Harry McCue remembers Frank Stapleton’s hernia protruding below his stomach. And he remembers the Republic of Ireland centre forward picking up the bill in the Amsterdam watering hole, Café de Ster. McCue also remembers Johan Cruyff disappearing into Dundalk manager Turlough O’Connor’s office and both men reappearing with “giant cigars”.The rest is off the record.Spend enough time chatting to the former League of Ireland defender and memories from 39 years ago come flooding back. How could he forget the two nights Dundalk tussled with Ajax in the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup?In September 1987, Dundalk lost 4-0 in Amsterdam against an Ajax side defending their title after beating Lokomotive Leipzig of East Germany the previous May thanks to a Marco van Basten header. A disciplined Dundalk performance came apart after 66 minutes when a shot from Frank Rijkaard took a wicked deflection to beat Alan O’Neill in the Lilywhites goal.Before Cruyff could flick the ash off his Roxy Dual Filter cigarette, Rijkaard stepped out of defence to take over the game. “Rijkaard, we couldn’t match him,” said McCue. “We were chasing his shadow. Top player. He didn’t play in Dundalk, thank God. We heard he wasn’t going to travel. He was in dispute with the club. He wanted away.”A thunderbolt from Danny Blind made it 2-0 before two Cruyff subs, Aron Winter and Stapleton, put the tie beyond doubt before the return to Oriel Park.It was Stapleton’s only goal for Ajax after his former Manchester United team-mate Arnold Mühren recommended signing him to replace Van Basten. Between John Bosman and a young Dennis Bergkamp, the Dutch coped just fine after Van Basten’s move to AC Milan. Stapleton only made five appearances in the Eredivisie before being loaned to Belgian side Anderlecht.“For 66 minutes in the first leg, we held out. I remember the crowd slow-clapping them at half-time. Then Rijkaard came forward and hit one, and it deflected off someone’s shoulder and went over Alan, who had been fantastic,” said McCue.“It was such a jammy goal to open it up. Stapleton’s goal in the last minute, I was disgusted. I left him and he got a touch to make it four, which was a right hammering.”Stapleton started the second leg and while only 4,500 showed up at Oriel, the players’ families and friends swelled the main stand.Despite being the same age and both hailing from north Dublin, McCue had never played against Stapleton, but like everyone else in Ireland he’d followed his career at Arsenal and Manchester United.“Frank was a big hero. He scored so many goals at Arsenal off Liam Brady chips into him.”The second leg finished 2-0 after a calamitous own goal by Paul Newe and Henny Meijer tap-in late on. Stapleton did not score but he did remonstrate with McCue following one heavy tackle.Frank Stapleton of Ajax in a clash with Real Sociedad held on August 2, 1987 at Hampden Park, Glasgow. Photograph: Chris Cole/Getty Images “He said: ‘Go easy on me, I’ve a hernia.’”“F**kin’ hell Frank, what do you want me to do?”“He laughed at me: ‘Do you want to see it?’”“No thanks.”There was a familiarity from the night out in Amsterdam after the first leg as Stapleton was temporarily living in the same hotel as the Dundalk team.“Frank came down to the Star Café to meet us. He put his visa card across the counter. That wouldn’t have been a cheap round, I can tell you.”[ English and Welsh football associations withdraw support for Gianni InfantinoOpens in new window ]The gesture registered with the amateur footballers. “Before the game we went on a walk around Amsterdam. Unemployment was brutal in Ireland in 1987 and a gang of Irish fellas were working on a huge building site, hanging over the scaffolding when they saw us, roaring down: ‘Any tickets?’“That’s the way it was in the 1980s. It was bad. I was in the printing trade. Got out myself in ’88. Went to Sydney on a one-year soccer visa. Settled in North Manly for 10 years.”Dundalk qualified for the Cup Winners’ Cup after finishing runners-up to Shamrock Rovers in the league and losing to them in the FAI Cup final.“Rovers were a top side, I must say, but we played really bad in the final. The compensation was the European trip. We went on to win the double in ’88 – the same year Holland won the Euros.”Former Dundalk player Harry McCue. Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho Ajax went on to make it to the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup again in 1988 but were unable to hold on to their title after a 1-0 defeat to Belgian side Mechelen in Strasbourg. Five of the players who featured for Ajax over the two legs against Dundalk – Mühren, John Bosman, Rijkaard, Jan Wouters and Stapleton – played in the famous group match in Gelsenkirchen the following summer when Wim Kieft’s lucky finish sent Jack Charlton’s men home and the Dutch to a semi-final against West Germany.“For a League of Ireland player, playing Ajax in Amsterdam was the pinnacle. To walk out beside a team led by Cruyff with Blind, Mühren, Bosman. Christ, someone pinch me. Am I dreaming?” said McCue.“We were a decent side, and everyone played up a level against Ajax, but our fitness levels eventually showed. We were part-timers. At 66 minutes we were blowing, we were out of it.”Point being, Shelbourne should be able to match Ajax for fitness, if not technical ability, at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Thursday’s Uefa Conference League qualifier, before the return leg at Tolka Park on August 13th.A poster advertising the match between Dundalk and Ajax at Oriel Park. Photograph: dundalkfc.com “At Ajax, they develop quicker because they are full-time professionals from 13, 14,” said McCue. “That’s the real difference.“I went to visit their academy a few years ago and all their kids were in a big dome wearing judo suits. This is the 10-, 11-year-olds doing body strength. They do judo before they put them on the weights. That makes them stronger than any 10-year-old in Ireland. “This is done at 7am before class and they train at lunchtime and again in the evening. Like the rugby schools in Ireland. That is a real academy.”McCue remembers Cruyff sitting in the dugout for the entire game at Oriel. Puffing away, silently observing the evolution of totaalvoetbal.“Even at half-time in Amsterdam, Cruyff said nothing to the players. Their goalkeeper Stanley Menzo told me at a coaching conference years later. Not a word.”The silence was sufficient hairdryer treatment.“Cruyff never stood up once in Oriel. It was 3-5-2 in motion. The wingers, John van’t Schip and [Rob] Witschge never crossed the halfway line to defend. So our full backs had to mark them.“There was no doubling up, Cruyff wouldn’t have it. No way. The minute the midfielders, Mühren and Wouters, got it they’d go to the wingers who sent balls straight in, with Bosman and Frank spinning all the time from front post to back post.”Total football? “Absolutely. Total possession but attacking possession.”