Goals from Maxamilian Nicu and Cicero put a severe dent in St Patrick's Athletic's hopes of reaching the group stages of the UEFA Cup following a well contested UEFA Cup first round first leg tie at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, writes Mark Cummins.
Read Shane Murray's minute-by-minute text matchtracker.
St Pat's played well for stages but proved no match for the Bundesliga side as the game progressed and will have to score twice when the sides meet again in a fortnight's time in the RDS to stay in the tie.
Half-time substitute Nicu netted the first with a shot on 50 minutes before Cicero fired in the second on 76 minutes after Andriy Voronin's initial shot was blocked.
There was a scare for the Inchicore men after just three minutes when Marko Pantelic's ball appeared to strike Jason Gavin on the arm but German appeals were waved away.
Hertha had settled better than Pat's and looked more composed as they passed the ball around the vast spaces of the locally known Olympiastadion. They also looked more dangerous and on eight minutes Lukasz Piszczek chased a ball along the right but Ryan Guy chased back and got a foot on the ball to knock it into touch.
Hertha had their first chance on goal on 13 minutes. Pantelic stretched to connect with a ball dead centre in front of goal from a Piszczek one-two, but Barry Ryan got a hand to the shot and Jamie Harris cleared up.
On 20 minutes, Gary Dempsey caused trouble for Hertha goalkeeper Jaro Drobny and defender Kaka at the goal line but couldn't find the net from a tight angle. Kaka then earned a free-kick on 28 minutes when Harris took him down on the left of the box. Kacar got on the end of the free from Voronin but dragged his shot across goal.
Around the half hour mark, St Pat's came more into the game and enjoyed a lot more possession having been stuck inside their own half for most of the opening 30 minutes.
Ryan Guy and Gary O'Neill looked most effective, along the right wing and in the centre. Danger man Keith Fahey was quieter than usual but did manage to get several decent balls into the area.
Their best play of the half came on 40 minutes when Fahey found Mark Quigley who centred for Gary O'Neill, but Josip Simunic snuck in ahead of O'Neill.
Hertha boss Lucien Favre made two changes at half-time and within five minutes of the second half had two decent chances on target followed by the opening goal.
On 46 minutes Brazilian Cicero had a low drive blocked by Ryan in the Pat's goal. Ryan then denied substitute Nicu from much the same angle but Ryan could do nothing about Nicu's next chance on goal, on 50 minutes.
Alan Kirby, on the goal line, and Ryan both blocked close range strikes in a hectic goalmouth scramble but Nicu chested the clearance down just inside the box and lobbed a fine strike over the advancing Ryan to put Hertha in front.
Fahey continued to be contained by Hertha but managed to get neatly on the ball to start a trademark run on 69 but was tugged back by Marc Stein, who was subsequently yellow carded. Fahey finally got the chance to take a free-kick from his favoured angle in the 71st minute but smashed his kick straight into the Hertha wall.
Despite their endeavour, Pat's fell two behind on 76 minutes. Following a break from midfield, Pantelic put Andriy Voronin in and although his initial shot was blocked, Cicero followed up to shoot past Ryan from close range.
Cicero nearly made it 3-0 on 80 but headed over when well placed, but 2-0 was how it stayed despite a couple of late forays forward from both sides.
John McDonnell's side will have to play at their best, however, if they are to come close to challenging the German side in the return leg in two weeks' time.
Hertha Berlin: Drobny, Friedrich, Kaká, Simunic, Stein (yellow 70), Piszczek, Dardai (Lustenberger h/t), Cícero, Kacar (Nicu h/t), Pantelic (Domocvhiyski 83), Voronin.
Subs not used: Gäng, von Bergen, Chahed,
St Patrick's Athletic: Barry Ryan, Lynch, Harris, Byrne, Gavin, Fahey, Dempsey (Bialek 90), Kirby (Bobby Ryan 63), Guy, O’Neill (Fitzpatrick 83), Quigley.
Subs not used: Friesz, O'Cearuill, O'Brien, Rogers.
Referee: Tomasz Mikulski (Poland).
