Shamrock Rovers held on to claim just their second European group stage point with a 1-1 draw against Gent at Tallaght Stadium.
The Europa Conference League point for Rovers also netted the recently crowned three-in-a-row SSE Airtricity League champions €166,000, although it looked for long stages like it might be considerably more than that.
But this was still an impressive result given that the Hoops had been turned over 3-0 in Belgium just six weeks ago.
Although they led for over 70 minutes of the game, they were under pressure for large swathes, particularly after Justin Ferizaj was sent off inside the last 20 minutes.
While Rory Gaffney was the hero at one end for the Hoops, scoring their first goal in the Conference League group stages this season, they also had goalkeeper Alan Mannus to thank as the former Northern Ireland international pulled off a string of top drawer saves.
With Aaron Greene, Jack Byrne, Graham Burke and Gary O'Neill all ruled out through injury, Rovers made three changes to the team which had beaten St Patrick's Athletic last Friday, with Sean Kavanagh, Neil Farrugia and Dylan Watts coming into the team.
And the latter two were involved in Rovers' early opener. The attack started with a lovely pass from Watts in midfield to switch the play from left to right. Farrugia exploited the space before laying off for Richie Towell, whose deep cross was met by a Gaffney header at the back post.
The visitors were without top scorer this season Hugo Cuypers, the man who scored the opener when the sides met in Belgium last month, as he was suffering from the flu. But with hopes of progression still in their hands they dominated the remainder of the opening 45 minutes.
Brilliant defending by Roberto Lopes shortly after the opening goal denied Ibrahim Salah after he had been played through. From the corner, Rovers cleared as far as Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, but he couldn't add to the two he'd scored against Stephen Bradley's charges in Belgium last month as he flashed his shot just over the bar.
Rovers were coming under plenty of pressure, but the always lively Gaffney was unlucky not to double his tally for the night when a low shot from the edge of the box had to be pushed onto the post by Paul Nardi.
Mannus made the first of his big saves on the night in the 20th minute. Matisse Samoise's ball from the right was headed back across goal by Laurent Depoitre. It fell perfectly for Salah but once again he was thwarted as the Hoops shot stopper made himself big to block the effort from point-blank range.
He had to be alert on the half hour mark to get to Depoitre's flick ahead for Salah first, while he was at full stretch just before the break to push Andrew Hjulsager's effort away from his left post.
There was one final hearts-in-the-mouth moment for Rovers before the break, but this time it was Lee Grace who slid into prevent Salah tapping home after Depoitre's low ball across the front of the goal.
It took the Belgians less than three minutes to create another chance on the restart and only their failure to pull the trigger prevented them drawing level. Jens Petter Hauge played the ball to Hjulsager, but he elected to make one more pass, with the goal at his mercy, and Rovers were able to hack the ball away.
Rovers finally settled into the half, and Gaffney was at the centre of much of what they were doing right at that stage.
He lifted the Gent siege on 51 minutes, galloping up the left wing before winning a corner. The hosts worked it short, and Towell's inviting cross would force another corner, this time out right.
It came to nothing, but moments later Gaffney did brilliantly to hold up the ball on the edge of the Gent box before stroking it into the path of Farrugia on the run. His first touch was superb, but his second took the ball away from him, and allowed the Gent cover to get across and clear.
This was a good spell for Rovers, and they would have the ball in the net, with Gaffney curling in a brilliant shot on his left, after Farrugia had set him up, only for the linesman's flag to be raised - not that Nardi knew this in the Gent goal.
The game turned in a 60-second spell around the 74th minute. First Justin Ferizaj was sent off for a second yellow card, and Gent would be level in the next attack. A low ball from Bruno Godeau from the left was smashed home by Hyunseok Hong from eight yards to silence the majority among the 6,203 present at Tallaght.
Suddenly, from looking like they might claim a first European group stage victory - at the 11th time of asking - Rovers were holding on for dear life.
Once again Mannus rescued them on 80 minutes, keeping out Kums' effort after a neat flick from Hjulsager to unlock the Rovers' defence.
Gent continued to pile on the pressure, raining crosses down on the Rovers box, but the Hoops gallantly held on for the point, with a trip to Sweden for a meeting Djurgarden to finish out the campaign next week to come.
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopez, Dan Cleary, Dylan Watts (Justin Ferizaj 24), Sean Kavanagh, Richie Towell (Seán Gannon 90+2), Rory Gaffney (Viktor Serdeniuk 90+2), Andy Lyons, Neil Farrugia, Chris McCann (Lee Grace 34).
Subs not used: Leon Pohls, Toms Leitis, Gideo Tetteh, Michael Leddy
Yellow cards: Ferizaj 25 73, Kavanagh 42, Towell 66
Red card: Ferizaj 73
Gent: Paul Nardi; Joseph Okumu, Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui, Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (Rune Van Den Bergh 88), Jens Petter Hauge (Hyunseok Hong 60), Ibrahim Salah (Nurio Fortuna 75), Andrew Hjulsager, Matisse Samoise, Sulayman Marreh (Sven Kums 46), Laurent Depoitre, Bruno Godeau.
Subs not used: Davy Roef, Rene Vanden Borre, Hugo Cuypers, Bram Lagae.
Yellow cards: Marreh 35
Referee: Julian Weinberger (AUT)
