Updated at 14.00
BUOYED BY A spirited comeback on their Europa League group stage debut, Dundalk go into tonight’s Group D clash with Maccabi Tel Aviv (8.05pm) feeling like they belong in the competition.
A late header from Ciaran Kilduff rescued a point away to AZ Alkmaar a fortnight ago, but it was just reward for the Lilywhites as they had more than matched their Dutch opponents for large spells at the AFAS Stadion.
After the glamour of playing the Champions League play-off home tie with Legia Warsaw at the Aviva Stadium, it’s back to the home of Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght for the visit of the Israeli champions this evening.
Maccabi, currently top of their domestic league after a 5-0 hammering of city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv last Sunday, lost out 4-3 to Zenit St Petersburg but that was only after going three goals up.
“We’ve watched Maccabi Tel Aviv and they’ve had some good performances this season,” said Kenny during yesterday’s pre-match press conference.
“They’re winning their league convincingly, we saw them in the Tel Aviv derby over the weekend and they were excellent.
“That eliminates any possible over-confidence, when you see the terrific display they had in that game. They’ve been regulars in the Champions League, they have won the Israeli league three seasons previous to this and they’re well on their way to this one.
We don’t live in that world where we’re over-confident coming into group stage games. It’s a new experience for us.”
Managed by former Rangers striker Shota Arveladze, Maccabi’s largely-Israeli squad possesses plenty of experience with former Premier League pair Tal Ben Haim and Yossi Benayoun as well as Tal Ben Chaim, who provides an attacking threat.
Bosnian Haris Medunjanin and Nigerian Nosa Igiabor bring international quality to the midfield.
“We’ve highlighted quite a lot of the players,” added Kenny. “We’ve done our homework and they have some players who have played at the highest level. The quality of Ben Chaim’s goal for Israel against Italy is there for all to see and the two goals he got at the weekend were of the highest quality.
“He’s one of their potent attacking threats but they have a lot of good players so it’s not just one. They’re littered with good players in the midfield and plenty of threats.
“They have players breaking from midfield like Igiebor and Medunjanin, who played for Bosnia against Ireland in the play-off and he is a really good player.
“We have quite a few ourselves though and we’re not inhibited or in any way feeling inferior.”
While Dundalk will be missing their suspended captain Stephen O’Donnell, Sean Gannon and John Mountney are expected to be available despite sitting out training this week.
It’s been a hectic couple of months for the Louth club, who are still battling on three fronts, and this fixture is closely-followed by an FAI Cup semi-final with Derry City on Sunday before three league fixtures in the space of a week.
“We’ve been able to manage the schedule because we’ve had FAI Cup games and we have rotated the squad,” explained Kenny. “There has been a gap between last Friday and this Thursday, which is great, but our schedule actually intensifies over the next couple of weeks.
The number of games over the next few weeks is unprecedented, but we can worry about that after this week. This game is very exciting and we’ve worked hard to get here.
“We had great wins against FH, BATE Borisov, two really epic games against Legia Warsaw and a good result against AZ in Holland. So we’ve earned the right to be here and we’re fully-aware that a win will put us in first or second place in the group, and that’s our intention.
“These group games don’t need to be cagey affairs because the away goal doesn’t come into it. It’s either a point or three points and a narrow defeat is completely useless — We understand that.
“It’s an exciting game for us. We’ve watched them and been very impressed as they have been absolutely excellent.
“We’ve already played some very good teams and done very well so that gives us hope.
“Ciaran Kilduff’s late goal in Holland with ten men has given us a lot of confidence and I think we can bring that into the match and not be fearful in any way, shape or form.”
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