Well, that was stressful. They made very hard work of it, but Dundalk are through to the next round of the Champions League qualifiers in the most dramatic of circumstances after a penalty shootout victory in Latvia.
Entering this evening's second leg against Riga, the tie was finely balanced at 0-0. There seemed to be nerves from both sides throughout, although Dundalk had the better of the play.
It was a game of relatively few chances, with this effort from Patrick McEleney the closest Dundalk came to breaking the deadlock in the opening half.
29: SAVE!
What a save to deny Patrick McEleney! Super strike from the Dundalk man.
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #UCL #LOIinEurope pic.twitter.com/Ox0fr4wBaS— eir Sport (@eirSport) July 17, 2019
They thought they had opened the scoring in the 67th minute, but Pat Hoban's effort was rightly ruled out for offside.
64: Offside!
Pat Hoban denied the opener in Riga.
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #LOIinEurope pic.twitter.com/XqEdo2FFSD— eir Sport (@eirSport) July 17, 2019
Dundalk appealed for a penalty in the closing minutes of normal time, but it turned out to an absolutely shocking dive from Daniel Kelly.
88: Yellow Card!
Penalty, penalty shouts Johnny McDonnell as Daniel Kelly races into the box.
Oh no no no says Johnny as he looks at the replay.
Correct decision by the referee. #LOIinEurope #UCL pic.twitter.com/7bmAyk5j92— eir Sport (@eirSport) July 17, 2019
After two fairly uneventful periods of extra time, we were set for penalties.
Riga were up first, and both sides converted each of their three opening spot kicks. Then things went to the dogs a bit.
Both sides missed their fourth and fifth penalties, with Georgie Kelly scuppering the chance to win it for Dundalk with the final penalty.
Off to sudden death we would go, where Gary Rogers pulled off his second save of the shootout to hand the impetus to his side. This time, Sean Hoare made no mistake.
Rogers save ✔️
Hoare penalty ✔️
Scenes 🎉🎉🎉
Dundalk are through to the Champions League Second Qualifying round. #LOIinEurope #UCL pic.twitter.com/uQ5oYQBoFp— eir Sport (@eirSport) July 17, 2019
Huge scenes.
Dundalk will now face Qarabag of Azerbaijan in the next qualifying round, a team who have featured in the Champions League group stages in recent times.
That one will no doubt be a huge task, but for now they can enjoy a well deserved victory in Latvia.
