Europa Conference League Report: St. Patrick's Athletic 1 - 0 Sabah FK

Patrick O’ Connor reports from Tallaght Stadium

St Patrick's Athletic delivered a highly professional and utterly dominant performance but could only secure a slender 1-0 lead when they faced Sabah FK of Azerbaijan in the Europa Conference League Qualifying Round Three first-leg tie at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night.

A 2-0, if not a 3-0 lead, would have been a fairer reflection of their overall performance. However, despite their disciplined display and even with the added advantage of an extra man for most of the second half, they could not add to Romal Palmer’s first-half goal and will now have to do it all over again in Azerbaijan next Thursday.

As it stands, they will be sweating, and not just because of the expected 30°C temperatures in Masazir (Sabah’s home ground), over their chances of making it through to the lucrative playoff stages of the competition.

The visitors started the game looking very sharp, and the home side had a major let-off in the very first minute when Sabah hit the post from their first corner of the match.

The Azerbaijani side went on to dominate the first 15 minutes, but once Pats got their measure, they took over and bossed the game for the rest of the 90 minutes.

They channelled a lot of their play to wingers Jake Mulraney and Zack Elbouzedi, who were both highly influential in securing the one-goal lead heading into the second leg.

Mulraney drew numerous fouls from the overworked Sabah defence, two of which resulted in yellow cards for Ivan Lebinjica and Jon Irazabal, with the former receiving a second yellow followed by a red card in the 53rd minute for a foul on Palmer.

Mulraney also provided the assist for the only goal of the game, his left-wing cross in the 35th minute was flashed into the net by Palmer, much to the delight of the Pats supporters.

Palmer, who is on loan from Turkish club Göztepe, has now scored twice in the Europa Conference League and is certainly proving his worth, having overcome injuries in the earlier part of the season.

The score remained 1-0 at the break, and Stephen Kenny introduced Mason Melia for Aidan Keena at the start of the second half.

Melia was much more impactful upfront for Kenny’s side, and he came closest to getting that insurance second goal in the 75th minute when he headed Elbouzedi’s cross off the post before the ball was hacked away by Sabah.

Joe Redmond also went close with a header from a Brandon Kavanagh corner in the 83rd minute, and Kian Leavy thought he had scored with a shot from close range in the 89th minute, only for Sabah keeper Yusif Imanov to pull off a superb one-handed save.

The Saints will have some regrets about not taking a bigger lead to Azerbaijan next week, but they will also be buoyed by their excellent performance at home. Weather conditions next week notwithstanding, they will be confident that they can finish the job and progress to the playoff stages, where a clash with either FC Iberia 1999 Tbilisi (Georgia) or Basaksehir Istanbul (Turkey) awaits them.

St. Patrick's Athletic: Joseph Tetteh Anang; Carl Sjöberg, Tom Grivosti, Joseph Redmond, Anthony Breslin; Jamie Lennon (Aaron Bolger 87), Christopher Forrester, Romal Palmer (Jason McClelland 87), Jake Mulraney (Kian Leavy 71), Zack Elbouzedi (Brandon Kavanagh 78), Aidan Keena (Mason Melia 46);
Subs not used: Daniel Rogers, Conor Keeley, Ryan McLaughlin, Luke Turner, Al Amin Kazeem, Alex Nolan, Michael Noonan.
Booked: Romal Palmer (78).
Sent off: None.

Sabah FA: Yusif Imanov; Amin Seydiyev, Sofian Chakla, Jon Irazabal, Bojan Letić; Ivan Lepinjica, Kaheem Parris (Rahman Dashdamirov 72), Jesse Sekidika (Khayal Aliyev 82), Joy-Lance Mickels (Namik Alaskarov 72), Elvin Jamalov; Pavol Safranko (Njegoš Kupusović 82).
Subs not used: Nijat Mehbaliyev,  Abdulla Rzayev, Anatolii Nuriiev, Tellur Mutallimov, Shakir Seyidov, Abdulakh Khaibulaev, Dzhamal Dzhafarov.
Booked: Ivan Lepinjica (26), Jon Irazabal (31), Ivan Lepinjica (53), Rahman Dashdamirov (73).
Sent off: Ivan Lepinjica (53).

Referee: Vilhjalmur Thorarinsson ( Iceland)
Attendance: 4,500 ( estimate)
extratime.com Player of the Match: Jake Mulraney ( St Patricks Athletic)