Stephen Kenny calls on St Pats to take 'chance of a lifetime'
CHANCE OF A LIFETIME: St Pats manager Stephen Kenny during his press conference in Istanbul. Pic: ©INPHO/Aleksandar Djorovic
One side-step of hell can be a step into heaven for St Patrick’s Athletic.
Turkish football is known for its hostile atmosphere to club visitors, with the 2002 meeting of Galatasaray and Leeds United – at which two fans were murdered – a stain on the country’s history.
The Irish FAI Cup holders are also in Istanbul to face Basaksehir for a place in the group stages of the Uefa Conference League on the line.
Up against a side with superior resources in last Thursday’s first leg, St Pat’s were the team that emerged from the scoreless draw regretting missed chances.
Another week of training in the legs of the Turks will strengthen their conditioning, compared to an Irish outfit well past halfway of their summer season. Both teams have hurdled two qualifying rounds to get in sight of the league stage draw this Friday.
What Kenny has encouragingly informed his players is the absence of the classic native hostility at the 17,000-capacity Fatih Terim Stadium.
“This isn’t a cauldron – a ‘Welcome to Hell’ type atmosphere,” he asserted. “Istanbul Basaksehir are the Government team and only get crowds of around 5,000 fans.”
Striker Aidan Keena, reunited with his former Ireland U21 manager when recently recruited from Cheltenham Town, is also ignoring distractions.
Belatedly, the FAI culled Sunday’s league match against Dundalk at short notice to maximise what they branded a “unique opportunity” and the Mullingar man can sense the magnitude.
On top of creating history by reaching the group stages for the first time in the club’s history, Saints coffers will swell arising from the ballooning of prize money from €1.2m to €3.7m.
“We’ve been able to properly prepare for this game after the Dundalk match got called off,” said Keena from Turkey, where the temperature at kick-off time is due to be around 80 degrees.
“It will be a different task with the heat over here but we’ll be ready. We’ve made it into a one-off game, almost a Cup final. Hopefully we can get over the line. We gave them a good game and could have nicked it but we’d have taken a scoreless draw.
“Confidence and momentum builds from coming through the rounds and we’ll have a right go.
“We’ve a great group here, talent wide and off the pitch because we all get on. It feels like I've been here for months with it being so busy.
"If we can still get over the line, it would be unbelievable for everyone connected with the club.”
Attackers Romal Palmer and Cian Kavanagh are out injured but it will be the spine of the side, on the back of five unbeaten games and three clean sheets in Europe, that will be tested by a cosmopolitan hosts.
Since Kenny made his LOI comeback with Pat's in May, league form has been patchy and they were bulldozed out of the FAI Cup by Derry City. This competition has been their respite, a window for extending their season until mid-December.
“They have been Turkish champions, and have been in European competition four times in the last few years,” Kenny said about the standard of Basaksehir opposition. “They expect to be in the group stages.
“We learned lessons from the first game. A lot of things went well for us but there’s things we need to improve on. No two games are ever the same and we expect new challenges in the second leg.
“What happened before bears some relevance but coming out here is another step up. This is our third round and our third round to be underdog but what we don’t do is underestimate ourselves.
“To be part of Europe’s elite in a massive opportunity for the players – a chance of a lifetime.”
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