Club: | Dundalk |
Season: | 2020 |
Manager: | Vinny Perth (until 20 August) Filippo Giovagnoli (from 26 August as Interim Head Coach) |
League: | Premier Division |
League Result: | 3rd |
Cup1: | FAI Cup |
Cup1 Result: | Winners |
Cup2: | League Cup |
Cup2 Result: | Cancelled |
Cup3: | President's Cup |
Cup3 Result: | Cancelled |
Cup5: | Leinster Senior Cup |
Cup5 Result: | Abandoned |
Cup6: | Champions League |
Cup6 Result: | First qualifying round |
Cup7: | Europa League |
Cup7 Result: | Group stage |
League Topscorer: | Patrick Hoban (10) |
Season Topscorer: | Patrick Hoban &<br />David McMillan (11) |
Highest Attendance: | 3,156 (Vs. Derry City 14 February 2020) |
Pattern B1: | _dundalk20h |
Pattern La1: | _dundalk20h |
Pattern Ra1: | _dundalk20h |
Pattern Sh1: | _dundalk20h |
Pattern So1: | _dundalk20h |
Pattern B2: | _dundalk20a |
Pattern La2: | _dundalk20a |
Pattern Ra2: | _dundalk20a |
Pattern Sh2: | _dundalk20h |
Socks2: | 000000 |
Prevseason: | 2019 |
Nextseason: | 2021 |
Dundalk entered the 2020 season as the reigning League Champions and League of Ireland Cup holders from 2019. Having qualified for European football for the seventh season in a row, they were entered in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League. It was manager Vinny Perth's second season as manager until his dismissal following Dundalk's exit from Europe in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. The 2020 season was Dundalk's 12th consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 85th in all, and their 94th in the League of Ireland.
After the postponement of the President's Cup due to storm conditions,[1] the scheduled double-double round-robin 36 round League programme commenced on 14 February 2020 and was due to be completed on 23 October 2020. The season was predicted to be a two-horse race between Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers.[2] Both sides won their opening three matches before Rovers won their first encounter, 3–2, in Tallaght Stadium. That game was notable for a goal by Dundalk's Jordan Flores, which was subsequently nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award.
Subsequently, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the cessation of football in line with other European countries ahead of the Round Six match at home to St Patrick's Athletic. The League of Ireland Cup, sponsored by EA Sports, was deferred for the season.[3] The Leinster Senior Cup was abandoned.[4] During the stoppage, assistant manager Ruaidhrí Higgins departed his role for a new role under former Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny with the Republic of Ireland national football team.[5] He was replaced by Alan Reynolds, who had earlier resigned as manager of Waterford.[6]
The league season resumed on 31 July 2020 with a reduced schedule of 18 matches in total. Matches were played behind closed doors for the remainder of the shortened season as part of the Irish government's response to the pandemic.[7] In Europe, Dundalk entered the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League as the seeded team in the first qualifying round. They were drawn away to Celje and defeated 3–0 in the single-leg tie, which was played at Szusza Ferenc Stadion, Budapest (Hungary) because of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic between Slovenia and Ireland.[8] In the aftermath of that defeat, manager Vinny Perth was sacked by the club.[9]
On 26 August Filippo Giovagnoli was confirmed as the new manager of Dundalk, with nine league matches remaining.[10] John Gill and Alan Reynolds left the club the following week.[11] After being defeated in the Champions League first qualifying round, they drew Andorran champions Inter Club d'Escaldes in the Europa League second qualifying round, and won 1–0.[12] They were drawn away again in the second round, and defeated Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova in a penalty shoot-out, following a 1–1 draw.[13] The victory gave Dundalk a chance to reach the group stage for the first time since 2016. In the play-off round, they faced KÍ of Klaksvík in the Faroe Islands at the Aviva Stadium, and won 3–1.[14] [15] Meanwhile, they continued to struggle in the league and eventually finished third, thus qualifying for the new UEFA Europa Conference League.
Dundalk were seeded fourth for the group stage and were drawn in Group B alongside Arsenal, Rapid Wien, and Molde. In the first match at home to Molde, Dundalk took a first half lead through Sean Murray, before going down 2–1.[16] Matchday 2 was the first away match, which was against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. It finished 3–0 to the home side.[17] Matchday 3 away to Rapid in Vienna finished 4–3 to the home side after Dundalk had taken the lead.[18] They failed to pick up any points from the second set of matches, and finished bottom of the group on 0 points.[19] They also received a €50,000 fine from Uefa for 'shadow coaching', as interim head coach Filippo Giovagnoli did not hold a Uefa Pro Licence.[20]
In the FAI Cup, which also had a schedule change as a result of the pandemic, they reached the final after wins over Waterford, Cobh Ramblers, Bohemians, and Athlone Town. The 11–0 semi-final victory over Athlone Town saw Dundalk set a new record for the biggest win in the competition's history, and was also a new club record victory.[21] They followed that with a 4–2 extra time victory over the holders, Shamrock Rovers, with David McMillan scoring a hat-trick, to win the Cup for the twelfth time.[22]
Sources:[23] [24] Note: Substitute appearances in brackets
No. | Name | DOB | Pos. | Debut | League | FAI Cup | EA Cup | Europe | Others | Totals | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||||
1 | 25 September 1981 | GK | 2015 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0 | |
2 | 11 July 1991 | DF | 2014 | 12 (3) | 0 | 2 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
3 | 4 November 1986 | DF | 2013 | 7 (1) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | |
4 | 15 March 1994 | DF | 2017 | 9 (1) | 0 | 2 (2) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 | |
5 | 27 December 1990 | MF | 2012 | 16 (1) | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 | |
6 | 4 October 1995 | MF | 2019 | 11 (3) | 3 | 0 (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 6 | |
7 | 28 July 1994 | MF | 2017 | 15 (1) | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 7 | |
8 | 22 February 1993 | MF | 2012 | 4 (7) | 0 | 1 (4) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 (6) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 | |
9 | 28 July 1991 | FW | 2013 | 13 (2) | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 11 | |
10 | Greg Sloggett | 3 July 1996 | MF | 2020 | 10 (4) | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 2 |
11 | 26 September 1992 | MF | 2016 | 4 (5) | 0 | 2 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 1 | |
12 | Andrew Quinn | 12 November 1996 | FW | 2018 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
14 | 17 April 1988 | DF | 2013 | 7 (1) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | |
15 | Darragh Leahy | 15 April 1998 | DF | 2020 | 5 (3) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
16 | 11 October 1993 | MF | 2019 | 5 (3) | 1 | 1 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 (3) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 5 | |
17 | 5 March 1996 | FW | 2020 | 4 (6) | 0 | 0 (2) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | |
18 | 18 October 1998 | MF | 2020 | 2 (5) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
20 | 14 January 1992 | GK | 2019 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
21 | Daniel Cleary | 9 March 1996 | DF | 2018 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 2 |
22 | Stefan Čolović | 16 April 1994 | MF | 2020 | 8 (6) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 1 |
23 | Cammy Smith | 24 August 1995 | FW | 2020 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
23 | 2 June 1996 | DF | 2019 | 5 (2) | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |
24 | Jamie Wynne | 30 July 2001 | FW | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
27 | Daniel Kelly | 21 May 1996 | MF | 2019 | 9 (4) | 0 | 0 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (4) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
29 | 14 December 1988 | FW | 2015 | 5 (6) | 0 | 4 (1) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 (4) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 11 | |
30 | Jimmy Corcoran | 1 February 2002 | GK | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
44 | 7 March 1991 | DF | 2013 | 11 (1) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 | |
45 | 29 August 1991 | MF | 2020 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
No. | Name | DOB | Pos. | Debut | League | FAI Cup | EA Cup | Europe | Others | Totals | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||||
12 | Georgie Kelly | 12 November 1996 | FW | 2018 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
28 | Lido Lotefa | 18 April 2000 | FW | 2019 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
25 | Taner Dogan | 30 May 1998 | DF | 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Competition cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Competition abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic.
First qualifying round
Second qualifying roundThird qualifying round
The group stage draw was held on 2 October 2020.[25]
Month | Player | Reference |
---|---|---|
October | Sean Murray | [26] |
November | David McMillan | [27] |
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2020 Dundalk F.C. season".
Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.