Dundalk have picked up the first ever point for an Irish club in a European club competition.
The Irish champions, who had previously never reached the group stage of a European competition, have made history by snatching a late equaliser away at AZ Alkmaar in their Europa League opener.
Considered to be the easy-beats of Group D, Dundalk made things difficult for their more fancied Dutch opponents before AZ finally broke the deadlock on the hour through Stijn Wuytens.
The usual script looked likely to play out, as eleven minutes later Dundalk captain Stephen O’Donnell was given his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card.
The semi-professional outfit defended valiantly with ten men, as Alkmaar pushed for a second.
With only a few minutes to spare, Ciaran Kilduff headed in from a pinpoint cross, sending the away support into raptures.
A nervy period followed, as there was nine minutes of stoppage time but the Lilywhites of County Louth managed to hold on and pull off a famous result.
This result is bound to give Stephen Kenny’s side plenty of confidence heading into matches against Zenit St Petersburg and Maccabi Tel Aviv, however they have already done enough to etch themselves into the history books.
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