2015 Dundalk F.C. season

Dundalk
2015 season
	President’s Cup, FAI Cup, Leinster Senior Cup & League of Ireland Champions trophy on display in Oriel Park in 2015
Manager	Stephen Kenny
Premier Division	1st (Champions)
FAI Cup	Winners
League Cup	Semi-final
President's Cup	Winners
Leinster Senior Cup	Winners
Champions League	2Q
Top goalscorer	League: ; Richie Towell (25); All: ; Richie Towell (26)
Highest home attendance	3,957 (vs. Shamrock Rovers, 1 September 2015)[1]
Home colours	Away colours

Dundalk entered the 2015 season as the reigning League Champions from 2014, having won the title for the first time since 1995, and were also the League Cup holders. 2015 was Stephen Kenny's third season at the club as manager. It was Dundalk's seventh consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 80th in all, and their 89th in the League of Ireland.

Season summary

The new season's curtain raiser - the President's Cup - was played on 28 February in Oriel Park between Dundalk and St Patrick's Athletic - the winners of the FAI Cup the previous year. Dundalk won on a 2-1 scoreline - their first success in the competition.[2] The 33 round League programme commenced on 6 March 2015, and was completed on 30 October 2015. Dundalk retained the title for the first time in their history, sealing it with three games to spare.[3] They subsequently won the 2015 FAI Cup Final with a 1-0 victory over Cork City after extra time. An opportunity to win the club's first domestic Treble was passed up when a largely reserve side lost the League Cup semi-final in a penalty shoot-out.[4] However they also won the Leinster Senior Cup, defeating Shamrock Rovers 3-1 in the final. The trophy haul for the year made the 2015 season the most successful in their history.[5]

In Europe they were knocked out at the first hurdle, losing to BATE Borisov in the Champions League second qualifying round when, after scoring an away goal in a 2-1 defeat, they were unable to score the goal in Oriel Park that would have sent them through to the next round.[6]

First-Team Squad (2015)

Sources:[7]

Squad No.	Name	Date of Birth	Position	Debut season	League appearances	Goals
1	Gary Rogers	25 September 1981	GK	2015	31	0
2	Sean Gannon	11 July 1991	DF	2014	32	1
3	Brian Gartland	4 November 1986	DF	2013	27	6
4	Andy Boyle	7 March 1991	DF	2013	33	1
5	Chris Shields	27 December 1990	MF	2012	30	0
6	Stephen O'Donnell	15 January 1986	MF	2013	24	2
7	Daryl Horgan	10 August 1992	MF	2014	33	9
8	John Mountney	22 February 1993	MF	2012	33	3
9	David McMillan	14 December 1988	FW	2014	33	12
10	Ronan Finn	21 December 1987	MF	2015	33	5
11	Kurtis Byrne	9 April 1990	FW	2013	14	0
12	Shane Grimes	9 March 1987	DF	2005	4	0
14	Dane Massey	17 April 1988	DF	2013	32	4
15	Paddy Barrett	22 July 1993	DF	2015	11	0
16	Ciarán Kilduff	29 September 1988	FW	2015	12	4
17	Richie Towell	17 July 1991	MF	2013	32	25
19	Sean Maguire	1 May 1994	FW	2015	6	0
21	Darren Meenan	1 October 1991	MF	2013	28	3
22	Gabriel Sava	15 September 1986	GK	2014	3	0
28	Georgie Poynton	8 September 1997	MF	2013	2	0

Competitions

President's Cup

Source:[8]

28 February 2015	Dundalk	2–1	St Patrick's Athletic	Oriel Park
TBC GMT	Horgan 36' Towell 38'	Report	Forrester 35'	Attendance: 1,800 (estimate) Referee: Tomas Connolly

Premier Division

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dundalk (C)	33	23	9	1	78	23	+55	78	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
2	Cork City	33	19	10	4	57	25	+32	67	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
3	Shamrock Rovers	33	18	11	4	56	27	+29	65
4	St Patrick's Athletic	33	18	4	11	52	34	+18	58
5	Bohemians	33	15	8	10	49	42	+7	53
6	Longford Town	33	10	9	14	41	53	−12	39
7	Derry City	33	9	8	16	32	42	−10	35
8	Bray Wanderers	33	9	6	18	27	51	−24	33
9	Sligo Rovers	33	7	10	16	39	55	−16	31
10	Galway United	33	9	4	20	39	61	−22	31
11	Limerick (R)	33	7	8	18	46	73	−27	29	Qualification to Relegation play-offs
12	Drogheda United (R)	33	7	7	19	32	62	−30	28	Relegation to League of Ireland First Division

Source: League of Ireland, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored.[9]
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

Dundalk qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2015 FAI Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.

FAI Cup

Source:[8]

Second Round

29 May	Dundalk	5–0	Shelbourne	Oriel Park
		Report

Third Round

21 August	Galway United	1–4	Dundalk	Eamonn Deacy Park
		Report		Attendance: 761 Referee: Robert Rogers

Quarter Final

	Dundalk	4–0	Sligo Rovers	Oriel Park
		Report

Semi Final

2 October	Dundalk	2–0	Longford Town	Oriel Park
		Report

Final

8 November 2015	Dundalk	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Cork City	Aviva Stadium
15:30	Richie Towell 107'	Report		Attendance: 25,103 Referee: David McKeon

League Cup

Source:[8]

Second Round

7 April 2015	Dundalk	1–0	Shelbourne	Oriel Park
19:45	John Mountney 11'	Report		Attendance: 697 Referee: Rob Harvey

Quarter Final

18 May 2015	UCC	0–5	Dundalk	The Mardyke
20:00		Report	Ciaran O'Connor 3' Jake Kelly 13' Paddy Barrett 36' Paddy Barrett 55' Kurtis Byrne 78'	Attendance: 650 (Est.) Referee: David Keeler

Semi Final

3 August 2015	Galway United	0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–2 p)	Dundalk	Eamonn Deacy Park
17:00	Alex Byrne 113'	Report	Ronan Finn 44' Darren Meenan 78'	Referee: Ray Matthews
	Penalties
	Stephen Walsh David O'Leary Jake Keegan Colm Horgan		Ronan Finn David McMillan Daryl Horgan John Mountney

Leinster Senior Cup

Source:[8]

Fourth Round

10 February 2015	Dundalk	2–1	UCD	Dundalk
19:45 GMT	Ronan Finn 74' David McMillan 83'	Report	Dylan Watts 15'	Stadium: Oriel Park Referee: Robert Harvey

Quarter Final

16 March 2015	Wexford	0–3	Dundalk	Wexford
19:45 GMT		Report	Ciaran O'Connor 16' Shane Grimes 57' Shane Grimes 88'	Stadium: Ferrycarrig Park

Semi Final

22 September 2015	St Patrick's Athletic	0–1	Dundalk	Inchicore
19:45 GMT		Report	Stephen O'Donnell 51'	Stadium: Richmond Park

Final

26 October 2015	Dundalk	3–1	Shamrock Rovers	Dundalk
19:45 GMT	Kurtis Byrne 53' Kurtis Byrne 56' Chris Shields 90+5'	Report	Aaron Dobbs 81'	Stadium: Oriel Park Attendance: 963 Referee: Simon Rogers

Europe

Champions League

Source:[8]

Second qualifying round

15 July 2015

19:30

BATE Borisov	2–1	Dundalk
Karnitsky 11' Yablonskiy 38'	Report	McMillan 32'

Borisov Arena, Barysaw

Attendance: 11,421

Referee: Vlado Glođović (Serbia)

22 July 2015

20:45

Dundalk	0–0	BATE Borisov
	Report

Oriel Park, Dundalk

Attendance: 3,103

Referee: Stavros Tritsonis (Greece)

BATE Borisov won 2–1 on aggregate.

Awards

Player of the Month

Month	Nationality	Player	Reference
March	Ireland	David McMillan	[10]
April	Ireland	Richie Towell	[11]
May	Ireland	Daryl Horgan	[12]
September	Ireland	Richie Towell	[13]
November	Ireland	Richie Towell	[14]

PFAI Player of the Year

Player	Reference
Richie Towell	[15]

FAI League of Ireland Player of the Year

Player	Reference
Richie Towell	[16]

SWAI Personality of the Year

Person	Reference
Richie Towell	[17]

RTÉ Sports Team of the Year

Team	Reference
Dundalk F.C.	[18]

Footnotes

gollark: Maybe I should somehow procedurally generate badges like that.

gollark: I HAVE just contributed to zzcxz somewhat.

gollark: I don't think it makes sense to have another templating stage just for times.

gollark: Oh. I guess just do the easier one.

gollark: What do you mean "as all the replacements"?

References

Newberry, Niall (2 September 2015). "League Report: Dundalk 2 - 0 Shamrock Rovers". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
"Dundalk 2 - 1 St. Patrick's Athletic". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
Donnelly, Dave. "League Report: Shamrock Rovers 1 - 1 Dundalk". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
Dolan, Josh. "FAI Cup Final Report: Cork City 0-1 Dundalk A.E.T." www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
Fisher, Ciaran. "Leinster Senior Cup Final Report: Dundalk 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
Fisher, Ciaran. "Champions League Report: Dundalk 0-0 BATE Borisov". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
"Dundalk FC Squad 2015". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
"DUNDALK 2015". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
"PREMIER DIVISION 2015 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
"DAVID MCMILLAN NAMED SSE AIRTRICITY PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH". www.sseireland.com. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
"No prizes for guessing the Airtricity League Player of the Month for April". www.the42.ie. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
"Daryl Horgan player of the month for May". www.rte.ie. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
"Richie Towell named Player of Month for September". www.rte.ie. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
"TOWELL NAMED SWAI PLAYER OF THE MONTH". www.dundalkfc.com. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
"Towell named PFAI Player of the Year". www.the42.ie. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
Newberry, Niall (24 March 2016). "Richie Towell delighted to secure 2015 SSE Airtricity League Player of the Year". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
"Richie Towell is the Irish Soccer Writers' Personality of the Year for 2015". www.the42.ie. 9 January 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
"DUNDALK SECURE RTÉ SPORT TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD". www.dundalkfc.com. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2019.

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[table_note_res_CL2Q0.89159134211558-9] Dundalk qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2015 FAI Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.

[1] Newberry, Niall (2 September 2015). "League Report: Dundalk 2 - 0 Shamrock Rovers". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2019.

[2] "Dundalk 2 - 1 St. Patrick's Athletic". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

[3] Donnelly, Dave. "League Report: Shamrock Rovers 1 - 1 Dundalk". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

[4] Dolan, Josh. "FAI Cup Final Report: Cork City 0-1 Dundalk A.E.T." www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

[5] Fisher, Ciaran. "Leinster Senior Cup Final Report: Dundalk 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

[6] Fisher, Ciaran. "Champions League Report: Dundalk 0-0 BATE Borisov". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

[7] "Dundalk FC Squad 2015". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 23 June 2019.

[fixtures-8] "DUNDALK 2015". extratime.ie. Retrieved 6 November 2019.

[10] "PREMIER DIVISION 2015 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 11 July 2015.

[11] "DAVID MCMILLAN NAMED SSE AIRTRICITY PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR MARCH". www.sseireland.com. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

[12] "No prizes for guessing the Airtricity League Player of the Month for April". www.the42.ie. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

[13] "Daryl Horgan player of the month for May". www.rte.ie. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

[14] "Richie Towell named Player of Month for September". www.rte.ie. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

[15] "TOWELL NAMED SWAI PLAYER OF THE MONTH". www.dundalkfc.com. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

[16] "Towell named PFAI Player of the Year". www.the42.ie. 21 November 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

[17] Newberry, Niall (24 March 2016). "Richie Towell delighted to secure 2015 SSE Airtricity League Player of the Year". www.extratime.ie. Retrieved 23 October 2019.

[18] "Richie Towell is the Irish Soccer Writers' Personality of the Year for 2015". www.the42.ie. 9 January 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2019.

[19] "DUNDALK SECURE RTÉ SPORT TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD". www.dundalkfc.com. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2019.