Saints under no illusions heading into Europa qualifier

“Result” was the word on everyone’s lips as Liam Buckley & Co briefed the media for Thursday’s all-or-nothing showdown with Dinamo Minsk in the pair’s Europa League second round second-leg qualifier.

A 1-1 draw in Belarus means that a 0-0 draw or better would see St. Patrick’s Athletic into the third round of Europa League qualification and subsequently bag an additional €220,000 in prize money, to add to their €410,000 earned already through playing in the first and second round of qualification after last week’s progression past Luxembourg Jeunesse Esch.

A St. Pat’s panel faced the media ahead of the game led by manager Buckley, who will take charge of his 16th European fixture since taking charge for a second term in late 2011 Captain Ger O’Brien, Conan Byrne and Christy Fagan as well as former Ireland international Keith Treacy all spoke to the media ahead of the game.

For Treacy, despite playing in the Premier League for a number of years, played his first ever European club match this time three weeks ago against Esch.

The lineup was under no false pretenses about the manner by which qualification into the next round should be achieved - and that is by any means possible.

Questioned if his side would sit back in order to soak up pressure versus a higher quality opposition who have qualified for the last two group stages of the Europa League in 2014-15 and 2015-16, manager Buckley said that while St. Pats have earned a reputation for attractive, attacking football over the course of his tenure, that progression to the next round trumped all other factors.

“We just need to get through the tie and that’s the bottom line”, said Buckley.

“We’ve been here before with these games. We got a really good result away in Minsk, we played well and we were very compact. That said it’s only half-time. Whether they (Minsk) were complacent against us I don’t know but they’ve been in the group stages of the Europa League for the past two years.

“From our end we’ve got to make sure that we are prepared, we’re organised. If we can just improve a bit on the work we did over there – offensively, defensively, from set plays – we will give ourselves a chance.”

Captain O’Brien has been present for all of St. Pat's’ recent European adventures and scored a rare but sublime goal versus Lithuanian club VMFD Žalgiris in 2013 – his first for the club. He said that while league form has been below standard this season (St. Pats have lost nine league games out of 18 this season; currently four in a row) that they as players feel a certain level of restraint lifted when playing in Europe.

“Sligo fell just after the Luxembourg game, unfortunately we lost 1-0 but there were signs of improvement in our play,” he said. “Your mindset can go away from the league and you can play with a little bit more freedom (in Europe).

“All the boys have enjoyed the last few weeks. It’s a great experience travelling to different countries but as Liam has alluded to we need to make sure that we’re ready to go for tomorrow night because we put in one hell of a shift to put us in this position (with an away goal) last week.”

Speaking on Newstalk on Tuesday’s Off the Ball former Shamrock Rovers manager and St. Pat’s player Pat Fenlon offered the view that playing away from home suited League of Ireland clubs due to the beneficial tendency to sit back and hit higher quality opposition on the break in order to notch an all-important away goal.

Put to Conan Byrne, he confessed that his side were dead-set on implementing their game-plan regardless of anything else, and that attacking Minsk repeatedly from the first whistle – who he said would likely have the lion’s share of possession – would be naive and detrimental to progression.

“I think Liam’s style of play suits European football and that’s why we have done particularly well over the last couple of years in Europe,” Byrne reflected.

“We know what we have to do to get through the tie. Last week they attacked for most of the game, we were very organised and defended well. They found it difficult to break us down and our goal came on the counter-attack.

“I think our fans appreciate our style of football but when we are playing against a team of Minsk’s quality I’m sure they’ll understand that we have a game plan and our game plan is to go through.

“We’ll do that at all costs, whether that means sitting behind the ball and counter-attacking or if we attack in the early stages and see what happens. But I don’t think we will feel obliged to attack from the get-go because there’s so much at stake for the club and for us players. We just want to get through the tie.

“We need to finish off the job tomorrow.”

The priority is the result for St. Pat’s and the result would mean progression to the third round of Europa League qualification for the first time since 2012.

The Saints have always given themselves the promising opportunity of progression but they cannot allow luck, complacency or the game passing them by to be the dominant factor this time around at Richmond Park – something the players and management recognise firmly.

St. Pat’s got over their FAI Cup hoodoo in 2014. This time around the ghostly presence is not a cup, but a theme of recurring hindrances in Europe when progression appears within arms reach. There can be no two-ways about it on Thursday because the job still needs to be done and the result sealed with a definitive guarantee.

Our match preview is available to read here.