Complacency not in Dundalk's vocabulary as they chase Europa League jackpot
Dundalk players during a training session at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Dundalk stand just 90 minutes away from the group stages of the Europa League and a guaranteed jackpot of at least €2.9m.
They are playing, if not at home, then at a stadium that is more than familiar and their opponents hail from a fishing town in the Faroe Islands with a population no bigger than Ardee's.
Just as well then that Filippo Giovagnoli doesn't know the meaning of the word complacency.
“What does ... complacency mean?” asked Dundalk's Italian manager whose grasp of English and ability to communicate the right tone here was otherwise excellent.
“No, no. No way. We can’t be like that. We learn in Andorra, I said that. Andorra for us was a learning process. We learn in Andorra and there is not any kind of com... I’m not going to pronounce this word because I don't know this word. No chance of that.”
Andorra was where Dundalk won against Inter Club d'Escaldes. Clearly the better side, they went 1-0 up early on but then had Andy Boyle sent off just before the hour and found themselves hanging on by their fingertips until the final whistle.
There are no guarantees here.
This is the biggest game in Faroese history. KÍ, or Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfela, are the country's first club side to make it this far. They have six Faroe Island internationals on the books but their story is unusual enough to have been picked up by the .
Reigning league champions, KÍ have been rejuvenated under the management of Mikkjal Thomassen who has built an organised and effective side, and they have accounted for sides from Malta, San Marino and Lithuania prior to this season.
Switzerland's Young Boys found them a thorny prospect earlier this season too.
Ultimately, they have won just one game to get this far but that was a 6-1 thrashing of Dinamo Tbilisi and Giovagnoli will know that he faces a side big on defensive solidity and keen to play on the counter. They had 29% against the Georgians.
“To study this kind of team, you cannot look at one game. You have to look at what they did in the past, what they did with Young Boys, what they did in their league.
Dundalk will be without the suspended Chris Shields and are uncertain as to whether the defender Sean Gannon will make it back from the ankle injury he suffered in the third round game against Sheriff Tiraspol last week.
Patrick McEleney has been carrying a minor knee injury for some weeks but will feature at some point. He likely won't be the only player on either side to play through a pain barrier given the magnitude of the game and the stakes at play.
Giovagnoli insisted such pressure is a privilege. He spoke of how he had faced relegation deciders as a player in Italy's lower leagues when defeat meant a drop into the semi-pro ranks and questions as to how he could feed his family.
He was ridiculed when he arrived in Ireland last month, an unknown with no experience at this level. He accepts that this scepticism was valid but added that he has “a few knives in my back still that I want to take away”. This is that chance.
On a short-term contract, he sounded all but certain that he will be back as manager next season, regardless of tonight's outcome, but he knows the value of a win here to the town, to the club and to Peak6, their American owners.
“When they appoint me, when they hired me, they were talking only about that, only about (the first European game on) September 17. This was all they were asking. September 17, September 17. That's it. And I arrived August 24.
“But, of course, for me, the most important game was Cobh. The (FAI) Cup, right? Because I have a start to make for them. They were reminding me always September 17. Now we are October 1, so we did something (already).”
This would be something else entirely.
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