AS Jeunesse Esch 2-1 St Patrick's Athletic (St Pat's progress 2-2 on away goals rule)
Darren Dennehy’s crucial away goal sent St Patrick’s Athletic into the second qualifying round of the Europa League after a 2-1 defeat against Jeunesse Esch, but the Dublin side had to survive a late scare in Luxembourg.
The Inchicore outfit went into tonight’s clash with a slender lead after Christy Fagan became the club’s record scorer in European football with the only goal of game at Richmond Park last week, and despite losing on the night, they advanced on away goals to the next round of the competition.
In the lead-up to the return leg, manager Liam Buckley insisted his side wouldn’t sit back and for the opening stages of the game at La Frontière, and they duly took the game to their hosts.
However, Jeunesse levelled matters on aggregate after 22 minutes when Patrick Stumpf gave the home supporters something to cheer about as he latched onto a loose ball, following a long throw into the Saints box, and held off defender Ger O'Brien to finish to the back of the net.
Pat's tried to respond and went close to equalising on the stroke of half-time as Republic of Ireland Under-21 international defender Sean Hoare went close as his header flashed wide of the goal from a Keith Treacy corner.
Despite other chances to claim a precious away goal, the Saints went in at the interval 1-0 down.
Darren Dennehy's first goal for the club turns out to be a very, very crucial one as we win on away goals pic.twitter.com/Oh74tNDyv9
— St Patrick's Ath (@stpatsfc) July 5, 2016
Buckley's side came out much more determined and focused in the second half and threatened when Conan Byrne did well to flick the ball over his marker before flashing a shot wide of goal.
Set-pieces always remained the best avenue for the Saints and Darren Dennehy saw a header tipped wide by Jeunesse netminder Marc Oberweis on 72 minutes.
However from the resulting corner, Dennehy was once more picked out by Republic of Ireland international Treacy, and his towering header squirmed over the line to give the Saints the crucial away goal and the lead in the tie.
The goal immediately saw the home side react and apply the pressure back on the Inchicore side.
Saints' keeper Brendan Clarke used all his experience to save efforts from Milos Adrien Todorov and Portier, the second in particular being a superb reflex save to stop the defender's volley from a corner finding the top corner.
The pressure however eventually told as Stumpf added to his earlier goal as he ghosted into the box to score and give Jeunesse some hope with three minutes remaining.
But the Saints stood up to any further attacks from Jeunesse and could have added to their lead following a late counter-attack. Portier rightly received his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card for fouling David Cawley when a goal scoring chance seemed certain.
The Saints who will now face either Dinamo Minsk of Belarus or Latvia's Spartaks Jurmala in the second qualifying round.
St Patrick's Athletic: Clarke; O'Brien (c), D. Dennehy, Hoare, Bermingham; Byrne, Cawley, Timlin (Kelly 79), Treacy (Verdon 82), B. Dennehy; Fagan.
Subs Not Used: O'Malley (Gk), Desmond, Barker, McGrath, Corcoran.
AS Jeunesse Esch: Oberweis (c); Ontiveros (Deidda 88), Todorovic, Portier, Kuhne; Mertinitz, Stumpf, Peters, Pinna, Delgado; Lapierre (Sardaryan 80).
Subs Not Used: Devas (GK), Brandon Rosa, De Sousa, Proietti, Westermann.
