2017 Dundalk F.C. season

Dundalk

2017 season
Manager	Stephen Kenny
Premier Division	2nd
FAI Cup	Runners-up
League Cup	Winners
President's Cup	Runners-up
Leinster Senior Cup	Runners-up
Champions League	2Q
Top goalscorer	League: David McMillan (16) All: David McMillan (18)
Highest home attendance	4,746 (vs. Shamrock Rovers, 24 February 2017)[1]
Home colours Away colours

Dundalk entered the 2017 season as the reigning League Champions from 2016, having won the title for the third year in a row, and having come off a successful Europa League run that saw them become the first Irish club to both win points and win a match in the group stage of European competition. 2017 was Stephen Kenny's fifth season at the club as manager. It was Dundalk's ninth consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 82nd in all, and their 91st in the League of Ireland.

Season summary

The new season's curtain raiser - the President's Cup - was played on 17 February in Turners Cross between Dundalk and Cork City - the winners of the FAI Cup the previous year. Cork City won on a scoreline of 3-0.^[2] The 33 round League programme commenced on 24 February 2017, and was completed on 27 October 2017. Dundalk relinquished their title to Cork City, finishing as runners-up.^[3] They subsequently lost the 2017 FAI Cup Final to Cork City in a penalty shoot-out after the match finished 1-1.^[4] However, Kenny's side did pick up the club's sixth League Cup, with a 3-0 victory over Shamrock Rovers in the final.^[5] They were also runner-up in the Leinster Senior Cup, losing 4-2 to Shelbourne in the final.^[6]

In Europe they were knocked out at the first hurdle, losing to Rosenborg after extra-time in the Champions League second qualifying round. This was a disappointment after the club's exploits in 2016, even with the financial and organisational disparity between the sides.^[7]

First-Team Squad (2017)

Sources:^[8]

Squad No.	Name	Date of Birth	Position	Debut season	League appearances	Goals
1	Gary Rogers	25 September 1981	GK	2015	29	0
2	Seán Gannon	11 July 1991	DF	2014	25	2
3	Brian Gartland	4 November 1986	DF	2013	26	3
4	Paddy Barrett	22 July 1993	DF	2015	15	0
5	Chris Shields	27 December 1990	MF	2012	26	0
6	Stephen O'Donnell	15 January 1986	MF	2013	20	1
7	Michael Duffy	28 July 1994	MF	2017	32	8
8	John Mountney	22 February 1993	MF	2012	16	1
9	David McMillan	14 December 1988	FW	2015	30	16
10	Jamie McGrath	30 September 1996	MF	2017	28	6
11	Patrick McEleney	26 September 1992	MF	2016	26	10
12	Shane Grimes	9 March 1987	DF	2005	5	0
14	Dane Massey	17 April 1988	DF	2013	26	2
15	Seán Hoare	15 March 1994	DF	2017	17	0
16	Ciarán Kilduff[a]	29 September 1988	FW	2015	20	6
16	Dylan Connolly[b]	2 May 1995	MF	2017	9	1
18	Robbie Benson	7 May 1992	MF	2016	27	9
19	Niclas Vemmelund	2 October 1992	DF	2017	24	4
21	Conor Clifford	1 October 1991	MF	2017	15	0
22	Gabriel Sava	15 September 1986	GK	2014	4	0
24	Stephen Kinsella	22 August 1998	MF	2017	9	1
26	Thomas Stewart	12 November 1986	FW	2017	23	2

Competitions

President's Cup

Source:^[9]

Cork City v Dundalk

17 February 2017	Cork City	3 - 0	Dundalk	Turners Cross
19:45	Maguire 15' O'Connor 68' Sheppard 90+5'	Report		Attendance: 3,140 Referee: Anthony Buttimer

Premier Division

Main article: 2017 League of Ireland Premier Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Cork City (C)	33	24	4	5	67	23	+44	76	Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2	Dundalk	33	22	3	8	72	24	+48	69	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
3	Shamrock Rovers	33	17	3	13	49	41	+8	54
4	Derry City	33	14	9	10	49	40	+9	51
5	Bohemians	33	14	5	14	36	40	−4	47

Source: SSE Airtricity League, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.^[10]
(C) Champions

FAI Cup

Source:^[9]

First Round

Dundalk v Derry City

13 August 2017	Dundalk	4–0	Derry City	Dundalk
	Mountney 1', 81' McMillan 51' (pen.) Duffy 90'			Stadium: Oriel Park

Second Round

Crumlin United v Dundalk

26 August 2017	Crumlin United	1–3	Dundalk
		Report

Quarter Final

Dundalk v Drogheda United

8 September 2017	Dundalk	4–0	Drogheda United
		Report

Semi Final

Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers

1 October 2017	Dundalk	1–1	Shamrock Rovers
16:45		Report

Replay

Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

10 October 2017	Shamrock Rovers	2–4 (a.e.t.)	Dundalk
		Report

Final

Dundalk v Cork City

5 November 2017

Dundalk

1–1 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p)

Cork City

Aviva Stadium

League Cup

Source:^[9]

Second Round

Dundalk v UCD

17 April 2017	Dundalk	1-1 (a.e.t.) (6–5 p)	UCD	Oriel Park
17:00	Conor Clifford 76'		Gary O'Neil 22'

Quarter Final

Dundalk v Waterford

1 May 2017	Dundalk	3-0	Waterford	Oriel Park
17:00	Ciarán Kilduff 57' Thomas Stewart 72' Conor Clifford 79'

Semi Final

Galway United v Dundalk

7 August 2017	Galway United	0-3	Dundalk	Eamonn Deacy Park
		Report	McGrath 11' Benson 56' Kevin Devaney (o.g.) 78'	Attendance: 1,017 Referee: Ray Matthews

Final

Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

16 September 2017	Shamrock Rovers	0–3	Dundalk	Tallaght Stadium
15:00	Bolger  48'  65'	Report	McMillan 5' McEleney 81' Stewart 90+3'	Attendance: 4,102 Referee: Derek Tomney

Leinster Senior Cup

Source:^[9]

Fourth Round

St Patrick's CYFC v Dundalk

9 February 2017	St Patrick's CYFC	2–4	Dundalk	Dublin
19:45 GMT	David Cassidy 64' Dean Gannon 81'	Report	Carlton Ubaezuonu 37' Ciarán Kilduff 59' Ciarán Kilduff 70' Patrick McEleney 90'	Stadium: Irishtown Stadium Attendance: 100 (est.)

Quarter Final

Dundalk v Thomastown United

15 May 2017	Dundalk	6–0	Thomastown United	Dundalk
19:45 GMT	Ciarán Kilduff 11' Shane Grimes 21' Ciarán Kilduff 23' Thomas Stewart 30' Ciarán Kilduff 66' Ciarán Kilduff 90'	Report		Stadium: Oriel Park

Semi Final

UCD v Dundalk

19 September 2017	UCD	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–6 p)	Dundalk	Dublin
19:45 GMT	Gary O'Neill 42'	Report	Conor Clifford 84'	Stadium: UCD Bowl Attendance: 200 (est.)

Final

Dundalk v Shelbourne

4 October 2017	Dundalk	2–4 (a.e.t.)	Shelbourne	Dundalk
19:45 GMT	Conor Clifford 42' Jake O'Connor 89'	Report	Dale Rooney 55' Adam Evans 81' Adam Evans 95' James English 105'	Stadium: Oriel Park Attendance: 1000 (est.) Referee: Paul Mc Laughlin

Europe

Champions League

Source:^[9]

Second qualifying round

12 July 2017 (2017-07-12)

20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)

Dundalk	1–1	Rosenborg
McMillan 18'	Report	Reginiussen 44'

Oriel Park, Dundalk

Attendance: 3,100

Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania)

19 July 2017 (2017-07-19)

19:15
(19:15 UTC+2)

Rosenborg	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Dundalk
De Lanlay 43' Vilhjálmsson 98'	Report	Gartland 12'

Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim

Attendance: 14,817

Referee: Aliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan)

Rosenborg won 3–2 on aggregate.

Awards

Player of the Month

Month	Player	References
June	Patrick McEleney	[11]

Footnotes

1. Transferred to Jacksonville Armada in July.
2. Signed from Bray Wanderers in July and took the departed Kilduff's squad number.

References

1. Newberry, Niall (24 February 2017). "League Report: Dundalk 2 - 1 Shamrock Rovers". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
2. O'Gorman, Simon. "President's Cup Report: Cork City 3 - 0 Dundalk". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
3. Kelly, Pete. "League Report: Galway United 3 - 4 Dundalk". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
4. Dunne, Alex. "FAI Cup Final Report: Dundalk 1 - 1 Cork City AET (City win 5-3 on penos)". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
5. McKeever, Sam. "EA Sports Cup Final Report: Shamrock Rovers 0 - 3 Dundalk". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
6. Newberry, Niall. "Leinster Senior Cup Report: Dundalk FC 2 - 4 Shelbourne (AET)". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
7. Donnelly, Dave. "Champions League Report: Rosenborg 2 - 1 Dundalk AET (Rosenborg win 3-2 on aggregate)". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
8. "Dundalk FC Squad 2017". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
9. "DUNDALK 2017". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
10. "Premier Division 2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
11. "PATRICK MCELENEY NAMED SSE AIRTRICITY PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE". SSE Airtricity League. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.