Rovers' European dream hangs in the balance after slender defeat in Kosovo

Irish Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Shamrock Rovers face an uphill task to keep their European dreams alive after Thursday's 1-0 loss to Balkani in Conference league qualifying action.
No longer on the champions path after Shelbourne's Premier Division win last year, Rovers - in the words of manager Stephen Bradley - need to be 'perfect' as they hunt European football for the third time in four seasons.
The League of Ireland leaders came into this one with a quintet of players absent through injury, with all of Aaron McEneff, Matt Healy, Graham Burke, Jack Byrne and Trevor Clark missing this evening's clash.
Ballkani themselves are in a similar position to Rovers having missed out on the Kosovan top-flight last year after a long spell of dominance. They crashed out of Europe on penalties to Larne last year, a side who they could yet face in the final play-off round to get into the Conference League group stage.
The hosts started the brighter at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium in Pristina, a venue some 50 miles removed from Ballkani's home ground which isn't up to UEFA specification. Most of their fans must have stayed away as the stadium was so sparsely populated you could hear practically every roar from the visitors' bench.
Not that they had too much to shout about in the early stages of the contest. Ballkani kept the ball well, but struggled to break down a stubborn Shamrock Rovers side that from the off looked content to sit back and try to hit the Kosovan side on the break.
There were warning signs for the Premier Division leaders from the early stages. Aimir Kryeziu showed a clean pair of heels to evade a Rovers defender and slip-in Giovanni, whose square ball just evaded the lively Sunday Adetunji for what would have been a certain goal.
That seemed to give the home side more confidence, with Adetunji in particular proving a real handful for Roberto Lopes and Dan Cleary. A tumble in the box from the Nigerian was waved away by the referee, with the sub-standard playing surface getting the blame for his spill.
Rovers finally came to life midway through the first-half and showed glimpses of promise on the break. Danny Mandroiu and Darragh Nugent linked up in a nice move down the right, but Nugent's fizzed cross just evaded Rory Gaffney in the six-yard box.
The Hoops threatened again moments later this time from the left-hand side when Josh Honahan's brave header set Nugent away. Again, the final ball was lacking as neither Gaffney nor Mandroiu could get onto the pull-back.
Having finally gotten a proper foothold in the game, Rovers poured on the pressure in the latter stages of the first-half, with Dylan Watts' set-piece deliveries causing havoc. They almost hit the front five minutes before half-time when a Watts corner was met by Honahan, who saw his header saved well by Adnan Golubovic.
The half-time whistle completely stymied Rovers' momentum and when Ballkani opened the scoring in the 55th minute, it was no less than they deserved. Adetunji found space in the box after a defensive mishap from Rovers. He turned beautifully to evade Cleary and finished well past McGinty.
It should have been 2-0 just moments later when Kryeziu blazed over from six yards out with the goal at his mercy after McGinty palmed an effort straight back into the box.
Rovers pushed for an equalizer and were living dangerously at this stage, with Adetunji fluffing his lines after a cracking cross from Tolaj. He wreaked havoc moments later to set up Giovanni, who should have hit the target from the edge of the box but dragged his effort wide.
Playing just their third competitive game of the season, Ballkani wilted late on. However, Rovers were unable to put the hosts under serious pressure until stoppage time when a late flurry from the Hoops saw a Josh Honahan header tipped brilliantly wide, but in the end, Bradley and co will no doubt be pleased that the deficit is just a single goal ahead of next week's return leg at Tallaght.