Karpaty have too much class for brave Pats

St. Patrick’s Athletic 1 Karpaty Lviv 3 (Karpaty Lviv win 5-1 on aggregate)

There was no happy ending to one of the saddest weeks in the 83-year history of St. Patrick’s Athletic as they duly bowed out of the Europa League tonight.

A dispute with players who had threatened earlier in the day to boycott the match was resolved just hours before kick-off.

But morale was shot and an early injury to playmaker Stephen Bradley, and Karpaty taking the lead on the night minutes later, ended the tie as a contest.

That came on 22 minutes when Bradley, still hobbling from his knock, was unable to track back as Karpaty carved open the St. Patrick’s defence, resulting in Sergei Zenjov curling a delightful shot past keeper Gary Rogers.

The home side refused to lie down, however, and early second half pressure brought its reward with an equaliser on the night. Ian Daly’s skill put the ball back into the Karpaty box following a corner and Evan McMillan turned to fire past keeper Andriy Tlumak.

It offered a sliver of hope, but any revival was ended when Karpaty scored the goal of the night on 64 minutes.

In a clinical counterattack, Karpaty broke forward and, following a series of quick passes, Ukrainian international Igor Khudobyak put a dipping shot past Rogers.

Igor Oshchypko added a third on 83 minutes when scooping home the rebound after Derek Pender cleared a shot from Andriy Tkachuk off the line.