2014 Dundalk F.C. season
# 2014 Dundalk F.C. season

Dundalk entered the 2014 season having finished as runners-up in 2013. 2014 was Stephen Kenny's second season at the club as manager. It was Dundalk's sixth consecutive season in the top tier of Irish football, their 79th in all, and their 88th in the League of Ireland.

## Season summary

Before the League programme got underway, Dundalk were defeated by St Patrick's Athletic in the fourth round of the Leinster Senior Cup. The 33 round League programme commenced on 7 March 2014, and they were surprisingly beaten 4–1 away to Drogheda United on the opening night. But they quickly reached the top of the table and, as the season progressed, and with defending champions St Patrick's Athletic falling away, Dundalk and Cork City were left to compete for the title. On the final night of the season, Dundalk defeated Cork 2–0 in Oriel Park to win the title – their tenth, and first since 1994–95.

In the remaining cup competitions, they reached the final of the 2014 Setanta Sports Cup – losing to Sligo Rovers 1–0 in a rain-drenched match. They won the 2014 League of Ireland Cup Final with a 3–2 victory over Shamrock Rovers in Oriel Park, thereby winning the club's first League and League Cup double. The League Cup win came five days after Rovers had defeated Dundalk in the 2014 FAI Cup quarter-final, which had gone to a replay.

In Europe they were knocked out at the second hurdle, losing to Hajduk Split in the Europa League second qualifying round. Having comfortably defeated Jeunesse Esch 5–1 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, they lost the first leg of the second qualifying round 2–0 in Oriel. But they recovered from going a goal down in Split to take a 2–1 lead, just falling short of the third away goal that would have won the tie.

### First-Team Squad (2014)

Sources:

| Name | Date of Birth | Position | Debut season | League appearances | Goals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Peter Cherrie | 25 September 1981 | GK | 2009 | 33 | 0 |
| Sean Gannon | 11 July 1991 | DF | 2014 | 33 | 2 |
| Brian Gartland | 4 November 1986 | DF | 2013 | 30 | 8 |
| Andy Boyle | 7 March 1991 | DF | 2013 | 32 | 2 |
| Chris Shields | 27 December 1990 | MF | 2012 | 28 | 0 |
| Stephen O'Donnell | 15 January 1986 | MF | 2013 | 12 | 2 |
| Daryl Horgan | 10 August 1992 | MF | 2014 | 33 | 5 |
| John Mountney | 22 February 1993 | MF | 2012 | 21 | 2 |
| David McMillan | 14 December 1988 | FW | 2014 | 23 | 7 |
| Ruaidhrí Higgins | 23 October 1984 | MF | 2014 | 23 | 0 |
| Kurtis Byrne | 9 April 1990 | FW | 2013 | 31 | 7 |
| Dane Massey | 17 April 1988 | DF | 2013 | 33 | 2 |
| Richie Towell | 17 July 1991 | MF | 2013 | 33 | 11 |
| Patrick Hoban | 28 July 1991 | FW | 2013 | 32 | 20 |
| Darren Meenan | 1 October 1991 | MF | 2013 | 32 | 3 |
| Donal McDermott | 19 October 1989 | FW | 2014 | 11 | 0 |
| Mark Rossiter | 27 May 1983 | DF | 2013 | 6 | 0 |
| Mark Griffin | 16 June 1991 | FW | 2008 | 10 | 0 |
| Georgie Poynton | 8 September 1997 | MF | 2013 | 0 | 0 |
| Gabriel Sava | 15 September 1986 | GK | 2014 | 0 | 0 |

## Competitions

### Premier Division

Source:

**League table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Dundalk (C) | 33 | 22 | 8 | 3 | 73 | 24 | +49 | 74 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Cork City | 33 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 51 | 25 | +26 | 72 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | St Patrick's Athletic | 33 | 19 | 8 | 6 | 66 | 37 | +29 | 65 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Shamrock Rovers | 33 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 43 | 26 | +17 | 62 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Sligo Rovers | 33 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 44 | 36 | +8 | 43 | |

### FAI Cup

Source:

### League Cup

Source:

### Setanta Cup

Source:

**Quarter Final Second Leg**

Dundalk won 4–3 on aggregate.

**Semi Final Second Leg**

Dundalk won 3–1 on aggregate.

### Leinster Senior Cup

Source:

### Europe

**Europa League**

Source:

**Europa League**

**First qualifying round**

Dundalk won 5–1 on aggregate.

**Europa League**

**Second qualifying round**

Hajduk Split won 3–2 on aggregate.

## Awards

### Player of the Month

| Month | Nationality | Player |
| - | - | - |
| May | Ireland | Daryl Horgan |
| July | Ireland | Richie Towell |
| September | Ireland | Dane Massey |
| October | Ireland | Patrick Hoban |

### SWAI Personality of the Year

| Person | Reference |
| - | - |
| Stephen Kenny | |
