STEPHEN O’DONNELL dreamed of the big time during his days with Arsenal’s youth team. The high-profile games. The bright lights. The big crowds.
Dundalk, understandably, wasn’t on his radar.
“I played and roomed with Dean Shiels – who’s in our squad now”, he tells The42.
“If you told us then, when we were living in London, that in 12 years time we’d end up playing with Dundalk, I think we’d have retired”.
After quitting the Gunners, O’Donnell spent a few seasons with Falkirk before returning home. He bounced around clubs right across the country before signing, rather reluctantly, for Stephen Kenny’s troubled Lilywhites in 2013.
Those dreams from a few years earlier seemed gone forever.
But now, he’s preparing to lead out his side at the AFAS Stadion in tonight’s Europa League group-stage clash with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
The bright lights. The big crowds.
“When you go away as a 15/16 year-old to Premiership clubs or whatever, this is what you dream of – these type of games, playing in front of full houses”, he says.
I suppose you feel like a proper footballer on these sort of occasions. When you come back to Ireland, you probably think the chance is gone unless you get another move back across the water. So it’s a great experience for everyone. These are the games you’re used to watching on TV so it’s great to be part of them.”
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The Dutch side, winners of the Eredivisie under Louis van Gaal in 2009, have reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League three times in the last decade. In 2005, they reached the semis.
PA ARCHIVE IMAGES
PA ARCHIVE IMAGES
At the centre of their defence is Ron Vlaar, a stand-out World Cup performer in 2014 and a player who raked in a modest £1.3m per year salary while at Aston Villa.
To put all of this in context, Dundalk’s annual budget is less than 1 million euro.
O’Donnell is under no illusions but feels there’s a belief within the camp that the team can pick up points regardless of the gulf.
“I think we’ve shown we can compete”, he says.
“We’ll be big underdogs and we can’t get away from that. We have faith in ourselves. If we do play to our potential, we’ll be very competitive. There is a chance for us to get points but we’ll have to be at our best. We do have realistic ambitions to get something on the board and we won’t be happy rocking up and getting turned over. Ideally you’d want to get points.
But I don’t think you can get away from the budgets of the four teams (in the group). I think ours is 850,000 euro, Alkmaar is 20-something million, Tel Aviv is 20-something million and Zenit is off the Richter scale altogether. We get paid 40 weeks of the year. That’s not to say that within our own group there’s not a steely determination or respect for ourselves.From the outside looking in and the players’ backgrounds and all that, you’d say ‘They have no right to get anything out of that group’. But within our own group, we definitely do have respect for ourselves as footballers and know that if we play to our potential we can compete but we will have to play to our potential.”
Dundalk ran Legia Warsaw very close in their Champions League play-off. The 2-0 first-leg loss in Dublin was a massive setback but Kenny’s side were impressive in the return game before tiredness crept in for the final 20 minutes.
Still, it’s something O’Donnell is most proud of: the team’s approach. It’s never been about sitting back and absorbing. There’s a sense of identity to this Dundalk side that they’re keen to show off against Europe’s elite.
Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
“That’s been most pleasing about the European games - we’ve passed the ball”, he says.
We haven’t set up two banks of four and kicked to the channels and played for throw-ins and corners. We played expansive. It’s brave enough. People have said that it may be a bit silly to leave yourselves open but we have those types of players that are technically very good.
There is a totally different level to the pace of a game and the athletes you’re up against in Europe. But we took confidence from the two Warsaw games. We went toe-to-toe with them twice. It wasn’t a containment job in either leg. You can’t get enough of those games to make you adapt to the pace and, with that, you’ll get stronger mentally and physically by playing at that level.”
Kenny has played a huge part in fine-tuning the players’ confidence, making them feel they have plenty to contribute to elite competition and to respect their own ability as footballers.
FotoOlimpik / Tomasz Jastrzebowski/INPHO
FotoOlimpik / Tomasz Jastrzebowski/INPHO / Tomasz Jastrzebowski/INPHO
“The job he’s done in the last four seasons – from a club that was in turmoil to where it is now – I think it’s the best domestic football management job ever”, O’Donnell says.
“He’s installed confidence in players, making them feel 10 foot tall when they’re going onto the pitch. Believing in their abilities. He’s got great faith in his players and that rubs off on the players themselves. They start gaining in confidence. But there has to be caution. You can’t be going gung-ho. You have to realise who you’re playing against but, all in all, I don’t think we can play any other way.
I don’t think Stephen Kenny manages any other way. He’s never once told us to go out and contain. Obviously, you go out in some matches more cautious but when you have the like of Daryl Horgan and Patrick McElaney, Robbie Benson, Ronan Finn and all these guys, they’re not guys to come and sit behind the ball and hit channels. We have to play to our strengths and they are our strengths.”
And what about the well-documented financial situation at the club? With Dundalk set to earn a handsome reward for their European adventures, have the players agreed their cut?
“The bonuses are all sorted”, says O’Donnell with a hearty laugh.
“I think there was too much talk about bonuses after we beat BATE, to be honest. It took away from the actual achievement. It seemed to be a lot about money and it took away from the story. There was all the talk about money but if you asked anyone on the pitch and anyone involved for the 90 minutes or whatever, there wasn’t one thought about money or how much we were going to earn. It was just about football and doing something special.”
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'I suppose you feel like a proper footballer on these sort of occasions'
STEPHEN O’DONNELL dreamed of the big time during his days with Arsenal’s youth team. The high-profile games. The bright lights. The big crowds.
Dundalk, understandably, wasn’t on his radar.
“I played and roomed with Dean Shiels – who’s in our squad now”, he tells The42.
“If you told us then, when we were living in London, that in 12 years time we’d end up playing with Dundalk, I think we’d have retired”.
After quitting the Gunners, O’Donnell spent a few seasons with Falkirk before returning home. He bounced around clubs right across the country before signing, rather reluctantly, for Stephen Kenny’s troubled Lilywhites in 2013.
Those dreams from a few years earlier seemed gone forever.
But now, he’s preparing to lead out his side at the AFAS Stadion in tonight’s Europa League group-stage clash with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
The bright lights. The big crowds.
“When you go away as a 15/16 year-old to Premiership clubs or whatever, this is what you dream of – these type of games, playing in front of full houses”, he says.
The Dutch side, winners of the Eredivisie under Louis van Gaal in 2009, have reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League three times in the last decade. In 2005, they reached the semis.
At the centre of their defence is Ron Vlaar, a stand-out World Cup performer in 2014 and a player who raked in a modest £1.3m per year salary while at Aston Villa.
To put all of this in context, Dundalk’s annual budget is less than 1 million euro.
O’Donnell is under no illusions but feels there’s a belief within the camp that the team can pick up points regardless of the gulf.
“I think we’ve shown we can compete”, he says.
“We’ll be big underdogs and we can’t get away from that. We have faith in ourselves. If we do play to our potential, we’ll be very competitive. There is a chance for us to get points but we’ll have to be at our best. We do have realistic ambitions to get something on the board and we won’t be happy rocking up and getting turned over. Ideally you’d want to get points.
Dundalk ran Legia Warsaw very close in their Champions League play-off. The 2-0 first-leg loss in Dublin was a massive setback but Kenny’s side were impressive in the return game before tiredness crept in for the final 20 minutes.
Still, it’s something O’Donnell is most proud of: the team’s approach. It’s never been about sitting back and absorbing. There’s a sense of identity to this Dundalk side that they’re keen to show off against Europe’s elite.
“That’s been most pleasing about the European games - we’ve passed the ball”, he says.
There is a totally different level to the pace of a game and the athletes you’re up against in Europe. But we took confidence from the two Warsaw games. We went toe-to-toe with them twice. It wasn’t a containment job in either leg. You can’t get enough of those games to make you adapt to the pace and, with that, you’ll get stronger mentally and physically by playing at that level.”
Kenny has played a huge part in fine-tuning the players’ confidence, making them feel they have plenty to contribute to elite competition and to respect their own ability as footballers.
“The job he’s done in the last four seasons – from a club that was in turmoil to where it is now – I think it’s the best domestic football management job ever”, O’Donnell says.
I don’t think Stephen Kenny manages any other way. He’s never once told us to go out and contain. Obviously, you go out in some matches more cautious but when you have the like of Daryl Horgan and Patrick McElaney, Robbie Benson, Ronan Finn and all these guys, they’re not guys to come and sit behind the ball and hit channels. We have to play to our strengths and they are our strengths.”
And what about the well-documented financial situation at the club? With Dundalk set to earn a handsome reward for their European adventures, have the players agreed their cut?
“The bonuses are all sorted”, says O’Donnell with a hearty laugh.
“I think there was too much talk about bonuses after we beat BATE, to be honest. It took away from the actual achievement. It seemed to be a lot about money and it took away from the story. There was all the talk about money but if you asked anyone on the pitch and anyone involved for the 90 minutes or whatever, there wasn’t one thought about money or how much we were going to earn. It was just about football and doing something special.”
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