DESPITE ADMITTING THAT they were outplayed in last week’s first leg, Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny believes his side are capable of overturning a 1-0 deficit when they take on BATE Borisov tonight (8pm, live on eir Sport 1) at Tallaght Stadium in the second leg of the Champions League third-round qualifiers.
Although it took BATE 69 minutes to break Dundalk down seven days ago at the Borisov Arena, they dominated the game and the Lilywhites were fortunate to leave Belarus just one goal in arrears.
“We were outplayed on Tuesday in Belarus,” said Kenny. “It wasn’t our intention to be as defensive as we were. It was just the way that the game unfolded. We had to defend a lot more than we would have liked.
“At times we were careless ourselves and made some mistakes. At other times BATE were exceptional on the night and you can see why they have been in the group stages of the Champions League — like last year, beating the likes of Roma. You can see how they get to that level on a consistent basis.
“I salute my players because they fought unbelievably hard collectively to make sure that there is a contest for the second leg. Everybody put their body on the line for the cause. We fought valiantly that we ensured there is a strong contest on Tuesday in Tallaght Stadium.”
BATE, 12-time champions in Belarus, extended their lead at the top of the Vysheyshaya Liga to 10 points over the weekend courtesy of a 2-0 over Dinamo Brest. Tonight, they’ll settle for a repeat of the outcome of last year’s trip to Ireland, when a scoreless draw at Oriel Park was enough for them to progress with a 2-1 win on aggregate.
Dundalk are still without defender Brian Gartland due to a broken wrist. Ronan Finn (groin) and captain Stephen O’Donnell (knee) are injury concerns, but Kenny is confident that both midfielders will be available to play in a game which could deliver enormous financial rewards to Dundalk.
They have already secured €1.2million in prize money by making it this far, but eliminating BATE to progress to a play-off for the Champions League group stages would take that sum to €3million.
It would also guarantee a worst-case scenario of a spot in the group stages of the Europa League, which would be accompanied by an additional €2.4million. It’s substantial money for any club, but particularly one which earned just €110,000 for winning a second successive SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title last season.
Even if Dundalk are unable to get the job done tonight, their European adventure won’t be over for this season. They’ll still have the consolation of entering a play-off to secure a Europa League group stage spot.
“No two games are the same,” Kenny said. “That’s something I have learned over the last few years. No two games are ever the same. I feel that we can play a lot better than we did last Tuesday night.
“I feel that we can raise our level again. I believe in the players and their talent. We feel that we can progress and we want to do that. We have a talented group and I believe we can get through.”
Despite having to move the game to the home of Shamrock Rovers due to Oriel Park not being deemed fit to host a fixture of this stature, Kenny expects an electric atmosphere in Tallaght.
He said: “We want a real passionate support in the stadium this Tuesday. There will be people travelling from Dundalk. There are buses and everything going to Tallaght and we appreciate the support.
“The general public in Dublin will be there too and we appreciate every bit of support that we get. It’d be great if we could have that great passionate support behind us on Tuesday night in Tallaght Stadium.”
