Dundalk are facing a tough task to turn the tie around after going down 2-0 to Croatian side Hajduk Split in last night’s Europa League second qualifying round first leg clash at Oriel Park.
Despite Stephen Kenny’s side playing some good football throughout and creating arguably the better of the chances, goals in either half from Mijos Caktas and Nikola Vlasic ensured it was Igor Tudor’s side who emerged victorious as they take a massive advantage into next Thursday’s second leg in Split.
Dundalk were caught out in the ninth minute when Avdija Vrsajevic crossed for Caktas to head home.
To their credit, the Lilywhites responded well to that setback with Pat Hoban going close on three occasions, twice with headers, before turning a cross onto the post.
As the game wore on in the second half, Dundalk became more and more threatening but they were dealt a hammer blow on 75 minutes when the visitors added a second against the run of play, with Vlasic turning in Jean Evrad Kouassi’s cross from the right.
Even after that Hoban missed another good chance with a header but Dundalk’s failure to score at home could come back to haunt them as they now face a task that, were they to pull it off, would arguably be the finest result in the club’s European history.
Dundalk: Cherrie; Gannon, Gartland, Boyle, Massey; Towell, Shields (Higgins 73); Meenan, Mountney (McDermott 57), Horgan (McMillan 82); Hoban. Unused subs: Rossiter, Byrne, Griffin, Sava.
Hajduk Split: Stipica; Vrsajevic, Maloca, Milovic, Milic; Vlasic, Bradaric (Maloku 81), Caktas, Kouassi (Basic 78), Gotal, Maglica (Andelkovic 58). Unused subs:Mikanovic, Basic, Nizic, Maloku, Jozinovic, Andelkovic, Kalinic.
Referee: Markus Hameter (Austria).
