Dundalk fear being without Michael Duffy again for next week’s second-leg against Levadia Tallin where the tie is delicately poised after a crazy game in Tallaght.
Talisman Duffy was ruled out of this 2-2 clash in Tallaght because of “a medical issue”, according to Lilywhites boss Vinny Perth.
Perth said: “It’s a personal health issue and it’s up to Michael to say if he has Covid or not. You have to be careful with people’s health.
“But it was an isolated case within the group and with regards to the second-leg, you just hope that he might return a false positive.”
All the goals in Tallaght came in a sensational opening 27 minutes with Will Patching and David McMillan cancelling out a Bogdan Vastuk brace.
Away goals no longer count in Europe and Perth said: “In the first few minutes they played with two false nines and that caught us out a little bit.
“We adapted our shape and I thought we were very good at times, especially in the second-half.
“I said before the game that this would be a very evenly matched game and it was.
“We had to adapt our shape as we worked all week with Michael Duffy in our plans and we had to do something different with the diamond.
“I thought it was a really good, entertaining game and felt we did enough to win the match but I’m sure Levadia will feel proud of their performance too.”
But Perth insists Dundalk won’t hold back next week and said: “Our team wants to attack and the players have shown that. I expect we’ll play that way next week.”
