A superbly taken hat-trick from Oege-Sietse Van Lingen saw St Patrick Athletic exit the Europa Conference League at the first hurdle as their Luxembourg opponents F91 Dudelange simply had too much for them over both legs, winning a cracking game 3-2 at Richmond Park for a 5-3 aggregate victory.
Though Jon Daly’s side started positively in chasing last week’s 2-1 deficit, the exuberance of the seated sell-out of 2,500 at Richmond Park was dampened on eight minutes when Dudelange took the lead.
Having kept possession well, visiting right back Kino Delorge overlapped on the stand side to cut past Jamie Lennon. Samir Hadji controlled the cross to tee up striker Van Lingen, who scored the opener last week, to shoot home off the underside of the crossbar.
St Patrick’s were fortunate not to concede again seven minutes later, Lennon clearing a Hadji header off the line.
A right scramble minutes later saw Hadji have a shot blocked before Yahcuroo Roemer’s follow-up was deflected past a post.
Very much against the run of play, a bizarre own goal brought an equaliser on 22 minutes.
Coming to collect a ricochet from Lennon’s block tackle with Edis Agovic, goalkeeper Didier Desprez panicked on realising he was on the edge of his area, miscuing his attempted headed clearance back behind him and into his own goal.
In open, end-to-end action, Dean Lyness kept Dudelange out with terrific saves from Van Lingen and Hadji in quick succession.
Desprez then redeemed his earlier calamity, first parrying a shot from Conor Carty and then Mark Doyle’s follow-up in what was a breathless first half.
Daly brought on centre back David Norman and midfielder Adam Murphy from the restart, with Sam Curtis moving out to right back.
And St Patrick’s certainly had more about them, Carty heading over Chris Forrester’s cross six minutes in before they levelled the tie with a cracking solo goal on the hour.
Eighteen-year-old Murphy collected Jay McGrath’s pass to show superb feet and composure in ghosting past a couple of challenges before arrowing a shot into the near corner of the net.
The elation lasted just seven minutes, however, as a mistake by Norman gifted the ball to Van Lingen who skipped forward to score with a crisp drive.
Though Dudelange had defender Ismael Sidibe sent off for a foul on Murphy, a second booking, on 88 minutes, Van Lingen completed a fine hat-tick five minutes into added time.
Meanwhile, Sadio Diallo’s 23rd-minute goal at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium proved enough to give Derry City victory over Faroese side HB Tórshavn as they advance on a 1-0 aggregate
Ruaidhrí Higgins’s side now meet KuPs of Finland in the next round, at home in the first leg.
Dundalk had to work hard to get the better of FC Magpies at Oriel Park, winning 3-1 on the night and on aggregate.
Though captain Patrick Hoban gave Dundalk a third-minute lead, Joe levelled for the Gibraltar side on 33 minutes.
John Martin restored Dundalk lead before they sealed their win from an Andre Dos Santos own goal seven minutes from time.
Stephen O’Donnell’s side now face Icelanders KA Akureyri and are scheduled to be away in the first leg.
