The season was nearly derailed, however, when the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak lead to an exclusion zone being put in place around County Louth. Many public events were postponed or cancelled, and Dundalk went the whole of March without playing a match. They had beaten Shelbourne in the first round of the Leinster Senior Cup, but the crisis saw the competition ultimately abandoned for the season, and it would be 2010 before it was revived. In the second round of the FAI Cup they had been drawn against non-league Malahide United, and the game had been postponed four times as the crisis wore on. At the fifth attempt, the match was played behind closed doors at a neutral venue, and Dundalk were knocked out in the first match they had played in over five weeks. Two heavy league defeats followed as they struggled to get back up to speed, with home matches having to be played in United Park in Drogheda. But four wins in a row, including a 2–1 victory over Athlone in the first match played in Oriel Park in over two months, meant Dundalk had won the First Division title (their first), and secured promotion back to the Premier Division for 2001–02 with a game to spare.