Europa League Report: Dundalk 1 - 3 Rapid Wien

Dundalk FC v SK Rapid Wien in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland on 26 November 2020

Dundalk FC v SK Rapid Wien in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland on 26 November 2020 Credit: Clare McCahill (ETPhotos)

Ciaran Fisher reports from the Aviva Stadium

Dundalk gave themselves an Austrian Alp to climb in the opening hour shipping three goals, but despite two penalties in the second half, they couldn’t salvage a point from this game. Rapid Wien ran out comfortable, if fortuitous, 3-1 winners at the Aviva.

Dundalk began brightly, the Aviva might not be their home pitch but it’s one they’ve come to know well in recent years. They made good use of the flanks but couldn’t find that final ball to free a man in a shooting position, let alone get a threatening shot away.

Taxiarchis Fountas gave a stern reality check to the, until then, free-flowing Irish side on the 7th minute when his shot from distance flashed narrowly wide.

Christoph Knasmullner opened the scoring after Sean Hoare twice coughed up possession deep in Dundalk territory and let him pick his spot. Dundalk played three at the back and Wien’s high press was an effective counter to the tactic that had worked so well Vs Bohemians.

The Lilywhites did go close on the stroke of twenty minutes when Michael Duffy drilled a shot from the edge of the box but Paul Gartler got down well to save.

The visitors dominated most of the play in the first half and there was a sense of inevitability when the second goal arrived, albeit a tad fortuitous that the linesman didn’t flag the start of the move out of play; but it was all to easy for Ercan Kara to head home between two centre backs from Thorsten Schick’s cross.

Two goals to the bad at half time, Shane Keegan rang the changes over the interval. A triple sub saw McEleney, Oduwa and Kelly introduced, and the latter two caused trouble virtually straight away; Kelly got down the right flank and crossed for Oduwa who headed narrowly over in the opening minutes of the second half.

And then, a lifeline. A 49th minute penalty could have gotten Dundalk right back into the game, but Oduwa failed to hit the target.

Dundalk seemed to slump after the penalty miss and when Ercan Kara scored his brace, and Rapid’s third goal from some distance out, the writing appeared to be on the wall.



Dundalk would get a consolation not five minutes later, Chris Shields converted from the penalty spot when referee Tamás Bognár spotted a foul on Oduwa.

It might have been a different outcome had both penalties been converted! Nonetheless, the Dundalk goal denied Rapid the same margin of victory Arsenal coaxed off them in London, which was something, as the Lilywhites were equal to Rapid for considerable spells.

The game fell into a lull with Wien happy to bide their time for attacks, they nearly nicked a fourth when Kohya Kitagawa pounced on a stray ball yards out, but a reflex save from Gary Rogers denied him.

Dundalk went close twice in quick succession late on via Oduwa. On the first occasion; he did well to catch a ball over his shoulder on the half volley but couldn’t direct it well. On the second; he really should have done better when Duffy squared it to him just outside the six yard box. It was to be the last attack of the game.

Dundalk remain rooted to the bottom of the group, which must be frustrating given their performances in Europe thus far. But this game didn’t look as likely to cough up a point as their previous encounter.

Rapid Wien meant business and this win gives them a fighting chance of nabbing second place in the group.



 

Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Hoare (Daniel Kelly 46), Daniel Cleary, Andy Boyle; Greg Sloggett (Sean Murray 72), Chris Shields (c), Sean Gannon, Cameron Dummigan (Darragh Leahy 81); David McMillan, Michael Duffy, Stefan Colovic (Patrick McEleney 46).

Subs not used: Jamie Wynne, Nathan Oduwa, John Mountney, Aaron McCarey, Brian Gartland, Jordan Flores, Jimmy Corcoran.

Booked: Daniel Cleary (82).



Rapid Wien: Paul Gartler; Filip Stojkovic, Maximilian Hofmann (c), Mateo Barac; Maximilian Ullmann, Thorsten Schick, Christoph Knasmullner (Yusef Demir 81), Melih Ibrahimoglu (Kelvin Arase 55), Sdrjan Grahovac; Ercan Kara (Koya Kitagawa 66), Taxiarchis Fountas (Lion Schuster 66).

Subs not used: Lukas Sulzbacher, Richard Strebinger, Mario Sonnleitner, Leo Greiml, Deni Alar, Bernhard Unger.

Booked: Sdrjan Grahovac (8) .



Referee: Tamas Bognar (Hungary)

Attendance: 0

ExtraTime.ie Player of the Match: Ercan Kara (SK Rapid Wien)