All to play for St Pat's as they head to Istanbul all square
22 August 2024; Jake Mulraney of St Patrick's Athletic during the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off first leg match between St Patrick's Athletic and Ä°stanbul Basaksehir at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ă“ MĂdheach/Sportsfile
The width of the post denied St Patrick’s Athletic a famous victory over Turkish Süper Lig and the chance of taking a lead into next week’s playoff second leg.
Livewire Kian Leavy, on as a substitute, dribbled inside onto his left foot approaching the hour and unleashed a low shot which struck the butt of the woodwork.
Victory wouldn’t have flattered the Saints but squandering chances could haunt them if, as Stephen Kenny predicts, fatigue catches up with them on their travels.
This was the fifth game in Europe Pat’s have gone unbeaten, pushing them closer to a league phase breakthrough and prize-money swelling to €3.7m.
Much of the build-up to this playoff, the third one in the Saints’ history, was overshadowed by the displeasure expressed by clubs over the lack of live television coverage.
So frustrated have Shamrock Rovers become with the national broadcasters that they’ve threatened a lock-out on them for the rest of the domestic season.
Stephen Kenny, back in the league since May as Saints boss, waded into the controversy too, rubbishing RTÉ’s defence of budgets being expended on the summer Euros and Olympics. In his view, the snub centres on the personal preferences of the station’s sports supremo, Declan McBennett.
What the Irish clubs can influence is the turnout. St Pat’s were again taking up temporary residence at the home of Rovers and brisk ticket sales ensured three of the four stands were majority full.
Even the visitors were enthralled by the meeting, albeit the 120 Turkish in attendance donned a cross-section of club colours, expats watching, erm, St Pat’s, Incessant drizzle from lunchtime conspired against the usual walk-ups from neutrals, trimming the crowd well below the 10,400-capacity, but the 6,219 who showed were enlivened by an early Saints spurt that ought to have yielded a breakthrough.
That statement needs to be placed into perspective. The Turks swim in different waters, beaten by Gent in last year’s round of 16 in this competition after defeating Fiorentina in the group phase. Three years ago, they were not only sharing the Champions League group with Manchester United but beating them.
Last year, they recruited Krzysztof Piatek, a Polish striker who had commanded cumulative transfer fees of €70m in moves to AC Milan and Hertha Berlin. Here, he followed up his goal at the Euros by being generally subdued, safe for a spurious penalty claim in the second half that was correctly dismissed by VAR.
A mismatch in resources is reflected by the chasm in Uefa coefficients, the metric used to assess clubs' European records. Whereas St Pat’s languish in 452th place, Istanbul are numerically regarded as the 74th best team across the 55 federations.
And still, with better finishing, they’d be chasing a deficit at the Fatih Terim Stadium next Wednesday.
Kenny opted for 16-year-old Mason Melia over Aidan Keena to lead the line and it won’t be long before he’s part of the Ireland U21 squad, with Jim Crawford an interested spectator here. So too was senior boss Heimir Hallgrimsson.
The striker’s physical attributes are matched by his skillset and a few rough edges being treated will take him towards complete territory.
He was directly up against the Ghana international Jerome Opuko and the battle between the pair was an enduring sublot of the night.
Within four minutes, the teen won the first duel. Zack Elbouzedi, reunited with his former Ireland U21 manager by moving back from Sweden in this window, has offered a new dimension to the Saints armoury and he beat his marker to loft over a cross that hung in the air awaiting a clean connection. Melia was patient with his run, only to slightly delay it and glance his header wide of the post.
Melia was again involved four minutes later, holding the ball up with his back to goal and laying it into the path of Jake Mulraney, who skied his shot over.
His nifty footwork was on display in the 39th minute when spinning Omer Ali Sahiner on the halfway line. Gaping space was there to charge into but Leo Duarte forced him wide and the chance was lost.
All the visitors could muster was a 20-yard angled shot from Dimitris Pelkas which Joseph Anang. The winger, instrumental in Greece’s win over Ireland last year, would be later denied with a free-kick blocked by the wall. As was Mulraney with his close-range effort in a second half which didn’t replicate the first for drama.
: J Anang; A Sjoberg, J Redmond, T Grivosti, A Breslin; J Lennon, C Forrester (A Bolger 90); Z Elbouzedi, R Palmer (K Leavy 45), J Mulraney (B Kavanagh 90+7); M Melia (A Keena 90).
: M Sengezer; L Duarte, H Gureler, J Opuko, O Ali Sahiner (L Lima 84); B Ozcan (B Ozdemir 90), O Ergun; D Turuk, D Pelkas (S Gurler 83), Davidson (J Figueiredo 64); K Piatek (P Keny 90), B Kavanagh (M Melia 63), K Leavy (A Nolan 63).
: Mohammed Al-emara (FIN) ATTENDANCE: 6, 219.
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