Updated at 2.46pm
DUNDALK ARE ONCE again riding high with the form of champions, thanks to five wins from five with as many clean sheets and 16 goals scored.
Manager Stephen Kenny regrouped his players and allowed them some time off during the mid-season break. Ever since they have been completely re-energised and are hitting the form which the Premier Division has come to expect from the Lilywhites.
The criticism his side faced for allowing Cork City to wedge an 18-point gap between first and second during the first half of the season will obviously have frustrated Kenny.
John Caulfield’s side have earned the title of champions elect and barring one of the greatest collapses in League of Ireland history should ease to the title between now and October.
Dundalk’s fall from grace was by no means anticipated despite the departure of key players during the off-season, but similarly it has been dramatically over-exaggerated by some quarters.
How quickly some were to forget, Kenny states, that his side had finished second in 2013 his first season in charge – won the Premier Division three times on the bounce and once again sit second in now in 2017.
By any other standards second would be accepted as a good season. Only now Dundalk are judged by the greatness of their own record.
It is just as easy to forget that Dundalk were battling on more than one front last season particularly in the latter months of 2016, with their European adventure the crowning achievement in a season of highs.
Some might argue their European dream was a double-edged sword, where an unprecedented pileup of fixtures saw the side completely exhausted come the end of the year.
Dundalk relinquished a possible league and cup double with defeat to Cork in the FAI Cup final in November, with tired bodies littering the Aviva Stadium pitch at full-time at the conclusion of a remarkable and at times chaotic campaign like no other.
Where their exploits in Europe brought the Lilywhites the global spotlight, tonight will bring them back to where it all started: the second qualifying round of the Champions League.
This time last season, with momentum and an unwavering form behind them it seemed possible that Dundalk could become the first side in the history of Irish club football to qualify for the Uefa Champions League.
They fell just short but broke history in other ways; earning the first-ever point by an Irish side in the Europa League following a 1-1 draw with AZ Alkmaar and one better by securing the first ever win by a League of Ireland outfit in the competition when they defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in Tallaght Stadium.
They go into tonight’s first leg at home to Rosenborg with fine form. Since the mid-season break Dundalk have beaten Drogheda United, Finn Harps, Galway United, Bray Wanderers and Bohemians: 6-0, 4-0, 2-0, 3-0 1-0.
Even if the last of those results required an 89th-minute winner from Ciaran Kilduff, Kenny maintains that the side are confident and ready.
“We weren’t at our best tonight”, he said after the win last Wednesday in Dalymount Park.
“I think we came in from the break and have been flying at matches – 6-0, 4-0, 3-0. Tonight in the first half we found it hard because they had a good game plan and were compact in midfield.
“Sule was very energetic and strong and very quick around the park. I think we started a bit lethargically and just just didn’t have that cutting edge to our play. Our passing wasn’t very accurate and was careless at times.
“I think earlier in the season we might have conceded. The ability to get late goals is an important characteristic of the team over the last few years. It was important to retain that and we had it again tonight.”
Dundalk will be buoyed by the signing of Bray’s Dylan Connolly. A player who has been linked with the champions since the start of the season, the 23-year-old will be seen as the added quality in attack which they have missed since the departure of Daryl Horgan to Preston North End.
Connolly played just over an hour in his debut and his new manager admits the player will need time to get up to speed.
“He hasn’t played in a month, really, because of the break and then he was suspended. We played the game against Bray and because the deal was imminent he didn’t play against us.
“He needs time to get up to speed. He is a handful for defences and he has got electric pace – when you go up a level that is important.”
Kenny has experience of playing against Wednesday’s opponents. He may recall memories of a 5-0 defeat to Rosenborg during his tenure in charge of the Gypsies while at Bohs.
In spite of this he said Dundalk are looking forward to the game. Tickets were sold out for Oriel Park days in advance and Kenny says that playing the tie in Dundalk, as opposed to in Tallaght Stadium, retains the sense of occasion and local atmosphere of a regional club which may become lost in a big city.
“We are really looking forward to it,” he said. ”They are the double, double champions of Norway and have wonderful pedigree.
“I have high expectations of them and from our point of view we are just delighted to have the game up in Dundalk for the people of the town. Hopefully everyone enjoys it.”
Were Dundalk to make it through this round they would be guaranteed at least another four games in European competition. Lose against Rosenborg and they are out.
In a season where the league title is destined for Turner’s Cross, Europe will come as a welcome distraction for Kenny’s men.
An opportunity to rekindle some of the wonderful memories of last season and a chance to create some new ones too.
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