2018 Dundalk F.C. season

Dundalk entered the 2018 season as the League Cup holders from 2017, having won that competition and finished as runners-up in both league and FAI Cup. In January the club was taken over by United States-based investors, who had identified the club's European progress as a commercial opportunity. 2018 would turn out to be Stephen Kenny's sixth and final season as manager. He resigned one month after the end of the season to accept the Republic of Ireland U-21 manager's role, and was replaced by his assistant, Vinny Perth for 2019. The 2018 season was Dundalk's 10th consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 83rd in all, and their 92nd in the League of Ireland.

Dundalk
2018 season
Dundalk F.C. players celebrate League and Cup Double in 2018
ManagerStephen Kenny
Premier Division1st (Champions)
FAI CupWinners
League CupSemi-final
President's CupRunners-up
Leinster Senior CupSemi-final
Europa League2Q
Top goalscorerLeague:
Patrick Hoban (29)[lower-alpha 1]
All:
Patrick Hoban (32)
Highest home attendance4,117 (vs. Cork City, 29 June 2018)[1]

Season summary

The new season's curtain raiser - the President's Cup - was played on 11 February in Oriel Park between Dundalk and Cork City - the winners of both league and cup the previous year. Cork City won on a 4-2 scoreline.[2] The 36 round League programme commenced on 16 February 2018, and was completed on 26 October 2018. Dundalk regained their title with three games to spare, sealing the title in Oriel Park in a 1-1 draw with St Patrick's Athletic on 5 October 2018.[3] They went on to win the 2018 FAI Cup with a 2-1 victory over Cork City in the final on 4 November 2018 - the club's fourth League and Cup Double.[4] An opportunity to win the club's first domestic Treble was spurned when a largely reserve side lost the League Cup semi-final away to First Division Cobh Ramblers.[5]

In Europe progress was limited when, after defeating Levadia Tallinn,[6] and holding AEK Larnaca scoreless in Oriel Park, three quickfire first half goals in the away leg in Cyprus in the 2018-19 Europa League second qualifying round ended their interest in that year's competition.[7]

First-Team Squad (2018)

Sources:[8][9]

Squad No. Name Date of Birth Position Debut season League appearances Goals
1 Gary Rogers 25 September 1981 GK 2015 34 0
2 Seán Gannon 11 July 1991 DF 2014 26 1
3 Brian Gartland 4 November 1986 DF 2013 22 1
4 Seán Hoare 15 March 1994 DF 2017 27 2
5 Chris Shields 27 December 1990 MF 2012 33 3
6 Stephen O'Donnell 15 January 1986 MF 2013 10 0
7 Michael Duffy 28 July 1994 MF 2017 36 13
8 John Mountney 22 February 1993 MF 2012 18 4
9 Patrick Hoban 28 July 1991 FW 2013 36 29
10 Jamie McGrath 30 September 1996 MF 2017 30 2
11 Krisztián Adorján[lower-alpha 2] 19 January 1993 MF 2018 16 3
11 Patrick McEleney[lower-alpha 3] 26 September 1992 MF 2016 11 1
12 Sam Byrne[lower-alpha 4] 23 July 1995 FW 2018 2 0
13 Karolis Chvedukas 21 April 1991 MF 2018 7 1
14 Dane Massey 17 April 1988 DF 2013 29 1
15 Stephen Folan 14 January 1992 DF 2018 9 1
16 Dylan Connolly 2 May 1995 MF 2017 28 4
17 Georgie Poynton 8 September 1997 MF 2015 4 0
18 Robbie Benson 7 May 1992 MF 2016 32 9
19 Ronan Murray 12 September 1991 FW 2018 23 3
21 Daniel Cleary 9 March 1996 DF 2018 26 3
22 Gabriel Sava 15 September 1986 GK 2014 3 0
23 Marco Tagbajumi[lower-alpha 5] 1 July 1988 FW 2018 16 2
30 Ross Treacy 26 September 1998 GK 2018 0 0
33 Dean Jarvis 1 June 1992 DF 2018 19 0
45 Georgie Kelly[lower-alpha 6] 12 November 1996 FW 2018 7 0

Competitions

President's Cup

Source:[10]

11 February 2018 Cork City 4 - 2DundalkOriel Park
Report Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Derek Tomney

Premier Division
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dundalk (C) 36 27 6 3 85 20 +65 87 Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2 Cork City 36 24 5 7 71 27 +44 77 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 7]
3 Shamrock Rovers 36 18 8 10 57 27 +30 62
4 Waterford 36 18 5 13 52 44 +8 59
5 St Patrick's Athletic 36 15 5 16 51 47 +4 50 Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 7]
Source: SSE Airtricity League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[11]
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. new club record.
  2. Loan signing, loan completed in July.
  3. Signed from Oldham Athletic in July and took the departed Adorján's squad number.
  4. Sent on loan to Glentoran in July.
  5. Released in July.
  6. Signed from UCD in July.
  7. Since the winners of the 2018 FAI Cup, Dundalk, qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the Cup winner (Europa League first qualifying round) would normally pass to the next best-placed team (the fourth-placed team). However, as Waterford were adjudged by UEFA to have not passed the "three-year rule" as they were reformed in 2016, the spot was passed to the fifth-placed team.

FAI Cup

Source:[12]

First Round
10 August 2018 Dundalk 3–0Cobh RamblersDundalk
19:45
  • Murray  32', 85'
  • McGrath  52'
 Report Stadium: Oriel Park
Referee: Robert Rogers
Second Round
24 August 2018 Dundalk 2–0Finn HarpsDundalk
19:45
  • Murray  24' (pen.)
  • Kelly  52'
 Report Stadium: Oriel Park
Attendance: 1,823
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
Quarter Final
7 September 2018 Limerick0–4 Dundalk Limerick
19:45
  • O'Sullivan  20'
  • Maguire  59'
  • Coleman  70'
 Report
  • Hoban  5', 21'
  • Mountney  36'
  • Kelly  71'
 Stadium: Markets Field
Referee: Derek Tomney
Semi Final
28 September 2018 Dundalk 1–0UCDDundalk
19:45 McEleney  41' Report Stadium: Oriel Park
Attendance: 2,926
Referee: Robert Hennessy
Final
4 November 2018 Cork City1–2 Dundalk Aviva Stadium
16:40 Sadlier  21' (pen) Report
McEleney  73'
 Attendance: 30,412
Referee: Neil Doyle

League Cup

Source:[13]

Second Round
2 April 2018 St Patrick's Athletic 4–4 (a.e.t.)
(7–8 p)		 Dundalk* Richmond Park
17:00 Fagan  58'
Kelly  60'
Leahy  97'
Leahy  104'		 Tagbajumi  3'
Murray  45'
Leahy  102' (og.)
Massey  120'		 Referee: Adriano Reale
Penalties
Fagan
Clarke
Doona
Kelly
Lennon
Toner
Leahy
Madden
Markey 		Massey
McGrath
Poynton
Adorján
Gartland
Mountney
O'Donnell
Folan
Tagbajumi
Quarter Final
8 May 2018 Dundalk 3–0BohemiansOriel Park
19:45 Dylan Connolly  8', 21'
Jamie McGrath  88'		 Report Attendance: 1,000 (estimate)
Referee: Robert Rogers
Semi Final
6 August 2018 Cobh Ramblers 1–0DundalkSt. Colman's Park
17:00 Christopher Hull  75' Report Referee: Sean Grant

Leinster Senior Cup

Source:[14]

Fourth Round
5 June 2018 Dundalk 3–1BohemiansDundalk, County Louth
19:45 GMT Ronan Murray  69'
Sam Byrne 81'
Krisztián Adorján  84'		 Report J.J. Lunney  26' Stadium: Oriel Park
Attendance: 500 (est.)
Referee: Tom Dempsey
Quarter Final
2 July 2018 Shamrock Rovers0–1 Dundalk Tallaght, County Dublin
19:45 GMT Report Ronan Murray  25' Stadium: Tallaght Stadium
Attendance: 500 (est.)
Referee: Derek Tomney
Semi Final
3 September 2018 St Patrick's Athletic 1–0 (a.e.t.)DundalkInchicore, Dublin
19:45 GMT Kevin Toner  105' Report Stadium: Richmond Park
Attendance: 750 (est.)
Referee: Alan Patchell

Europa League
First qualifying round
FCI Levadia 0–1 Dundalk
Report
Attendance: 1,343<
Referee: Bojan Nikolić (Serbia)
Dundalk 2–1 FCI Levadia
 Report
Attendance: 3,100

Dundalk won 3–1 on aggregate.

Second qualifying round
Dundalk 0–0 AEK Larnaca
Report
Attendance: 3,100
AEK Larnaca 4–0 Dundalk
 Report
Attendance: 3,991
Referee: Fran Jović (Croatia)

AEK Larnaca won 4–0 on aggregate.

Awards

Player of the Month
Month Player References
April Michael Duffy [15]
May Seán Hoare [16]
June Patrick Hoban [17]
August Michael Duffy [18]
September Chris Shields [19]
October/November Patrick McEleney [20]

PFAI Player of the Year
Player Reference
Michael Duffy [21]

PFAI Young Player of the Year
Player Reference
Jamie McGrath [21]

FAI League of Ireland Player of the Year
Player Reference
Chris Shields [22]

SWAI Personality of the Year
Person Reference
Stephen Kenny [23]

Footnotes

    References
    1. Newberry, Niall (29 June 2018). "League Report: Dundalk 2 – 1 Cork City Att: 4,117". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    2. Newberry, Niall (11 February 2018). "President's Cup Report: Dundalk 2 - 4 Cork City". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    3. Newberry, Niall. "League Report: Dundalk 1 - 1 St Patrick's Athletic". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    4. Newberry, Niall. "FAI Cup Final Report: Cork City 1 - 2 Dundalk". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    5. McLaughlin, Gavin (11 August 2018). "Kenny focussed on league title after putting Dundalk FC's 'embarrassing' defeat to Cobh behind him". www.dundalksport.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    6. McLaughlin, Gavin (19 July 2018). "Duffy scores a wonder goal as Dundalk FC finally see off Leavdia to set up Larnaca showdown". Dundalk Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    7. McLaughlin, Gavin (2 August 2018). "Dundalk's European hopes crumble in Cyprus as AEK cruise into round three". Dundalk Sport. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    8. "Dundalk FC Squad 2018". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
    9. "2018 SQUAD NUMBERS CONFIRMED". dundalkfc.com. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
    10. "PRESIDENTS CUP". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    11. "Premier Division 2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
    12. "FAI CUP". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    13. "EA SPORTS LEAGUE CUP". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    14. "LEINSTER SENIOR CUP". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
    15. "In-form Duffy wins monthly award for first time". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
    16. O'Hehir, Paul. "Dundalk defender Sean Hoare scoops Player of the Month award for May". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
    17. "PATRICK HOBAN WINS JUNE PLAYER OF THE MONTH AWARD". SSE Airtricity League. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
    18. "Dundalk's Duffy on the double". Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
    19. "Third time's a charm for Shields". Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
    20. "Third time's a charm for Shields". Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
    21. "Double-winner Michael Duffy named PFAI Player of the Year". The42.ie. 11 November 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
    22. Newberry, Niall (18 March 2019). "Chris Shields scoops SSE Airtricity League Player of the Year award". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
    23. "Stephen Kenny named soccer writers' Personality of the Year". www.the42.ie. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
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