RoPS Rovaniemi 1-1 Shamrock Rovers (RoPS win 3-1 on aggregate)
Despite earning a courageous 1-1 draw on the edge of the Arctic, Shamrock Rovers bowed out of the Europa League as RoPS progressed 3-1 on aggregate in Rovaniemi.
Though Gary McCabe gave them a fully deserved lead, it was Rovers who came bearing gifts to the home of Santa Claus.
That came in the guise of Craig Hyland’s goalkeeping mistake which presented RoPS with a soft equaliser on the night.
But the real damage had been done in losing 2-0 at Tallaght Stadium last week which resulted in manager Pat Fenlon’s dismissal.
Caretaker manager Stephen Bradley made a bold team selection, leaving club captain Stephen McPhail on the bench as McCabe came into midfield to skipper the side. Gavin Brennan dropped back to left-back in place of the injured David O’Connor.
And there was a positivity and vibrancy about Rovers from the start with Clarke, lively when he came on last week, central to their early probing.
Macedonian referee Dejan Jakimovski was unimpressed when Clarke appeared to be taken down in the area by RoPS captain Abdou Jammeh on three minutes.
Minutes later Simon Madden found space on the right from full-back for the first time to cross for Clarke to plant his header over the bar.
But there was little surprise when Rovers got their reward on the scoreboard on 22 minutes.
This time Jakimovski had no choice in pointing to the spot as Juha Pirinen pulled down Clarke in the area after a surging run by Brandon Miele.
Despite attempts at some minds games from RoPS’s keeper Antonio Reguero, McCabe calmly slotted the penalty into the bottom right corner.
Just when they looked right back in the tie, Rovers conceded a shocking equaliser five minutes later.
A howler by Hyland, whose clearance went straight to William Oluremi John, gifted the RoPS striker the chance to square the ball for Eetu Muinonen to tap into the unguarded net.
Remarkably, Hyland repeated the mistake before half-time, though, thankfully, this time his clearance cannoned out off John for a goal kick.
RoPS made changes at the break and they carved the first opening 11 minutes into the second half.
Aleksandr Kokko sprayed a ball wide right to Janne Saksela, who set up Robert Taylor and his first time shot was straight into the arms of Hyland.
Terrific defending at the other end then prevented Rovers regaining the lead on 66 minutes.
Madden worked a one-two with Patrick Cregg to get in behind to cross. That found Gavin Brennan whose low drive was brilliantly parried by Reguero.
The rebound fell for Gary Shaw, who saw his shot brilliantly blocked by Juuso Hamalainen.
Rovers pressed until the death, with substitute Sean Boyd having a last-minute chance, but his close range shot from Gavin Brennan’s pull-back was blocked by Jammeh.
RoPS Rovaniemi: Antonio Reguero; Jarkko Lahdenmaki, Abdou Jammeh, Juuso Hamalainen, Juha Pirinen; Janne Saksela, Robert Taylor, Michal Mravec, Mamut Saine (Mika Makitalo h-t); Jean Nganbe Nganbe 53)), Eetu Muinonen; William Oluremi John (Aleksandr Kokko h-t)
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland; Simon Madden, Rob Cornwall, Sean Heaney, Gavin Brennan; Patrick Cregg, Killian Brennan; Brandon Miele (Trevor Clarke 67), Gary McCabe, Dean Clarke (Sean Boyd 73); Gary Shaw (Aaron Dobbs 73)
Referee: Dejan Jakimovksi (Macedonia)
