Thursday was a special European night for Irish football as Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic recorded famous victories to inch closer to earning €3 million in prize money by reaching the European group stages, but there is no rest for either Dublin outfit.
St Pat’s, following Serge Atakayi’s late winner against CSKA Sofia, had to contend with a cancelled charter flight, which forced them to stay an extra night in the Bulgarian capital.
Tim Clancy’s squad are expected back in Dublin, possibly on commercial flights, ahead of next Thursday’s second leg, which has been switched from Richmond Park to Tallaght stadium due to Uefa requiring a 4,500 capacity.
Atakayi is a story all on his own. Having recently arrived in Inchicore from Finnish football as a replacement for Darragh Burns, the 23 year old from the Democratic Republic of the Congo received asylum in Helsinki as a teenager, while attending a football tournament, by walking into a police station.
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“Serge feels on top of the world because he’s after getting one of the best results there has been from an Irish club in Europe, away to the team of the calibre of CSKA,” said Clancy.
[ Atakayi’s late goal gives St Pat’s famous away victory in SofiaOpens in new window ]
Rovers manager Stephen Bradley lingered on his team’s latest European lapse in concentration, despite a thrilling 3-1 defeat of North Macedonian champions Shkupi 1927 after Gary O’Neill’s late strike gave them a real chance of surviving Tuesday’s second leg in Skopje.
“We took our foot off [their throat] when we had them and that was frustrating because we should have gone for them,” said Bradley, who revealed that injury to Chris McCann (calf) should be offset by Jack Byrne’s long awaited return. “But Shkupi showed us that they were capable of scoring in that second-half and I think we’re in for a right game next week.”
Shkupi club president Olgun Peker, formerly Olgun Aydin when controversial president of Turkish club Giresunspor, also had his say, accusing the Irish government of “evil” and “cheap games” after the team’s charter landed in Shannon airport due to staff shortages in Dublin.
The FAI strongly denied the accusation, revealing that Rovers are grappling with the same issue and Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers intervened to help the North Macedonians find a direct route into Ireland.
[ Shamrock Rovers come of age in Europe as they beat Shkupi in TallaghtOpens in new window ]
“To be fair teams across Europe respect us a lot more,” said Bradley, “we’ve seen that in the last few years. Hopefully both us and Pats can keep it going.”
If Rovers see off Shkupi they enter a Europa League play-off against Qarabag FK (Azerbaijan) or Ferencváros (Hungary). Defeat would send them into the Europea Conference League, where St Pat’s will join them if they get past CSKA Sofia and the winners of Brøndby IF (Denmark) and Basel (Switzerland).
