The weather was foul and the post-match celebration not fully in adherence to Covid-19 but for Dundalk, they were outweighed by the third goal of Daniel Kelly and the performance that won them a place in the group stages of the Europa League.
The draw takes place this afternoon and could see them out of the bowl alongside Celtic, Arsenal or Tottenham.
Celtic just squeezed into the top section which is determined by the club coefficient that is based on the team or the national FA performance over the last five years.
Dundalk are in the better half of the final section. They could get Celtic, Leicester and AC Milan. They could get a group with teams from Russia, Azerbaijan and Israel.
The draw takes place at Noon our time today, and the different groups of teams are published below.
Dundalk are guaranteed €2,920,000 for getting to the group stage. A win in one of their six games would be worth €570,000, a draw €190,000. If they progress as one of the top two teams to the knockout stage then they will secure an additional €500,000.
The money is on a transformative scale for any SSE Airtricity League Club and would account for the same amount already as Dundalk drew in revenue from all sources in 2017 and 2018.
It was the principal reason for the investment of Peak6 Sports and a significant factor in why Dermot Desmond’s investment in Shamrock Rovers makes financial sense.
Owner Bill Hulsizer has been criticised by fans and media for his stewardship of Dundalk with this season’s League campaign proving underwhelming. The arrival of Filippo Giovagnoli was seen as strange with his never having managed an adult team before. But last night, all was forgotten and six glory nights with three of them at the Aviva Stadium beckon to light up the winter months ahead.
The first two match nights will be on October 22nd and 29th.
