Dundalk's performance away to AZ Alkmaar was a huge moment for Irish football. So why is AZ's boss John van der Brom saying that Dundalk are "not a typical British team"?
With one flick of his head, Ciarán Kilduff has made a huge contribution to Irish football. His equaliser for the ten men of Dundalk away to former Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar rescued a precious (and valuable) point for Stephen Kenny's men - the first point ever secured by an Irish club in the Europa League.
AZ head coach John van der Brom, much to his credit it has to be said, was full of praise for Dundalk's efforts but he appears to have broken a caridinal rule in his post-match comments: he referred to Dundalk as a 'British' team.
He said:
I was not surprised. They’re not a typical British team. They try to play football. In the first half, they were better than AZ with their short combinations and they had more of the ball than us. The only time we were better was after the goal and against ten men.
Okay, let's give van der Brom the benefit of the doubt here. He might be suggesting that Dundalk play better football than several British sides he's come up against in the past. Then again, he might actually think that Dundalk are from some exiled part of Ireland, or indeed that Ireland is a fully-fledged member of the United Kingdom.
Either way, we are not going to dwell on this too much. We just hope that no one forwards this article to James McClean.
