Stepping out of the train station I couldn't fail to notice the traditional pylon floodlights of Dundalk FC's Oriel Park, which was today's destination.
Shamrock Rovers were the visitors in, arguably, the tie of the round as the two most successful teams in League of Ireland history went head to head. The Hoops lead the way with 20 titles, including lifting the championship in 2022, but second on the list is Dundalk with 14. Shamrock Rovers also hold the record for FAI cup wins, 25, whilst Dundalk have 12 wins of their own and in recent times played in 6 sucessive finals from 2015-2020.
This game was moved to Sunday as Dundalk played in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, where they beat Gibraltar side Bruno's Magpies 3-1 on aggregate. They will also be joined by Shamrock Rovers in the next round as they were eliminated from the Champions League by Breidablik and drop into the UECL as a consequence.
The Lilywhites were founded in 1903 as Dundalk G.N.R, the works team of the Great Northern Railway and, after initially playing in the Leinster Senior League, they joined the League of Ireland in 1926. In 1933 they became the first club outside of Dublin to be crowned champions, and their most recent title came in 2019.
Oriel Park has been home to Dundalk since 1936. The ground is owned by the club but is built on land leased from the Casey family and prior to 1936 was known as Casey's Field. In 2022, when Honorary President Des Casey passed away, the ground reverted to this name until the end of the season.
After an even opening period, the first big chance of the game was Johnny Kenny's 18th minute effort that he lobbed over Nathan Sheppard but which came back off the crossbar but, with an open goal at his mercy, Kenny could not direct the rebound into the net and his header flew over and into the crowd behind the goal.
The first goal did arrive shortly after when Hayden Muller fired home from inside the area, after two Rovers defenders each missed a chance to clear the ball that was delivered into the box from a corner kick.
It was a backs-to-the-wall job from The Lilywhites from that point on as the game was one way traffic. Rovers though could not find a way through a dogged defence and, when they did Nathan Sheppard was in top form between the sticks.
There was naturally much delight in the bumper crowd inside the ground who, I must say, made some great noise, creating a terrific atmosphere, especially those in the 'shed end'.
On a personal note, there was the added bonus of completing visits to all the grounds of the top division of the League of Ireland for the first time. Its only taken 18 years mind!
