Ciaran Kilduff delivers on historic night for Dundalk

Supersub Ciaran Kilduff found the most memorable way to celebrate his 28th birthday by scoring the goal which gave Dundalk a magnificent victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League at Tallaght Stadium.

It meant Stephen Kenny’s remarkable team have written another historic chapter in their extraordinary season by becoming the first Irish side ever to claim three points in the group stage of European competition — and that’s quite apart from the smaller but not insignificant matter of adding another €360,000 to the Irish champions’ coffers.

“It’s a special moment,” said Kilduff last night. “The lads were unbelievable all night through... we said before the game we wanted to win it and we got what we deserved tonight.”