15 hours ago
‘Something we'd like to rectify this year' - St Pat's ace reacts to Euro draw
Jamie Lennon has opened up about the pain of narrowly missing out on league phase football in Europe last year - and a desire to 'rectify' that this time around.
However, the St Patrick's Athletic midfielder insisted that no one would be taking their eye off the challenges that lie ahead of any potential bid to create a piece of club history.
First up, they must overcome Lithuanian side FC Hagelmann - a 16-year-old club with just one tie behind them in Europe so far, and that was a 5-0 thumping at the hands of North Macedonian side Shkupi two years ago.
Commenting on the ambition to go further into Europe than ever before, Lennon pointed to the heartache last year, when Pat's lost narrowly to Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir in the play-off round.
'You can't look too far into the future,' he said, 'but I speak on behalf of all the players when I say you remember the feeling coming off the pitch in Turkey last year.
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'It was a real disappointment, you were so close to becoming the first team in the club's history to reach the group stages.
'It's something we'd like to rectify this year if we can, but it's one step at a time.'
Pat's still have four league games to play - against Galway United, Derry City, Cork City and Bohemians, before they kick off their European campaign.
So all eyes are on improving their domestic form before they turn their attention to learning some more about their Lithuanian opponents.
'It's an exciting draw,' Lennon said. 'At this time of year you are wondering who and where you are going to be playing in Europe.
'We obviously don't know too much about them, but come closer to the time we'll do our work on them.
'We've got a lot of games between now and then where we need to try to pick up results, but it's something we are looking forward to.
'We treat every game the same and when Europe comes around it's going to be different playing against players you have never played against before; different style, different system. But it's a good challenge.
'But, like I said, we have a lot of games between now and then and we want to try to pick up as many points as we can, so our confidence will be high going into the European game.'
Last year, Stephen Kenny's side used their European form to help turn around results on the home front - and Lennon is hopeful that they can repeat that.
'It was a big moment in our season last year, a big home European game after some disappointing results, going out in the cup and things like that,' he said.
'That really kicked us on for the rest of the season and set the standard of what we needed in the last nine games of the league season.
'Hopefully we can do the same this year, but it's a draw we are excited for, Europe is always what you want to play in as a player in this league, and when the time comes around it's really exciting.'
