St Patrick's Athletic come back from the brink in Estonia to set up Besiktas clash

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

Turkish powerhouse Besiktas await St Patrick's Athletic in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League after a night of remarkable drama in the rain in Estonia.
Leading 1-0 from a first leg they dominated and which saw Kalju have two players sent off, goals either side of the break here from Ivan Patrikejevs and Mattias Mannilaan saw a dramatic swing in the narrative, with Saints' poor season seemingly going further downhill.
And just as what would have been a truly dismal defeat seemed inevitable, skipper Joe Redmond popped up with a goal in injury time to force extra half hour, three minutes into which Jake Mulraney put St Pat's 3-2 in front on aggregate.
Saints played Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir 12 months ago, and can look forward to building more great intangible momentum in European combat, despite a laboured domestic campaign.
The Dubliners pushed hard for what would have been a leveller over the two legs and Redmond stepped up when his leadership was desperately needed. One felt they would get the job done in extra-time and, while Mulraney's goal seemed a fluke, there was no doubt about it, Saints deserved to go through.
Mason Melia was subbed off at half-time by Stephen Kenny and his replacement, Aidan Keena, suffered an injury that saw him limp off at a key juncture – a grim night all round looked likely as the skies opened in Tallinn.
Now, re-energised, they focus again on their league campaign, with a visit to Waterford on Sunday preceding a glamour tie against the Turkish giants.
With away goals irrelevant these days, a 1-0 lead from Dublin far from guaranteed Saints a place in the next round, but they were much the better team last week and began positively. Mulraney, who came in for the injured Zack Elbouzedi (shoulder), worked goalkeeper Maksim Pavlov five minutes in after a sweet pass from Jamie Lennon, before Melia might have done better on 12 minutes.
A feature of Inchicore was the persistent fouling of the Estonians and Lennon felt obliged to talk to whistler Menelaos Antoniou 15 minutes in, again Kalju's discipline was badly lacking, but as yet the Cypriot referee had not reached for a yellow.
Mulraney was lively early and flashed across the box but Pavlov was not troubled, the small home crowd having little about which to cheer. And the winger swung over a gorgeous cross on 19 minutes which Melia seemed set to meet, only for Uku Korre's intervention to prevent a likely Saints opener.
Kenny's side had a definite shout for a penalty midway through the half, Aleksandr Nikolajev bundling Kian Leavy over, and by 25 minutes the home side had two players booked.
Melia combined with Mulraney 12 minutes before the break and the latter was just about to fire at goal when Korre sniffed the danger. Then Simon Power, quiet so far, twisted and turned down the left, only for Melia to narrowly miss his cross.
Finally, on 40 minutes, Joseph Anang was rendered relevant, though he was happy to deal with a speculative Korre drive – the first offering of note from an extremely limited Kalju team. But with the break looming, Pat's went behind.
A nice passing move exposed the visitors, with a beautiful ball down the line from Nikia Ivanov releasing Kristjan Kask who squared for Patrikejevs, who evaded Barry Bagley and slotted home nicely with his left foot. Redmond will feel he could have defended the situation far more conservatively in the circumstances.
Melia's curler was always going wide in the last minute of the half, after which Pat's will wonder how they were behind. And there was another defensive malfunction for the Estonians' second goal on 49 minutes.
Ivanov again showed his quality with a floating cross but Tom Grivosti ended up left to mark two men, one of whom – Mannilaan – headed in, giving Anang no chance.
Ivanov was lucky not to see yellow for a second time for a fou on Ryan McLaughlin, with Chris Forrester introduced to avert a disastrous defeat for Pat's. Almost immediately he showed why with a beautiful ball for Power, who failed to make the most of it. Then Aidan Keena curled a cracking shot that Pavlov tipped around the post, with Kenny subsequently booked after Pat's rightly had penalty claims turned down following a potential hand-ball in the box.
Keena has had a frustrating couple of months but he seemed intent on making his mark here and he forced another save from Pavlov with a strong drive outside the box on 63 minutes, the Saints' pressure increasing – but they did look vulnerable on the break.
Keena only lasted until the 71st minute, an injury to his right leg a killer blow as he was Saints' main threat, with Brandon Kavanagh coming in for Kian Leavy and making a huge difference. A lovely one-two between Forrester and Kavanagh caused chaos on 75 minutes, with McLaughlin's shot blocked and Jamie Lennon's likewise. Then the hosts looked for a third, with Guilherme Smith forcing a good save from Anang.
If Redmond was having a frustrating night, he played the role of the inspirational skipper with his goal as Saints faced a disastrous defeat in the face. A tame Mulraney free was batted right back into the danger zone by Pavlov, with Redmond showing the composure of a striker to restore parity over 180 minutes.
Just as extra-time commenced, the humidity gave way to a downpour, and Pat's were singing in the rain within three minutes of the final half hour. Mulraney deserved a goal for his efforts on the night and, while it seems highly probable that a bad cross was made to look like a world-class strike on the right wing, he celebrated in a manner befitting that they all count and this one was truly massive for Saints.
The pitch was becoming waterlogged and either side of the border of unplayable, with substitute Anto Breslin penalised for a foul right at the edge of the box on 117 minutes. And like skipper Redmond in Saints' time of need, Anang stepped up and smothered the ball from the free-kick.
Saints showed composure to see it out in what may prove to be a massive moment in the latest chapter of Stephen Kenny's story.
Nomme Kalju: Maksim Pavlov; Daniil Tarassenkov, Uku Korre, Moudou Tambedou, Aleksandr Nikolajev; Oleksandr Musolitin (Mihhail Orlov 106); Ivan Patrikejevs (Tiago Baptista 106), Nikita Ivanov (Pavel Marin 80), Kristjan Kask (Enrique Esono 96); Mattias Mannilaan, Guilherme Smith (Ibrahim Jabir 87).
Saint Patrick's Athletic: Joseph Anang; Ryan McLaughlin, Tom Grivosti, Joe Redmond, Jason McClelland (Anto Breslin 96); Barry Baggley (Chris Forrester 51), Jamie Lennon, Kian Leavy (Brandon Kavanagh 72); Jake Mulraney (Al Amin Kazeem 106), Mason Melia (Aidan Keena 46, Conor Carty 72), Simon Power.