Fagan Smashes Saints' Euro Goalscoring Record

Christy Fagan netted the only goal in St. Patrick's Athletic's 1-0 win over Jeunesse Esch at Richmond Park on Tuesday night to become the Saints' all-time leading goalscorer in Europe.

Fagan was level with Declan 'Fabio' O'Brien on four goals heading into the Europa League first qualifying round tie with the Luxembourg outfit when his tenth minute header put him out on his own as Pat's' leading marksman in Europe – but the striker was just happy it led to the right result for his team.

“Yeah, they're all nice to get,” replied Fagan when asked about the milestone by assembled media post-match. “Obviously it's more important that we kept a cleansheet and got our noses in front in the tie. But obviously for myself on a personal note just to get back amongst the goals, yeah it's nice.”

The former Manchester United youth team star is the first Saints player to score in multiple European campaigns, with his goal against Esch meaning he has now found the net in three separate seasons: in 2012 (against IBV of Iceland; home and away against Bosnian side Široki Brijeg); in 2014 (against Legia Warsaw) and this year.

Pat's boss Liam Buckley has watched them all hit the target and praised the frontman's achievement.

“Yeah, he's done fantastic,” said Buckley, himself a striker in his playing days. “I've witnessed all his goals here, long may that continue. Please God that continues into next week. He's done great.

“Again, we spoke about, as a centre forward, be in the right areas and that's where he scores the bulk of his goals. Very tidy finisher on either foot and he's scored quite a few with his head this year as well, so as I said long may it continue.”

Yet Fagan was left ruing chances he passed up which could have effectively killed the tie off before next week's second leg in Luxemboug, with two in the first-half in particular sticking in his mind – a header from point-blank range in the 36^th minute and a miscue from a Sean Hoare cross in the 19^th minute.

“Yeah, I had a couple, especially the header in the first-half not long after the goal,” said Fagan. “I think Ger [O'Brien] played a good cross in and I actually got a good connection on it, I just tried to find the bottom corner but it didn't go in. But I suppose that's part of being a striker, isn't it, I'm going to miss a few.

“As I said to Sean [Hoare] I just lost it,” Fagan continued in relation to the earlier chance. “I was kind of looking at it, deciding do I go left or right and by the time it got to me I swung the left and totally missed it. One of them things, I probably could have even took it down. [I was] looking at it deciding, 'How am I going to hit it?' and took too long and the chance was gone. But it happens, doesn't it?

“Hopefully I get another chance and I can stick one in [over there], but I should have had one or two more tonight.”

It was just Fagan's 13^th appearance of the season having missed a number of games through injury earlier in the campaign. The 27 year-old was sprung from the bench in the 2-0 defeat to Dundalk on Friday. Buckley said ahead of this game that the Dubliner had overcome a knock to his foot to be in contention.

“Yeah, it was fine,” replied Fagan when asked had he come through the 90 minutes okay. “I just said to one of the lads outside, the injury just kind of came at a bad time where I was coming back just as the break was coming up, so I kind of had more of a lay-off than obviously I needed. But I've been training and it's just good to get more minutes under my belt and just help the team.”

Fagan is now looking forward to the return leg in the Stade de la Frontière next week and believes his teammates should draw confidence from past European ties.

“I think the majority of us here now have played or had a few seasons together playing in Europe and we've played some big teams, so we're pretty confident in what we can do ourselves,” said the former Bohemians striker, for whom he also netted a European goal against Olimpija Ljubljana in 2011.

“But obviously, after you get a game out of the way and a feel for each other, I'm sure they'll probably change a few things tactically and, like ourselves, we'll probably look at videos and see what we can do next week.”