The Yellow & Blue came up short in Ireland losing to Dundalk FC 1:0 on a second half goal by Ciaran Kilduff. Maccabi had a number of chances but couldn’t find the back of the goal on an evening when nothing seemed to click for Shota Arveladze’s side.
Prematch
Head Coach Shota Arveladze made only one change to the Starting XI that defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv on the Derby this past Sunday night as Dor Peretz replaced right back Eli Dasa who was unavailable due to his red card on Matchday One against Zenit St. Petersburg. Joining Peretz in the back were Omri Ben Harush, Eitan Tibi and Tal Ben Haim while Serbian Predrag Rajikovic was in goal. Captain Gal Alberman was in his usual defensive midfielder position with Bosnian Haris Medunajnin and Nigerian Nosa Igiebor by his side. Providing the attack was Oscar Scarione, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson.
Maccabi sported black armbands in memory of Shimon Peres, Israel’s 9th President, who passed away on Wednesday.
First Half
Dundalk came out of the box looking to score an early goal and almost did when Patrick McEleney had a one-on-one opportunity against Rajikovic, but the keeper came up big to keep it goalless in the 2nd minute. Ben Harush had Maccabi’s fist chance of the contest in the 17th minute but his effort from long range was collected by Rajikovic. Two minutes later, the Yellow & Blue keeper was up to the task yet again as he first made a terrific foot save followed by parrying the ball out to safety to keep the scoreline as is.
Scarione tried his luck in the 25th minute as he volleyed a poor Dundalk clearance, however, the ball went over the bar. A minute later, central defender Ben Haim laced a scorcher towards Gary Rogers’s goal but his effort went over the bar as Maccabi began to heat up in the 10 degree weather. Daryl Horgan’s 36th minute opportunity was saved by Rajikovic as both sides tested each other as the half continued on.
Horgan linked up with McEleney in the 44th minute but the latter’s curler went way over the Maccabi goal as the sides headed into the break tied at 0:0.
Second Half
After a tentative start to the second half, Maccabi’s first chance came in the 56th minute on a counter when Igiebor passed the ball off to Ben Harush, but number 20’s shot from the left side of the goal missed the target and went out. Three minutes later, Coach Arveladze made his first substitute introducing Dor Micha for Igiebor.
In the 65th minute, Kilduff for Dundalk tries his luck with a short range header but his effort went over the bar. Just one minute later, Medunjanin laid off a beauty of a ball to Kjartansson but the Icelander’s chance flew way above the goal as the score remained 0:0.
However, it didn’t remain 0:0 for much longer when in the 72nd minute, Ciaran Kilduff finally broke the ice giving the hosts a 1:0 lead as the second half substitute tapped home a Horgan cross. Down by a goal, coach Arveladze made a pair of substitutions bringing on Barak Itzhaki and Yossi Benayoun for Alberman and Ben Chaim with ten minutes remaining.
But the personnel changes didn’t help on this night as Maccabi fell to Dundalk 1:0 in Dublin. The players will now go on the international break and will return on October 20th against AZ Alkmaar in Holland on Matchday 3 of the Europa League.
