Dundalk and Qarabag drew 1-1 in their Champions League second qualifying round first leg at Oriel Park on Wednesday night.
The Azerbaijani side opened the scoring after just four minutes when Mahir Madatov headed a corner past Gary Rogers - a sloppy goal to concede from Dundalk's perspective.
Qarabag maintained that advantage until the 78th minute. After a corner from the left was knocked back across the six-yard box, Pat Hoban headed the ball over the line.
"We were disappointed to concede early in the game," Dundalk keeper Gary Rogers told RTÉ after the game.
"To come out with the tie still very much intact is a huge positive.
"Our second half performance was excellent. I wouldn't say we took the game to them but we played a lot better and were much more composed in the second half and our counter-attacking game was really good. I think we got the goal we deserved.
"You're always going to have saves to make when you're playing opposition of this calibre. It was important we didn't concede a second goal. If you concede two goals in a first half, it's an uphill struggle from there.
"There's huge experience in this group. Having to score away from home is nothing new. We would have learned a lot from tonight.
"We're confident that we're capable of going over there and getting a result. If we can put in a performance for the 90 minutes like we did in the second half [tonight], it's game on."
78' GOAL DUNDALK
There it is! Goal for Dundalk, Pat Hoban eventually heads the ball over the line from a corner kick. The sides are now level at 1-1.
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Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
