Dundalk just two steps from heaven

And so it has arrived: D for Dundalk day, as the Lilywhites look to go where no Irish club has gone before by qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League.

Having stunned European football by beating BATE Borisov 3-1 on aggregate in the last round, Dundalk will now have to defy the odds again by overcoming Polish champions Legia Warsaw. But, amidst all the anticipation of tonight’s game at the Aviva Stadium – or the Dublin Arena, as sponsor-sensitive UEFA insist on calling it – it’s easy to forget that, barring an emphatic victory for either side, the matter is unlikely to be settled at Lansdowne Road.

This is a game of four halves, as it were, and Dundalk boss Stephen Kenny is determined his players don’t get ahead of themselves.