setback with Pat Hoban going close on three occasions, twice with headers, before turning a cross onto the post.

As the game wore on in the second half, Dundalk became more and more threatening but they were dealt a hammer blow on 75 minutes when the visitors added a second against the run of play, with Vlasic turning in Jean Evrad Kouassi’s cross from the right.

Even after that Hoban missed another good chance with a header but Dundalk’s failure to score at home could come back to haunt them as they now face a task that, were they to pull it off, would arguably be the finest result in the club’s European history.

Dundalk: Cherrie; Gannon, Gartland, Boyle, Massey; Towell, Shields (Higgins 73); Meenan, Mountney (McDermott 57), Horgan (McMillan 82); Hoban. Unused subs: Rossiter, Byrne, Griffin, Sava.

Hajduk Split: Stipica; Vrsajevic, Maloca, Milovic, Milic; Vlasic, Bradaric (Maloku 81), Caktas, Kouassi (Basic 78), Gotal, Maglica (Andelkovic 58). Unused subs:Mikanovic, Basic, Nizic, Maloku, Jozinovic, Andelkovic, Kalinic.

Referee: Markus Hameter (Austria).