Rovers and Pat’s have it all to do

BOTH SHAMROCK Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic will have it all to do in Europe following last night’s results in Tallaght and Istanbul.

For St Pat’s it was a battling nil-nil draw against Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir in their UEFA Conference League play-off in Tallaght Stadium before a crowd of 6,219.

St Pat’s hit the ground running from the off and after only four minutes nearly got the perfect start.

Sixteen-year-old Mason Melia connected with a Zack Elbouzedi cross only to see his header flash wide of the left post.

A few minutes later Melia was involved again as he held up a Chris Forrester pass, before laying it back to Jake Mulraney who got under his shot which cleared the crossbar.

After 20 minutes, the Turkish side tested out Pat’s ‘keeper Joseph Anang. St Pat’s cleared a corner which reached Denis Turuc of Basaksehir, who has played twelve times for Turkey. Turuc hit a low shot skimming the greasy surface, but Anang got his body behind the effort to make the save.

Further first half opportunities fell to Melia and Forrester while the influential Romal Palmer was forced off through injury just before half-time.

Two minutes after the restart Basaksehir were awarded a free-kick outside the penalty box after the on-running Berkay Ozcan was taken down by Tom Grivosti.

However, the effort from Greece international Dimitrios Pelkas was hit straight at the wall.

Pat’s replied with a great effort from Kian Leavy which crashed against the left post and came back out.

However after a penalty shout by the away team and the replacement of the referee through injury it was all square at full-time.

Pat’s will now travel to Turkey for the return leg next Wednesday knowing that qualification for the Conference League group stages is very much still within their grasp.

However, for Shamrock Rovers most observers would say that their time in the Europa League is coming to an end after a four-nil defeat away to PAOK Thessaloniki FC in their Europa League play-off tie.

The Hoops were unfortunate as they were holding their own in the first half until an own goal from Daniel Cleary in the final seconds gave the home side the lead.

PAOK extended their lead after the break through Taison and Giannis Konstantelias added a third in the 67th minute.

The wheels then began to come off the Rover’s effort with Josh Honohan being sent off for a second yellow, which was followed by a third goal for the Greek champions through Konstantelias.

Fedor Chalov, who had previously missed a penalty, reprieved himself when he added PAOK’s fourth.

However Rovers’ were very appreciative of their fans who made the trip to Thessaloniki. “A difficult night on the pitch but you stuck with us and backed the boys from start to finish,” the club tweeted on its account.

Whatever happens next week at Tallaght Stadium in the return tie, Rovers will know before a ball is kicked that they have qualified for the Conference League proper.

Prior to the Pat’s game their boss Stephen Kenny from Tallaght vented his anger that his team were not given the weekend off League of Ireland duty so that they could properly prepare for the decisive second game against Basaksehir.

On Sunday St Pat’s will play Dundalk away while Rovers will play Galway at home.