Lilywhites are the heroes in cruel defeat

Legia Warsaw 1

Dundalk 1

SO close but yet so far.

The door to history and the Champions League briefly appeared before Dundalk in Warsaw last Tuesday night before slamming shut in their faces in the cruellest of ways.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Dublin, few people gave Stephen Kenny’s side hope of overturning the deficit at the Polish Army Stadium. Only two other sides had managed such a feat in the last five years of European competition, while no Irish side had ever achieved it.

However, a stunning 19th minute strike from Robbie Benson relit the Lilywhites’ Champions League ambitions and had a Legia Warsaw side with far greater stature trembling for more than an hour.

Everything looked to be swinging in the League of Ireland side’s favour when the Polish champions had full back Adam Hloušek sent off with 23 minutes to go but the second goal that would have taken this tie to extra-time never arrived.

In the end, the search for it even denied Dundalk a famous win as Michal Kucharczyk broke in the second minute of stoppage time to hammer home a dagger to the heart of their Champions League ambitions.

The visitors can hold their heads high though. They have produced one of the great Irish European football journeys, one that will still now continue into the Europa League group stages.

Ultimately it was the first leg that came back to haunt them. That controversial 56th minute penalty that should never have been along with the killer second right at the end proved too much of a mountain to climb.

No one could fault Dundalk for effort on the night but unfortunately the stature of their squad came back to haunt them in the end.

With Stephen O’Donnell and Ciaran Kilduff sidelined, the options to change the game in the closing minutes were limited. Legia had rested 10 players in their league match a few days prior to this game but Stephen Kenny and most other League of Ireland sides could only dream about such luxuries.

That meant that when Dundalk were chasing the game they had little option but to turn to teenager Michael O’Connor. The 17-yearold is a brilliant prospect but the facts are he had played just nine minutes of league action prior to this for his hometown club. It was a big ask on him to go into the club’s biggest game in the club’s history. It’s not that he looked out of place in any way but in Europe the bigger sides with the bigger resources don’t have to take such gambles.

While the atmosphere at the Polish Army Stadium was red hot, it was ultimately the heat of Warsaw that sapped Dundalk of energy for one final big push. For those who didn’t make the trip, the humidity on the night was calculated at 60%. That meant that a simple stroll to the stadium had supporters dripping in sweat. One can only imagine how much it took out of the players who had been running in it for a far longer duration and at a far greater intensity.

Dundalk’s effort to put this time back in the balance was stunning. When they needed that little extra push though, the tank was empty and it will be an eternal regret of those on the field that they couldn’t conjure up that one big chance that you always expect to arrive in the closing stages with this team.

Ultimately, the sending off actually helped Besnik Hasi’s men as they shut up shop and played on the counter.

Dundalk’s players sank to their knees when the full time whistle went but their effort was impressive enough to earn applause from the Legia supporters as they made their way off the field. The Poles knew just how lucky they had been.

This one will take a while to get over. You can do nothing about a situation if you are outplayed or outclassed but over two legs Legia didn’t look far and away the better side. The big calls – the penalty in the first leg and the lack of a penalty for Kilduff in the same game – went in their favour. That, combined with their added European experience, was the only real edge they had over Dundalk.

It was the brilliant Benson who had inspired Dundalk’s bright start with a lung-busting run from midfield on seven minutes that drew a late tackle from Vadis Odjidja which earned the former Norwich City a man a yellow card.

Daryl Horgan stepped up to take the resultant free kick but despite curling it over the wall it was straight at goalkeeper Arkadiusz Malarz.

Dundalk were always aware that they would have to take a risk or two if they were going to pull off the footballing equivalent of a miracle and they were almost caught out five minutes later. Patrick McEleney’s corner attempted to pick out Ronan Finn at the edge of the area but was slightly behind the midfielder, meaning he had to lay it off to Horgan. The winger’s attempted cross was then charged down by Kucharczyk, who broke down the left before playing a crossfield pass to Nemanja Nikolic. However it was that man again, Benson, who came to Dundalk’s rescue by getting back to toe poke the ball away from the Hungarian international.

Then came his stunning opener on 19 minutes. A throw-in on the right by Sean Gannon was returned to him by McEleney with his deep cross kept alive by the head of David McMillan. Benson then came storming onto the dropping ball like a freight train at the edge of the area, meeting it first-time on the volley with his weaker right foot to send it flying to the top right hand corner of the net. Suddenly, it was game on. The visitors had goalkeeper Gary Rogers to thank for keeping them ahead just four minutes later though as he pulled off a superb save to keep out Hloušek’s shot with the outside of his left foot from just outside the box.

There were further long range efforts from Kucharczyk and Thibault Moulin late in the half but both were dealt with comfortably by Rogers as the Legia fans jeered their side off at the break.

Despite soaking up some early pressure in the second half, Dundalk almost got the crucial second they craved on 63 minutes when Horgan’s cross from the right was kept alive by the head of McMillan with Benson’s bicycle kick attempt just over.

Their hopes were then given a major shot in the arm just four minutes later though when Hloušek was shown a second yellow card for pulling down Finn after losing possession.

Despite that the Lilywhites were left breathing a huge sigh of relief on the restart when Tomasz Jodlowiec weaved his way into the box only for his back heel towards the penalty spot to fail to find a team-mate before being cleared by Horgan.

Four minutes later Horgan burst from midfield to create an opening for the visitors but despite teeing up McEleney to the right of the area the Derry man’s shot was tame and easy for Malarz.

Legia had a chance to seal the game two minutes from the end when Kucharczyk picked out substitute Guilherme at the edge of the area only for his shot to be parried by Rogers.

Kucharczyk did put the game beyond doubt in the second minute of stoppage time though, catching Dundalk on the break from Odjidja’s hopeful punt forward after Paddy Barrett had lost possession. He held off Boyle to fire high past Rogers.

The dream was over but what an effort it was to make it real.