Longread: When a play-off win for Shamrock Rovers over Partizan resulted in glory of the Europa League group stages

Today, 25 August, marks the ten year anniversary of when Shamrock Rovers took on Partizan Belgrade in the Europa League play-off second leg in a game packed with drama, stunning saves, brilliant goals and one pressurised penalty. 

A decade on from that game, Macdara Ferris takes a look back on one of the finest victories for a League of Ireland team in Europe - the 2-1 away win sending Rovers in the Europa League group stages.

He spoke with Dan Murray, Karl Sheppard, Billy Dennehy and Chris Turner - four members of the Rovers squad who became the first League of Ireland side to qualify for a group stage of a European competition.

Murray skippered the side during that run, and Sheppard won the penalty in Belgrade that was tucked away by Steven O’Donnell.

Dennehy also proved to be a valuable member of the Hoops squad that season ending as Rovers’ top scorer while Chris Turner scored the winner over Flora Tallinn in the first match of their 12 game European run that 2011 season.

Champions League Qualifiers

Michael O’Neill’s Shamrock Rovers side entered Europe in 2011 in the second qualifying round round of the Champions League, drawn against FC Flora Tallinn.

Ironically it is Flora who stand in the way this week of Rovers making a return to the group stages of a UEFA club competition.

The Hoops play the second leg of their Europa Conference League play-off against Flora in Tallinn this Thursday trailing 4-2 from the first leg, with the winners heading to the group stages of the inaugural Conference League.

Back in 2011, the Hoops faced the champions of Estonia at home first with an Alan Mannus penalty save and a Chris Turner goal - tapped home off a Ronan Finn cross – giving Rovers a lead to take to Tallinn. 

A scoreless draw followed in the second leg, earning the Hoops a tie against Danish giants Copenhagen in the next round. 

The Hoops lost 3-0 on aggregate to the Danish champions, however, and dropped into the play-off round of the Europa League in the process. 

Michael O’Neill’s charges went into that round as the lowest ranked team in the competition at that stage and drew Partizan Belgrade. 

Partizan, who had made the group stages of the Champions League the previous season, won four Serbian SuperLiga titles in a row prior to facing Rovers in a two-legged affair, and they would win the league in 2011/12 as well. 

Europe League play-off first leg (Tallaght Stadium - 18 August 2011)

“With the away goals rule back then, having the first leg at home suited us as a smaller team as you can shut up shop and keep it tight,” Dan Murray said while recalling the first-leg. 

“They scored early enough in the home leg (after 14 minutes) and we weren’t playing that well.”

In the second half, Michael O’Neill re-adjusted his team’s shape to play Gary McCabe centrally in the final period of the game, and that switch of formation yielded its reward for Rovers, with a fine individual goal from McCabe. 

He initially picked up the ball in midfield and neatly went around Sierra Leone international Medo. He then feinted to shoot but instead played a one-two with Gary Twigg on the edge of the box. 

"It was a great run," recalled Chris Turner about McCabe's goal. "I think he even got a nutmeg in there and a toe poke finish. It was a great goal to keep the tie alive." 

Tallaght Stadium erupted in celebration as the man from Kilnamanagh showed the killer instinct to beat the Serbian national goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic to score the equaliser that left the tie finely poised for the second leg.

For Murray, he felt that McCabe’s goal was crucial to Rovers’ success in the play-off. 

“It gave us the confidence going over to Belgrade. Our mindset would have been totally different if we’d be going there having lost 1-0. It meant we didn’t have to chase a goal too early.” 

“It was an unbelievable goal,” recalled Billy Dennehy about McCabe’s individual effort. “He was a special player in that team, one who got goals and assists.

“The thing that stands out for me the most from that time working under Michael O'Neill was what Michael was able to create within the group. 

“The squad that was there was the best dressing room I was ever involved in. We were a real team and a united group. 

“It showed what you can achieve even with the limited resources we had in Ireland compared with other European clubs.”

Europe League play-off second leg (Partizan Stadium - 25 August 2011)

“Michael O’Neill loved having the non-Irish lads play against the Irish players in training and in Belgrade the night before the game he did that and it added a little bit of spice to training,” said Murray. 

The Hoops squad included players from England (Dan Murray and Richard Brush), Scotland (Craig Sives and Gary Twigg), Jamaica (Ryan Thompson) along with Northern Ireland under-21 international Chris Turner.

“There was always a bit of bite to training and that is the sign of a good team. We were competitive footballers, and it could get tasty, but I preferred that right before the game. 

“I didn’t want us to just go through the motions. I felt it got the mind ready for the next day and was our best way of getting ready to play.”

There were some concerns about the safety of travelling supporters in Belgrade, a city where a Toulouse fan was killed in 2009 when the French side played Partizan. The club were also thrown out of the UEFA Cup two years previously after rioting by their fans. 

When Rovers fans arrived in Belgrade Airport on the eve of the match and produced their Irish passports, they were brought into a security room adjacent to passport control. 

The police noted where the supporters were staying and they were given a phone number for ‘Ivan’ who they were told to ring if there was any trouble.

Police officers were positioned outside the hotels where the fans were staying and when Rovers supporters went for some sightseeing on match day to the Belgrade Fortress situated above the River Danube, a police escort went with them.

The Rovers squad also had a police presence around them during their stay in the city. The team were staying in the Continental Hotel, where the notorious paramilitary leader Arkan – who was the former owner of Belgrade football club FK Obilic – was assassinated in the lobby in 2000. 

There were 43 away supporters who travelled to Serbia for the match and they gathered in the team hotel three hours before kick-off. 

Like the Shamrock Rovers team, security arrangements were in place for the supporters to be bused into the ground under police escort. 

And even before leaving the hotel, supporters were given a security briefing from the Irish Garda Inspector who travelled out with Rovers’ official travelling party. 

It was a surreal atmosphere in the lobby as the players, officials and fans sat around chatting awaiting their police escort to the stadium for one of the most important matches in the club’s long history. 

For the second leg, striker Karl Sheppard, who was just 20-years-old at the time, was available for selection for the first time since June. 

“I had been out of the squad for a while for what was quite a scary reason. I had an extra pathway in my heart that had burnt out and he required heart surgery.

“The club was fantastic for me at the time, not only looking after me getting the best surgeon but they kept it from the media saying I had an ankle injury. The club protected me as much as they could.

“Going out for the warm-up before the game, the place was bouncing. It was unbelievable. The good thing for me at my age was I was young and naïve, and I almost didn’t think twice about it. 

“Later on in your career you maybe have a bit more fear but when you are young you don’t hold anything back.”

The game was just four minutes old when Rovers should have found themselves a goal down after a dreadful mistake by goalkeeper Ryan Thompson. 

Thompson had only taken over from Alan Mannus in goal after his departure to St. Johnstone the previous month. 

The Jamaican ‘keeper hit a weak goal kick straight to Vladimir Jovancic who should have scored from the one-on-one but put his shot wide. 

The ‘keeper redeemed himself on the half hour mark when somehow, diving backwards to his left, he got a fingertip on the ball to push Vladimir Volkov’s effort around the post. 

Five minutes later though, Thompson had no chance as Volkov headed home a corner to put his team 2-1 up on aggregate. 

Having started the game with Gary Twigg up front on his own, Michael O’Neill brought on Sheppard alongside Twigg at half time. 

“It was unbelievable to come back into a game of that intensity having been out for so long, especially a game that meant so much for Shamrock Rovers and Irish football,” Sheppard added. 

“It was a fantastic atmosphere and [it] got you going.”

Three minutes into the second half, Rovers almost equalised as Chris Turner headed Enda Stevens’ cross against the bottom of the Partizan post. 

And then just before the hour mark, the Hoops were level. 

Rovers had another set piece that Gary McCabe put into the box. Ivanov cleared with a looping header and the ball fell out of the Serbian sky to Rovers right-back Pat Sullivan.

"It came out of the sky and he was 35 yards out and he has hit it as sweet as you can hit it," said Turner about Sullivan's strike. "He probably never hit one like that before or like that again.

"You are always going to get chances in a game of football. It is about taking those chances and luckily enough that night we did."

“The quality of Pat Sullivan’s strike was amazing,” said Murray. “When that goes in, you start believing. 

“You can’t ever fully prepare for that heat which was over 30 degrees that night but it is more of a factor when you are struggling but after the goal and as the game went on we were getting stronger. 

“We had more belief and so you forget about the heat especially as the crowd started to turn on their team.”

Neither side could find a winner inside 90 minutes and the game went into extra-time. 

Extra-time

“With our performance, especially in the second half and extra-time, arguably you could say we were the better team,” said Murray. “You could feel the atmosphere changing when it went to extra-time as their supporters went quiet.”

The match was drifting towards penalties with both teams tiring but with less than 10 minutes left Rovers put a fine passing move together to get the ball into the danger zone. 

They worked the ball from their own half moving it between Stephen Rice, Pat Sullivan, Dan Murray and substitute Stephen O’Donnell. Enda Stevens played a pinpoint pass up the line to Ciara?n Kilduff. 

The substitute had his shot saved by Ilic but Sheppard was quickly onto the rebound. He went down under the ‘keeper’s challenge and Slovakian referee Ján Valášek pointed to the spot.

Stephen O’Donnell accepted the responsibility of taking the penalty. He had only scored once before for Rovers and that was in the quieter surroundings of the Leinster Senior Cup. 

The prize for winning the tie for the Hoops was €1 million bonus and six more games in Europe to take place over the next four months. 

O’Donnell proved to be the coolest man in the stadium and scored the pressure penalty to give Rovers the lead which they would hold on to all the way to full-time. 

Rovers fan reaction to the penalty kick

Murray felt confident in O’Donnell stepping up to score. 

“I knew the type and quality of player he was. He wanted to take it. When we scored, they knew the game was gone. The crowd were down, and their players started to lose the plot. They had a player sent off and that killed the game.” 

“For me it was great to be able to have an impact in the game to qualify for the Europa League on what was really big night for Irish football,” said Sheppard. 

“My nerves were shot just watching Stevie take the penalty kick. In fairness to him, I don’t know how he had the composure to relax and go on and score. 

“Even now when I think of that goal and the celebration it brings a smile to my face. Once he scored, we were like ‘what have we done’. We were massive outsiders in the game but now it dawned on everyone we were going to do this.” 

Dennehy recalled that “Stevie was injured for most of the year so by coming on and scoring that goal it was fantastic. 

“We got that bit luck on the night which you need in all big games, but I think that we deserved it for the efforts that we put in leading up to that game. 

“It led us into the group stages which was something that nobody in Irish football had seen before.”

The aftermath

“The Partizan supporters clapped us off the pitch and booed their own team,” said Sheppard. 

“It made the night an extra bit special as we had won over their fans because of the way we played, the attitude and the grit and determination that we showed in our play too.”

Murray remembers the reaction of the small band of travelling away supporters at the final whistle.  “I remember there were 45 or so Rovers fans at the game and they were bouncing around the place when we won. 

“They were back at the hotel when we came back and clapped us in. The place was pumped.”

Ireland international Enda Stevens recalled the night of celebrations recently when talking to the42.ie:

“There was a funny story when we went out celebrating in Belgrade. One of the locals came out with us. There were about three or four of the players [who were out]. 

“He was driving us around to all the different spots to go. We were on our way back to the hotel and the car broke down. We were in the middle of Belgrade. 

“We didn’t know where we were but we had to jump out and push the car down the road and bump start it to get us back to the hotel in time. I think the flight was leaving soon enough and we had to be back. It was the early hours of the morning. 

“We weren’t supposed to tell anyone because the manager wanted to keep it on the DL, as we had a big game against Dundalk when we came back, so he wanted to keep it quiet that we were out. But we won the game [against Dundalk] anyway.”

It was only on returning home to Ireland that Dan Murray realised how big a story the win was. 

“I don’t think we realised how big a deal it was until we got back to Ireland the next day. We saw it was big news in the press. When we landed in Dublin, it was some buzz. 

“The fans came out to welcome us back at the airport. We then realised what we had done and how lucky it was to be involved in something like that.”

Sheppard noted that “looking back now on the success in Europe and winning the title in 2011, maybe I took it a little bit for granted. 

“They are fantastic memories and anytime I meet anyone from that Rovers squad instantly it is the thing that we speak about – that night in Belgrade.”

Turner calls qualification for the Europa League as his "best achievement in football. We were the first people to do it and we are really proud of being the first Irish club to do it.

"It game the whole league a lift and the belief that we are good enough to make it into the Europa League."

For Dennehy it is the standout moment of his four seasons with the club. “You had the strike from Sully to get us back in the game which was incredible and then that penalty. 

“It was an unbelievable night, and the celebrations afterwards were nearly better than the game.

“When you stop now and think back there were so many teams in Ireland over the years banging on that European door. 

“You think of Drogheda United and Cork City who were investing heavily then to try and break down the European barrier. Nobody could do it. The group at Shamrock Rovers in 2011 were the first to do it. 

“I felt if that group had stayed together with Michael O’Neill, it could have gone on to a whole other level again. Rovers as a club now seem to have got everything back again and there is a good foundation there. They are back at the top which is nice to see from an ex-players point of view.” 

“I thought Rovers would kick on and dominate the league after that title,” said Murray. 

“It didn’t happen but now it is Rovers’ time. The club have everything set up now and there isn’t much doubt that Rovers are the best team in the league.” 

Stephen Bradley believes Rovers remain in tie but history is against the Hoops https://t.co/1lHMkHgeXopic.twitter.com/RWqukF2Gis

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) August 20, 2021