League of Ireland Dundalk made history following a 3-0 win in their Champions League third round qualifier.
Two David McMillan goals and a Robbie Benson strike earned Irish champions a 3-0 home-leg win over Belarus champions BATE Borisov.
The victor ensured a 3-1 aggregate success and saw them one round away from qualifying for the Champions League group stage.
At worse, Dundalk will enter next season with a Europa League position, an incredible result for Irish football.
Fans cannot believe it.
"Tomorrow is a bank holiday in Dundalk," just announced over the PA! #Dundalk pic.twitter.com/9CsMo9mXyU
— David Coughlan (@davidcoughlan_) August 2, 2016
Dundalk FM at the full-time whistle. A bit of JR from WWE-style stuff there. Good on em. https://t.co/skAgh9PAan
— Scott Reid (@ascottreid) August 2, 2016
Such was the scale of Dundalk’s victory, the club have effectively secured their economic future for several years.
As JOE writer Kevin Beirne points out…
Worst-case scenario now for @DundalkFC is they lose their play-off and drop into the Europa League group stages with minimum €2.4m windfall.
— #repealthe8th (@KevBeirne) August 2, 2016
Dundalk entering the Champions League qualifying round gives them a greater windfall than if they had won the league.
.@DundalkFC will get more prize money for a draw in the Europa League (€120k) than if they won their third league title in a row (€110k).
— #repealthe8th (@KevBeirne) August 2, 2016
It looks like this historic victory could be worth at least €5m Euros to the League of Ireland side. If they win their play-off qualification match that would be worth a further €2m.
If they made it to the group stages of the Champions League proper – and become the first ever Irish cub to do so – that would pull in another €12m.
https://twitter.com/killeroc/status/760583606523879428
Yep. On top of €1m to date, it seems there's €7.5m minimum on the way. Congrats Dundalk! https://t.co/whIMilrXKX
— Killian Byrne (@killianbyrne) August 2, 2016
A truly remarkable occasion.Â
What a great night for @DundalkFC tonight. Well done to Stephen Kenny & the players on a fantastic effort. #LOIinEurope
— Kevin Kilbane (@kdkilbane77) August 2, 2016
