Soccer

Boys from the County Armagh cheering on Dundalk FC

 Aidan feels the key to the group stages is not to concede in the home leg
 Aidan feels the key to the group stages is not to concede in the home leg  Aidan feels the key to the group stages is not to concede in the home leg

AIDAN Rice’s journey with Dundalk FC began in the backseat of his father’s car in the late 1980s when they made the nine-mile trip from Dromintee over the border to Oriel Park to cheer on ‘the Town’.

There were wins to celebrate and goals to cheer as Dundalk chugged along in the League of Ireland until the dark days of 2012 when results were scarce and resources even scarcer and the county Louth club almost went out of existence.

They were pulled back from the brink and, in a classic rags-to-riches story, are now preparing to face Legia Warsaw over two legs with the winners sealing a place in the lucrative group stages of the Champions League.

Before this magical season, Dundalk’s high point in European football was probably the dream draw with Celtic in the second round of the 1979-80 European Cup.

A 3-2 defeat at Parkhead was followed by a 0-0 stalemate at Oriel and Aidan (above) admits that had Dundalk been paired with the Celts again instead of Warsaw in last week’s draw he feared he might have had to call upon UN peacebroker John De Chastelain to negotiate a few days leave from a family holiday to allow him to attend the second leg.

Luckily for him, De Chastelain’s input won’t be required and, though he won’t travel to Warsaw, he’ll be in the stands at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium next Wednesday night when 40,000 fans are expected to cheer Dundalk on against the Poland champions in the first leg of the play-off round.

“When I was young my dad would have took me up with Gavin Fearon and his brothers Brian, Colm and Patrick,” recalled Aidan, who is chairman of Dromintee GAC.

“I went up through school and that there but, don’t get me wrong, there was a period when I didn’t follow them that much – I would have gone randomly to matches, but whenever Stephen Kenny took over I started going regularly again.

“There’d be bigger Dundalk men around our parish than me – Gavin Fearon never stopped through all the barren years. Right up to when they nearly folded he was there home and away and even before these days there would have been lads going up from Cullyhanna and Bessbrook.”

Kenny’s arrival was the catalyst for a dramatic upturn in the club’s fortunes and, although Dundalk were underdogs, Aidan, when he travelled to watch the second leg of their second round clash against BATE Borisov, was in optimistic mood.

“We played them last year and we just needed one goal at home but the game finished 0-0 and it was really just BATE’s experience that brought them through that night,” he said.

“But this year they were constantly looking for excuses and as soon as the Town scored that was it; there was only going to be one winner and it was a great night.

“I don’t think it would top ’02 (Armagh winning the All-Ireland) but when the goals were going in and the final whistle blew it ran it close.”

As for tomorrow night against Legia, the biggest game in the club’s history, Aidan feels the key to the group stages is not to concede in the home leg.

“Dundalk are always capable of scoring,” he said.

“I think Legia will be looking to score – that’ll be in their heads and if they don’t then the pressure is on them.”