Back in the 1964/65 season, the Reds had qualified to play in the Fairs Cup (now the UEFA Cup). Shels were drawn to play OS Belenenses of Portugal, in what was the Reds third successive appearance in European competition. The previous years had seen swift exits at the hands of Sporting Lisbon (European Cup), and Barcelona (Cup Winners’ Cup), so being drawn out of the hat second meant a decent away result would set the scene for a cracking second leg in Dalymount Park.
Not just a decent result, but an historic one was achieved in the form of a 1-1 draw. Eric Barber’s goal in Lisbon guaranteed the Reds only ever draw away from home to date, in Europe. The return leg was to finish scoreless, and as this was before the ‘away goals’ rule was introduced by UEFA, there was to be a playoff, with home advantage being decided by the toss of a coin. The Reds duly won the toss, and also the playoff, 2-1 in Dalyer, with goals from Ben Hannigan and Mick Conroy, becoming in the process only the second League of Ireland team to progress in European competition, emulating Drums who had previously beaten Odense of Denmark in the same competition. To put the Reds achievement into context, Benfica had won the European cup in ’62 and ’62, and Sporting wonthe Cup Winners Cup in’64.
Alas, the Reds run was halted in the 2nd round by Athletico Madrid with 1-0 defeats in both Dalyer and Madrid. In the League, only a mid-table position of 6th was achieved, and the Dublin City Cup was the only trophy to be won. While the Reds were to go into a period of decline thereafter, Belenenses have hardly set the world alight since.
Since then Belenenses have only won the Cup in 1989, and despite some UEFA appearances have recently slipped from the top flight. Currently though they are unbeaten at home in the League, and have yet to register an away win, but are placed 2nd, and rightly optimistic of gaining promotion with the top three automatically going up. Despite living in the shadow of both Sporting, and Benfica, Belenenses ground, Estadio Restelo in West Lisbon is a 42,000 all-seater, and they left their mark on Portugese footballing history in 1946. While some countries talk about their Leagues being dominated by a clique of clubs, they don’t have to in Portugal. Since the national championship’s inception in 1934, Benfica, Sporting and Porto have shared all the titles amongst themselves bar Belenenses’ single point victory in 1946. Winning the Cup, however, is not just for the elite, and with 6 previous wins provide Belenenses best chance of glory, bar the odd derby win.