Postcard from a pandemic play-off trip to Tallinn

A difficult task awaits the Hoops backing Tallaght after 4-2 Tallinn defeat

A difficult task awaits the Hoops backing Tallaght after 4-2 Tallinn defeat Credit: Macdara Ferris (ETPhotos)

Macdara Ferris reports from Tallinn

It is all so different from a decade ago. Back in 2011, over 400 Shamrock Rovers fans made the trip from Tallaght to Tallinn to see the Hoops play out a scoreless draw against Flora to progress into the next round in Europe.

Fast forward ten years and this match between Flora and Rovers – the first time the Hoops have ever faced opposition in Europe for a second time – UEFA had deemed no away supporters allowed due to the pandemic and the sides were sharing six goals between them but with Flora in the driving seat to make the next phase in Europe.

The last time I spent a night out of Dublin was 12 months ago when my ‘staycation’ in Ireland took me to Waterford to see a John Sheridan Blues team take on St. Patrick’s Athletic and a wander around the Waterford Walls street art festival.

With my a vaccine passport stored on my phone, I found myself in Tallinn this week for my first trip out of Ireland for close to 18 months reporting on the Europa Conference League play-off for extratime.com and talking about this new competition with the BBC World Service (more on that later)! 

The Shamrock Rovers squad and officials flew out of T2 in Dublin Airport on an Aer Lingus charter on Wednesday morning. Over in a quiet Terminal One, I was on a Ryanair flight that had maybe two people for every three seats including a handful of familiar faces behind masks.

The COVID-19 situation in Estonia is better than Ireland at the minute with a 7-day case rate of about 150 per 100,000 and most but not all passengers are wearing masks on the tram from the airport into the city centre.

Beautiful

Anyone who has been to Tallinn before knows how beautiful the Old Town is and without the masses of tourists no longer pulling into port off the massive cruise ships, it makes for a very pleasant stroll around the medieval town.

However, I was in town to do some reporting so I ventured out for the MD-1 (match day minus one press conference) on the eve of the game.



If Flora can progress passed the Hoops in this play-off, they will become the first ever Estonian side to make it to the group stages of a UEFA club competition but the press event is a pretty quiet affair. There are just four members of the media at it and I’m the only one from Ireland.

The Hoops had arranged a zoom call earlier in the afternoon for the Irish media so I get my chance to ask questions of the two Head Coaches (Stephen Bradley and Jurgen Henn) and the Flora skipper Konstantin Vassiljev before watching Rovers train out on the pitch in the A. Le Coq Arena.

Baltic weather

Unlike the 30 degree temperatures that Rovers faced in their recent European games in Slovakia and Bratislava, there is a distinctly Dublin vibe about the weather – or can we call it Baltic based on our location - which is passing showers and 16 degree temperatures.

I do get to do some tourist things on my stay in Tallinn with a few Euro and my vaccine passport getting me into the Harbour museum (and into a submarine – insert joke about Rovers’ play-off hopes being sunk here!) and the Estonian Open Air Museum which is based out on the outskirts of the city.



A vaccine passport was also required for spectators and media to attend the match – or a rapid antigen test which were available for €10 adjacent to the stadium - and with 40% of the population fully vaccinated maybe that affects the crowd. In the 14,000 capacity national stadium only around 1,000 fans attend the match.

BBC

Ahead of kick-off I take a call from the BBC World Service Sports Today programme to discuss the inaugural Europe Conference League competition. Hopefully I was able to explain it sufficiently well to those tuned into the Beeb around the globe!

Stephen Bradley spoke ahead of the game how he felt Flora were the best team they would face in Europe so far and how their pressing and transition were real strengths and so it proved on the night – even if individual Rovers errors proved the most costly.

The Hoops found themselves two goals down to Flora inside 30 minutes.

Burke goal

We had some sock tape issues in the League of Ireland earlier this season but Ukranian referee Yevhenii Aranovskiy got in on the action making Graham Burke trek to the sideline early in the game to cover up his white socks peeking out from below Rovers' black socks.

Burke didn’t let that distract him as he grabbed his sixth goal in Europe to make it 2-1 at the break  – extending his lead as Rovers’ all-time top scorer in Europe. 

The home side made it 3-1 with a quarter of an hour to go and had other chances but the Hoops stayed in the game. When Liam Scales made it 3-2 with four minutes remaining you probably felt Rovers could do the job back in Tallaght if they could stop the defensive errors.

However Martin Miller scored his second and Flora’s fourth a minute later – the first time the Hoops had conceded four or more in 90 minutes for three years.

Bradley disappointment

Stephen Bradley’s frustration with his sides defending was clear when I spoke with him in the post match press conference as was Jurgen Henn’s happiness with the two goal lead his team take to Tallaght next week.

History is not on the Hoops side for making it through this play-off as no League of Ireland side has overcome a two goal deficit after the first leg.

My hopes for future trips to watch the Hoops in Europe may have to wait till next summer.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile