Europa League: Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 Dundalk

Dundalk's Patrick McEleneny is dejected after Dor Miha scored Maccabi's second goal

Dundalk's European run ended with a defeat away to Maccabi Tel Aviv which meant they finished bottom of Group D in the Europa League.

After forward Tal Ben Haim put Maccabi into the lead with a 21st-minute penalty, Stephen Kenny's men quickly hit back through an Eli Dasa own goal.

However, home skipper Dor Micha struck the knockout blow in the 37th minute.

As things turned out, Dundalk could not have gone through as AZ Alkmaar beat Zenit St Petersburg to finish second.

Dutch side AZ had gone in to the final round of group games a point above Dundalk and Tel Aviv, so their 3-1 win over group winners Zenit guaranteed their place in Monday's last-32 draw.

The result marked the end of an incredible European adventure for the club from County Louth, whose domestic season ended over a month ago.

They were just one round away from the group stages of the Champions League - losing to Legia Warsaw in the play-off - and then became the first Irish team to win points in the group stage of a European competition.

The only other Irish club to have reached the group stage of the Europa League were Shamrock Rovers in 2011-12, but they lost all six games.

Dundalk picked up four points from their opening two games, but then went on to lose their final four matches.

How they finished in Group D

They made a bright start in Israel, suggesting they were capable of getting the result they needed, but after news filtered through that AZ had taken an unexpected lead in the Netherlands, it seemed that it was not going to be their night.

The League of Ireland champions did manage to cause a few early problems, especially a fizzing cross by Sean Gannon which was cleared frantically by the Maccabi defence.

Then came the first blow in the 19th minute. Dundalk defender Brian Gartland was caught in possession just outside his own box and the ball broke to Maccabi's Haris Medunjanin who went down under a challenge from Dundalk keeper Gary Rogers, who was booked.

There did not seem to be much contact, but that mattered little to Ben Haim, who beat Rogers to put his side 1-0 up.

Dundalk were back in business five minutes later. A low cross by Chris Shields led to the ball being turned into the net by Maccabi's Dasa, under pressure from Daryl Horgan.

But Maccabi struck for a second time to secure a 2-1 interval advantage, Dor Micha getting off a tame-looking shot that beat Rogers.