Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

entered the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

season as the reigning League Champions and

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

holders from

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. They had a new management team of Vinny Perth and the returning John Gill, after Stephen Kenny (the manager since

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

) had resigned to accept the

Republic of Ireland U-21 The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team, is the national under-21 football team of the Republic of Ireland and is controlled by the Football Association of Ireland. The team played its first match in 1978 and has competed in the ...

manager's role. The 2019 season was Dundalk's 11th consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 84th in all, and their 93rd in the League of Ireland.

Season summary

The new season's curtain raiser - the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

- was played on 9 February in

Turners Cross (stadium) Turners Cross is an all-seater football stadium located in and synonymous with the district of Turners Cross in Cork, Ireland. It is owned by the Munster Football Association (MFA), and is used by the MFA and by League of Ireland side Cork City. ...

between Dundalk and

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

, the runners-up in both league and cup the previous year. Dundalk won on a 2-1 scoreline. The 36 round League programme commenced on 15 February 2019, and was completed on 25 October 2019. Dundalk retained their title with four games to spare, sealing the title in

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey F ...

with a 3–2 victory over

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

on 23 September 2019. They had already won the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, defeating

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

on penalties in the

Brandywell The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium ( ga, Tobar an Fhíoruisce ) is a municipal football stadium with an adjoining greyhound racing track in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C. and (temporaril ...

nine days earlier. Chasing a domestic

Treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

, they were defeated in a penalty shoot-out in the FAI Cup final by Shamrock Rovers. But they ended the season with a comprehensive 7–1 aggregate victory over Northern Irish champions, Linfield, in the inaugural

Champions Cup (All-Ireland) The Champions Cup (known as the Unite the Union Champions Cup for sponsorship purposes) is a cross-border association football super cup inaugurated in 2019 that features the league champions from both football associations on the island of Ire ...

– bringing the trophy haul in Perth's rookie season to four. In Europe Dundalk entered the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. After being seeded in the draw, they faced

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, drawing the home leg in Oriel Park 0-0. The away leg in Riga was the club's 70th match in European football, which also finished 0-0. After extra-time failed to separate the sides, they won 5–4 in a sudden-death penalty shootout – their first in Europe, becoming the first Irish side to win a tie in that manner. They were knocked out in the second qualifying round by Qarabağ when a 1–1 home draw was followed by a 3–0 defeat away in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, which saw them receive a bye into the Europa League Third qualifying round. Their interest in Europe for the season ended there, with a 4-1 aggregate defeat to Slovan Bratislava. Both Qarabağ and Slovan subsequently reached the group stage of the Europa League.

First-Team Squad (2019)

Sources:

Competitions

President's Cup

Source:

Premier Division

FAI Cup

Source: ;First Round ;Second Round ;Quarter Final ;Semi Final ;Final

League Cup

Source: ;Second Round ;Quarter Final ;Semi Final ;Final

Champions Cup

Source: ''Dundalk won 7–1 on aggregate.''

Leinster Senior Cup

Source: ;Fourth Round

Europe

Champions League

;First qualifying round ''0–0 on aggregate. Dundalk won 5–4 on penalties.'' ;Second qualifying round ''Qarabağ won 4–1 on aggregate.''

Season summary

First-Team Squad (2019)

Competitions

President's Cup

Premier Division

FAI Cup

League Cup

Champions Cup

Leinster Senior Cup

Europe

Champions League

Europa League

Awards

Player of the Month

SWAI Personality of the Year

SWAI Goalkeeper of the Year

Footnotes

References