Dundalk August 2, 2016
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Uncategorized.trackback
Amazing performance from Dundalk this evening beating BATE Borisov 3 -0 in Tallaght and qualifying for the final play off Round of the Champions League. They have now also emulated Shamrock Rovers in qualifying for the Europa League Group Stages. However in post match interviews Stephen Kenny was very much making the point that this is too big an opportunity not to be fully focused on. The draw is on Friday and Dundalk are part of the Champions path to the Champions League.
With 10 teams in that part of the draw , Dundalk will be unseeded…. so if the favourites get through in the other ties, the seedings will mean Dundalk will play one of Olympiakos, Viktoria Plzen, Celtic, Red Bull Salzburg or APOEL Nicosia.
APOEL Nicosia ,Dinamo Zagreb ,Viktoria Plzen and Ludogerets are through already.
Matches To be decided…
Celtic v Astana (Celtic drawing 1-1 after first leg away from home)
Hapoel Be’er Sheva v Olympiakos (0-0 after first leg in Greece)
Legia Warsaw v Trencin (Legia lead 1-0 after winning away from home)
Copenhagen v Astra Giurgiu (1-1 after first leg)
Red Bull Salzburg v Partizan Tirana (Salzburg winning 1-0 after first leg)
….oh and I’m slightly jealous of the Journey Dundalk are on !
All beatable. Dundalk were great last night, not one of those squeaking through victories, they completely deserved it.
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yes and you’re right they have a chance against most of those teams. Assuming Celtic get through I could easily see Dundalk beating them.
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In one way a match with Celtic would be great, as long as Dundalk held their own, but in other respects it would be embarrassing watching Irish fans of a Scottish team cheering against a team from our league. Though I guess if it’s in Tallaght, the visitors would be limited to a few hundred tickets? Probably will be pressure to move to Lansdowne which I hope they resist. Not that Tallaght is home, but at least it’s a league ground and the limited capacity should ensure a real atmosphere rather than day trippers.
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As far as I know the play off round has to be in a UEFA Category 4 stadium which means that Tallaght is out unless Dundalk or someone else want to put in a temporary stand to increase the capacity.
So I assume Dundalk will play the play off in the Aviva. There are moves on SDCC to build another stand in Tallaght which would probably make it a Category 4 stadium.
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Fair play to them.. I hope they get Salzburg and Kenny does what Nutsy couldn’t do in more ways than one.
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Got Legia Warsaw. Probably won’t fill the Aviva with that, but probably a fair few ‘away’ fans who live in Dublin? Winnable, I would have thought
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‘Aviva’
Wash my mouth out.
Lansdowne.
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Yes an OK draw. If they can market it well they could get a decent sized crowd.
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Interesting too if all the Poles that turn up will be cheering for Legia or Dundalk?….. Given it’s Heresy at the moment to be a LOI fan and not be to keen on Dundalk getting through.
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People on Bohs forum saying when Legia played Pat’s there were plenty of Poles in Tallaght supporting the Saints.
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The “Rovers” side of Tallaght had loads of Legia fans the time Pats played them up there, the scoreboard end of that side was as rammed as the away section is for league games.
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