It was by no means doom and gloom for Dundalk on a night when they held out against Premier League opposition for the majority of the opening half.
A quick-fire double for Arsenal just before half-time paved the way for a routine win but there were some decent performances from Lilywhites players.
Here's how they rated at the Emirates tonight.
Gary Rogers 5 - Denied Kolašinac, Willock and Maitland-Niles but fluffed a punched clearance for the opener.
John Mountney 6 - Busy as a makeshift wing-back and Murray should have made more of his good cross.
Brian Gartland 7 - Key blocks on Nketiah and Willock but couldn’t connect with an attacking header when well placed.
Andy Boyle 7 - Good shift on a difficult night but couldn’t close down Pepe quickly enough for his stunner.
Daniel Cleary 6 - Solid effort and unfortunate that the ball clipped off him to gift Nketiah the opener.
Cameron Dummigan 6 - First European start and was solid early on but his intercepted ball led to the second goal.
Patrick McEleney 5 - Went agonisingly close to an early opener but forced off with an injury in the second-half.
Chris Shields 6 - Skipper frustrated Arsenal before the goals flowed and was later whipped off with Sunday in mind.
Sean Murray 5 - Put himself about but squandered a scoring chance before being replaced at the break.
Michael Duffy 6 - The Arsenal fan was deployed in a central attacking role and was lively until the hosts pulled clear.
Patrick Hoban 5 - A tough slog leading the line on a night when Arsenal would always dominate the ball.
DUNDALK SUBS
Greg Sloggett for Murray, 45 mins - 5
Jordan Flores for McEleney, 53 mins - 6
Sean Hoare for Cleary, 53 mins - 5
Sean Gannon for Shields, 62 mins - 5
Stefan Colovic for Duffy, 70 mins - 5
ARSENAL: Rúnarsson; Cédric, Mustafi (Ceballos 61), Kolašinac, Maitland-Niles; Willock, Elneny, Xhaka (Tierney 74); Nelson, Nketiah (Balogun 74), Pepe (Willian 61)
Referee: Filip Glova (Slovakia)
