O’Donnell lifts Dundalk over the line

They called him ‘Captain Fantastic’ and the black and white hordes sung his praises when he was named over the public address man of the match.

And, on the fairytale night that was in it, both accolades applied perfectly to skipper Stephen O’Donnell who, on his first start since suffering a cruciate ligament injury in April, scored the first of the two goals which extinguished Cork’s title hopes and made Dundalk the SSE Airtricity League champions for 2014 in a delirious Oriel Park.

Cork City’s near extinction has been well chronicled but Dundalk too have bounced back magnificently from a flirtation with the abyss. This time two years ago, as last night’s match programme reminded a 5,500 crowd, Dundalk were concluding their Premier Division campaign in a desperate scrap for survival, their final home game played in front of just 260 people before they completed the great escape by beating Waterford United in a promotion/relegation play-off.