Dundalk midfielder Robbie Benson was reflecting on his best moment in football after the Airtricity League side progressed to the Champions League play-off stages with a 3-1 aggregate win over Bate Borisov.
The Airtricity League champions had lost the first-leg 1-0 but overcame the deficit against their Belarusian opponents through a goal in either half from David McMillan and a late third from substitute Benson.
Uefa have grouped league champions together for Friday's playoff draw which means Stephen Kenny's (unseeded) side go into contention with the likes of Celtic - but avoid the likes of Manchester City, Porto, Villarreal and Roma for a place in the group stages. Already assured that they have the safety net of playing in the Europa League even if they are eliminated at the next stage.
Benson said on the club’s official audioboom channel: “It’s tough to sum up, when you hear people say it will take a while to sink in, that’s how I feel now.
“It’s the best feeling I have had in football and the lads feel the same. We know that we have eight more games at least in Europe and that will go a long way.
“We’re not content with the Europa League we want to make the Champions League.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s great for everyone, to be able to do it with this group of lads is an incredible feeling.”
Victory represents one of the finest achievements of any Irish team, and will earn them a reported cash windfall of €7million.
Fellow midfielder Stephen O’Donnell added: “Its an unbelievable achievement, we deserved it, we knew we couldn’t play any worse than last week, it was crucial coming away with a 1-0 defeat and we played a lot more to our potential tonight and I think you’ve seen what we can do when we get it together.
“There’s no superstars on this team, everyone is as good as each other.”
Why was beating Belarus’ Bate Borisov such a big achievement?
Dundalk are the first League of Ireland side since Shelbourne in 2004 to reach the final round of qualifying for the Champions League.
They are also the first League of Ireland outfit to reach the Europa League since Shamrock Rovers in 2011.
What are the financial windfalls?
Dundalk had already secured £1million by reaching the third qualifying round for the Champions League, but their 3-1 aggregate win over BATE has boosted that sum to almost £6million.
Win the next two-legged tie and qualify for the Champions League proper, and the money on offer could leap as high as £30million.
Who could Dundalk meet next in the race for the Champions League?
The draw for the Champions League’s final qualifying round takes place in Monaco on Friday. Dundalk could even come up against Celtic, if the Scottish champions see off Kazakhstan’s Astana.
The likes of Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiakos, Legia Warsaw and Red Bull Salzburg are all potential opponents for Dundalk too.
But the permutations for Friday’s draw will be far clearer after the completion of all the third round qualifying ties on Wednesday night.
