Heartbreak for gung-ho Dundalk

Legia Warsaw 1 Dundalk 1 (Legia win 3-1 on aggregate): The door to history and the Champions League briefly appeared before Dundalk in Warsaw last night before slamming shut in their faces in the cruelest of ways.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg in Dublin, few people gave Stephen Kenny’s side hope of overturning the deficit at the Polish Army Stadium. Only two others sides had managed such a feat in the last five years of European competition, while no Irish side had ever achieved it.

However, a stunning 19th minute strike from Robbie Benson relit the Louth club’s Champions League ambitions and had a Legia Warsaw side with far greater stature trembling for more than an hour.