D-Day for Stephen Kenny and St Pat's in €700,000 game

The 42

17-07-2025

STEPHEN KENNY says St Patrick's Athletic are expecting a tougher game than last week as they prepare for Thursday's second leg encounter in Lithuania against Hegelmann (kick-off: 5pm Irish time).
The Premier Division outfit, who will be without injured duo Romal Palmer and Sean Hoare for the game, secured a 1-0 first leg victory in Richmond Park.
While pleased with the overall performance in Dublin, Kenny admitted his side's finishing was 'lacking,' and the Saints will hope that issue doesn't come back to haunt them in the return leg.
In the first game, Aidan Keena came off the bench to score an 81st-minute winner from the penalty spot.
But Kenny was unwilling to provide any hints as to whether the Mullingar-born striker had done enough to earn a starting place on this occasion, with stiff competition provided up front by Tottenham-bound teenager Mason Melia.
As for their opponents, the Pat's boss believes Hegelmann will attempt a different approach compared to their cautious display in Dublin.
'We probably didn't see the full extent of them last week. At home, I expect they'll have a higher level of performance. We'll have to more than match that and make sure that we come out on the right side of this tie.
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'We feel they have more in their locker than they showed last week, and they'll be more committed from an attacking point of view.
'Sometimes there can be a disparity; teams are more comfortable in their environment, so there can be a difference in performance between home and away. For some teams, you come over and their levels are up. They look like different players. That can happen often. Regardless of that, it's up to us to raise our levels.'
Hegelmann are currently third in the Lithuanian top flight after 19 games and play their home matches on an AstroTurf pitch.
'I haven't seen it yet, but we're not fixating on that,' Kenny said. 'We've trained on AstroTurf in our last two training sessions, so we know what to expect.'
Despite holding the advantage, Kenny said his team would adopt an attacking mindset for the away trip.
Goals and positive results have been hard to come by of late for the Irish side. They had gone into the home leg having scored just twice in their last seven Premier Division matches and failing to win their previous six.
The former Ireland manager insists progress has been made in that frustrating period.
'I think we still have it all to prove. But we have faith in the players. They've shown good application, good attitude and a desire to put our finishing boots on. We have adapted tactically in the last couple of weeks and created more chances. And I feel the goals will definitely come.
'I think our last three home performances, even though we got beaten by Derry, we played to a very high level in that game, and it was a good performance against Bohemians. And we were excellent last week. We had really good play throughout. I liked the shape of the team, I liked the passing options, we'd had a lot of players committed in the attacking third. So we have adapted somewhat to how we were playing during the season, and we've seen benefits of it, but we just missed some fantastic chances, there is no doubt about that.'
The winner of the tie will be guaranteed a minimum €700,000 and, in the next round, will face either Estonian side Nõmme Kalju FC or Albanian outfit FK Partizani, with the former hosting a 1-1 first-leg draw.
While acknowledging the financial aspect of the game is important, Kenny says it's not something the squad ever discuss.
'The other side of it is, we probably have no right to be in Europe, at one stage last year we were third from bottom, we wouldn't have got anything, so the players have worked extremely hard to get up from third bottom to finish third and qualify for Europe, which was a great achievement. Now we have the opportunity to go into round two, we need to look at it positively, be positive in our approach, rather than worry about the consequences of not doing it, as we may not have been in Europe at all.'
The conditions may not be ideal, with Kenny citing talk of potential thunderstorms during the game, while the match is set to be played in front of a small home crowd and a sizeable contingent of travelling support.
'I am not sure what to expect in that regard,' the Dubliner added. 'Our motivation is high; we must always have those levels of concentration. Sometimes, in an eerie atmosphere, there can be lapses, as opposed to a high-octane, adrenaline-filled occasion.
'The travelling supporters were a big help in Vaduz [for the Uefa Conference League tie] last year, in particular, in what was a tough away game. So a similar support can help again — if it is a tight ground, we will hear them.'